Scripture: Deuteronomy 20:1-20 (NKJV)
1 “When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses and chariots
and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your
God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. 2 So it shall be,
when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak
to the people. 3 And he shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel: Today you are on
the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be
afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them; 4 for the LORD your
God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save
you.’ 5 Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying: ‘What man is there
who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to
his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. 6 Also what
man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of it? Let him go and
return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it. 7 And
what man is there who is betrothed to a woman and has not married her? Let him
go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry
her.’ 8 The officers shall speak further to the people, and say, ‘What man is
there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest
the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.’ 9 And so it shall be, when the
officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of
the armies to lead the people.
10 “When you go near a city to fight against it, then proclaim an offer of
peace to it. 11 And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and
open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under
tribute to you, and serve you. 12 Now if the city will not make peace with you,
but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. 13 And when the LORD your
God delivers it into your hands, you shall strike every male in it with the
edge of the sword. 14 But the women, the little ones, the livestock, and all
that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourself; and you
shall eat the enemies’ plunder which the LORD your God gives you. 15 Thus you
shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not of the
cities of these nations. 16 But of the cities of these peoples which the LORD
your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes
remain alive, 17 but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the
Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite,
just as the LORD your God has commanded you, 18 lest they teach you to do
according to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, and
you sin against the LORD your God.
19 “When you besiege a city for a long time, while making war against it to
take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; if you
can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in the siege, for the tree of the
field is man’s food. 20 Only the trees which you know are not trees for food
you may destroy and cut down, to build siegeworks against the city that makes
war with you, until it is subdued.”
Devotion
This chapter in Deuteronomy is one of the places Christians cite in their
argument against women in combat. There is a distinction between men and women.
In God’s created order, He designed women to bear and nurture new life. This is
an essential aspect of female identity and vocation; God created women as
complementary to men, not interchangeable with men. God, in the Bible,
repeatedly treats women as equal in value to men, but very different in
identity and function. For example, God commands the Israelites to make a
distinction between enemy men and women in Deuteronomy 20:12-15. Men may be put
to the sword, but the women and the “little ones” were to be spared, thus
establishing different categories for men and women in warfare.
Our Lord Jesus Christ confirms such principles here in Deuteronomy and upholds
the order of creation. For example, just as Jesus gave up His Life and died for
His Bride, so also husbands should give up their lives and die for their wives.
(Eph. 5:25). From Deuteronomy 22:5, the blessed Dr. Martin Luther concludes: “A
woman shall not bear the weapons of a man, nor shall a man wear female
clothing.…[S]uch things are not to be done as a matter of serious and constant
habit and custom, but due uprightness and dignity are to be preserved for each
sex….Through this law…[Moses] seems to reproach any nation in which this custom
is observed.” (Lectures on Deuteronomy, AE 9:219-220). Men and women live in
the greatest happiness when they live in harmony with the functions God has
created for them.
The Lutheran Herald is a publication of the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of
North America. These daily devotions are authored by the bishop, pastors, and
deacons of the diocese. Daily posts are provided by The Reverend Jeffrey A.
Ahonen.
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