WAR

ENCOURAGEMENT

1. Deut.7:17 If you should say in your heart, “These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?” – you shall not be afraid of them, but you shall remember well what YHWH your Elohim did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs and the wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm, by which YHWH your Elohim brought you out. So shall YHWH your Elohim do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. Moreover YHWH your Elohim will send the hornet among them until those who are left, who hide themselves from you, are destroyed. You shall not be terrified of them. For YHWH your Elohim, the great and awesome YHWH, is among you. And YHWH your Elohim will drive out those nations before you little by little. You will be unable to destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. But YHWH your Elohim will deliver them over to you, and will inflict defeat upon them until they are destroyed.

2. Deut.20:1 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 YHWH your Elohim is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

Is.35:3 (Hebr.12:12) Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your YHWH will come with vengeance, with the recompense of YHWH. He will come and save you.”

3. Deut.20:2 When you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people. 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. For YHWH your Elohim is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”

Ps.118:6  YHWH is on my side I will not fear. What can man do to me?

Rom.8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If  YHWH is for us, who can be against us?

4. Num.10:2 Make two silver trumpets for yourself. You shall make them of hammered work. You shall use them for calling the congregation and for directing the movement of the camps. When they blow both of them, all the congregation shall gather before you at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. But if they blow only one, then the leaders, the heads of the divisions of Israel, shall gather to you. When you blow an alarm, the camps that lie on the east side shall then begin their journey. When you blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side shall begin their journey. They shall sound the call for them to begin their journeys. 

5. Num.10:9 And when ye go to war in your land against the adversary that oppresseth you, then ye shall sound an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before YHWH your Elohim, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.

WARNING ABOUT BACKSTABBING

6. Deut.25:17 Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary. And he did not fear YHWH. Therefore it shall be, when YHWH your Elohim has given you rest from your enemies all around, in the land which YHWH your Elohim is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget. Num.24:20 Balaam looked at Amalek and took up his (prophetic) utterance, and said Amalek is the foremost of the (neighboring) nations, but in his latter end he shall come to destruction.

Amalek is Esau’s descendent (Gen.36:12). Exodus 17:8-16 describes a story of Amalek’s attack on weakened and exhausted Israelites. 1Sam.15 describes a story of Saul’s disobedience and estrangement.

CALL FOR PEACE

7. Deut.20:10 When you go near a city to fight against it, then proclaim an offer of peace to it. 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*. Now if the city will not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. And when YHWH your Elohim delivers it into your hands, you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword**.

* ‘to serve’ – even here YHWH gives a chance to the defeated nation to serve Him through the blessing of the nation of Israel.

** More accurate translation: ‘When YHWH your Elohim delivers it into your hands, you shall strike HIS every male in it with the edge of the sword’. This means that this verse is about men fighting in a battle and not about peaceful land inhabitants.

1Pet.3:11 Seek peace and chase after it.

REGARDING THE SIEGE AND KEEPING THE CAMPS CLEAN

8. Deut.20:19 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. 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.

9. Deut.23:10 If there is among you any man who is not clean by some occurrence* in the night to him at night, then he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come within the camp. But when evening comes he shall bathe himself in water, and when the sun is down he may return to the camp. 

* ‘occurrence’ – in Hebrew from the root קָרָה (kara) – ‘to occur’, ‘to happen’, ‘to meet’. This implies a wider meaning.

REGARDING ALIEN THINGS WHICH ARE AN ABOMINATION AND ABOUT TROPHIES

10. Deut.20:14 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 YHWH your Elohim gives you. Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations. But of the cities of these peoples which YHWH your Elohim gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive. Rather you must destroy them completely – the Hitti (Hittites), the Emori (Amorites), the Kena’ani (Canaanites), the P’rizi (Perizzites), the Hivi (Hivites) and the Y’vusi (Jebusites) – as YHWH your Elohim has ordered (commanded) you. So that they won’t teach you to follow their abominable practices, which they do for their gods, thus causing you to sin against YHWH your Elohim.

11. Num.31:22 Only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, everything that can stand fire, you shall make go through fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless it shall also be purified with the water of impurity. And all that cannot stand fire you shall pass through water. And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and you shall be clean. Then you shall come into the camp.

12. Deut.23:9 When the army goes out against your enemies, then keep yourself from every wicked thing*.

* ‘wicked thing’ – in Hebrew רַע (rah). It is interesting to note that the first letter of this word ‘resh’ represents ‘a head’ (רַ – in ancient Hebrew, Paleo) and the second letter ‘ayin’ represents ‘an eye’ (ע – in ancient Hebrew, Paleo). The Egyptian god of sun Rah is often portrayed as “all seeing eye”. Most of the pagan feasts and even the day of the week Sunday are connected in some way to the symbols of the sun.

1Cor.10:20 I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.

Gal.6:1 Brothers, suppose someone is caught doing something wrong. You who have the Spirit should set him right, but in a spirit of humility, keeping an eye on yourselves so that you won’t be tempted too.

DEFERMENT

13. Deut.20:5 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. 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. 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.

It is interesting to note how firm the covenant of  YHWH is and his promise of blessing to those who fulfill it. To build a house and not live in it, to plant a vineyard and not use its fruits, or to be betrothed to a woman and not marry her would actually be as a curse to a man: Deut.28:30 You will get ENGAGED (betrothed) to a woman, but another man will marry her. You will BUILD a house but not live in it. You will PLANT a vineyard but not use its fruit (if you do not obey the voice of  YHWH your Elohim, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes).

14. Deut.24:5 When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business. He shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer his wife whom he has taken.

15. Deut.20:8 What man is there that is fearful and faint-hearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren’s heart melt as his heart.