Dt. 20: This Means War!

Deuteronomy 20:1 "When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you."

An army greater than yours. Israel has already been said to be the smallest of nations (Dt. 7:7), so every army out there was going to be greater than theirs. And yet it was going to be Israel God would use to wipe out nations greater then theirs. Even with that promise of God going with them, it was still going to be war. God didn't promise Israel that they wouldn't lose men, so there were going to be casualties. In fact, the time they went to war and came back with no casualties was rare enough to merit mention. Doesn't seem like it was commonplace to go to war and come back at 100%.

War is scary, panicky, and makes you want to pee your pants. People will die. In fact, God gave these four ways out of service. One, if a person had built a new house and hadn't dedicated it, the second, if they had a new vineyard and hadn't yet enjoyed it. Three, if they were pledged to a woman and hadn't yet married her. Four, if a person was afraid or fainthearted, they were allowed to leave so they wouldn't spread disheartening among their comrades. A new house, a new vineyard, a new bride, and fear. The recipe for not having to fight in war.

There were two different ways Israel was to take cities based on God's will for them. The first way was if they were just going to attack a city. They had to first make an offer of peace, and enslave the inhabitants of the city if they accepted it. If the city refused, Israel had to swordify all the men, and then plunder the women and children and property.

The cities given by God as an inheritance however, were a completely different story. Israel did not have to make any offer of peace. They were to completely overrun these cities. The usual suspects are mentioned here: The Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites were always mentioned at the forefront of who Israel should crush. Everyone had to be slain, old ladies, little kids...you name it. This was to protect Israel from caving into Idolatry. If Israel were stronger in their own faith in their God, perhaps they wouldn't have had to wipe out entire nations. Seems severe, but at the same time, it was God's world, for His chosen people.
Interesting that God told the Israelites not to wipe out the fruit trees, as they could eat the fruit. In fact, Deuteronomy 20:19 ends with this: "Are the trees of the field people, that you should besiege them?" These fruit trees were held to a higher regard than the people who planted them to begin with. That's amazing. It's a continuation of what I'm discovering about the planet's connection to man, and being special to God.