“Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God.”
~ Deuteronomy 20:18
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you hope to one day be soldiers? Do you hope to one day fight in battles? Do you hope to one day see guys, gals and kids killed? If you were an Israelite people group kid living 3500 years ago, you would have seen guys, gals and kids being killed by your people group’s soldiers as they fought battles against the people groups of guys, gals and kids who were living in the land of Canaan – the land that God was giving to His specially chosen guys, gals and kids – the Israelite people group guys, gals and kids, to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . Deuteronomy 20 specifically denotes some of God’s protocols that He had for guys who were in the Israelite people group’s army who would be facing battles with neighboring enemy people group’s armies. The protocols that God expected His specially chosen guys – Israelite people group guys, to adhere to were to go into effect after the Israelite people group’s army of guys had completely killed – as God had commanded them to do, every guy, gal and kid in the Hittite, Amorite, Canaanite, Perizzite, Hivite and Jebusite people groups who were living in the land of Canaan. God specifically told His specially chosen guys – through Moses, that He did not want any guy fighting in a battle who had not yet dedicated the new house that he was building. God expressly told His specially chosen guys – through Moses, that He did not want any guy fighting in a battle who had not yet enjoyed the grapes from the vineyard that he had planted. God clearly told His specially chosen guys – through Moses, that He did want any guy fighting in a battle who had not yet married his fiancé. God explicitly told His specially chosen guys – through Moses, that He did not want any guy going into battle from among His specially chosen guys who was afraid or fainthearted – that this guy should just go back home to his family. The obvious message that God wanted to communicate to His specially chosen guys and gals – through Moses, was that He really wanted His specially chosen guys, gals and kids to enjoy in every way living in the land that He was giving them to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . the reason that God wanted all the guys, gals and kids totally eradicated from the land that He was giving to His specially chosen guys and gals to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . was because He knew per verse 18, “Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God.”
God had a different protocol for the Israelite people group’s army to observe for a city that they were planning to attack that was located outside the borders of the land of Canaan. When the Israelite people group’s army arrived at a city, the Israelite people group’s army was to offer the guys and gals who were living in the city peace. If the guys and gals who were living in the city decided to accept the peace offer from the Israelite people group’s army, the guys and gals who were living in the city were then to become slaves to the Israelite people group’s guys and gals. If the guys and gals who were living in the city decided to ‘snub their noses’ at the Israelite people group’s army’s peace offer, the Israelite people group’s army was to besiege the city until it was captured. All the guys who were living in the city were to be executed by the Israelite people group’s army. All the gals, kids, livestock and everything else that would be found in the city were to become booty that guys in the Israelite people group’s army could use in any way that they wanted. If a siege had to be used to overrun a city, God clearly told His specially chosen guys in the Israel people group’s army that He wanted them to use only the trees that did not produce fruit. It sure comes across to your grandpaa that it was vital to God that His specially chosen guys and gals enjoyed every ‘fruit’ of the land – including the fruits of fruit trees. Your grandpaa thinks that God’s specially chosen guys and gals should have learned that God did really care for them but . . .
Your grandpaa knows that He is very repetitive about saying that God was giving the land of Canaan to His specially chosen guys and gals to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . God over and over again showed His specially chosen guys and gals that He would quickly help them if and when they asked Him for His help. God was very upfront about the fact that He would always defeat any and every enemy people group army that His specially chosen guys would ever face – that no army was greater than what He would have the Israelite people group’s army be. God unreservedly promised victory for His specially chosen guys in every battle if they totally trusted in Him for His help. If you have made a decision of faith to become Christ-followers, you have become soldiers for God. You are fighting daily battles and you are defeating – with God’s help, enemy spirits such as the jealous‘ites’, greedy‘ites’, disobedient‘ites’, angry‘ites’, . . . your grandpaa has some regrets that he never served in the armed forces. After your grandpaa received notice to take the required army physical and he passed the physical, your grandpaa was happy that he did as he had had a heart murmur from having rheumatic fever when he was a kid. After your grandpaa took the army’s physical and because he did not know when his draft number would be drawn, your grandmaa and grandpaa set a wedding date so that they could enjoy time together before . . . your grandpaa thinks that God kept your grandpaa’s draft number from being drawn to become a soldier in the United States army so that your grandmaa and grandpaa could fight spiritual battles for the growth of His kingdom on planet Earth.
Deuteronomy 20 (840)