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Deuteronomy 20 Bible study: He who goes with you
Before any battle a priest spoke first, and the fearful went home "lest his brother’s heart melt as his heart" (20:8), the Hebrew verb of Israel's words at Kadesh, "Our brothers have made our heart melt" (1:28). A city was to hear peace before a siege (20:10), and even in a long siege the trees for food were left standing (20:19).
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“and shall tell them, “Hear, Israel, you draw near today to battle against your enemies. Don’t let your heart faint! Don’t be afraid, nor tremble, neither be scared of them; for the LORD your God is he who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.””
Try it · Did you catch it?
“In Deuteronomy 20, a priest speaks to the people before the battle, and the captains are appointed after that.”
Is that in Deuteronomy 20, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Before the captains, a priest
The chapter opens with what Israel will see: "horses, chariots, and a people more numerous than you" (20:1). Israel had faced that before: "All the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen, and his army overtook them encamping by the sea" (Exodus 14:9). So the first verse answers fear with a memory: "you shall not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you" (20:1). Then, before any captain is named, a priest speaks: "It shall be, when you draw near to the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people" (20:2). His first words are "Hear, Israel" (20:3), the words that open 6:4 and 9:1. What he gives them is a reason: "for the LORD your God is he who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you" (20:4). Only "when the officers have finished speaking to the people" are "captains of armies" appointed (20:9).
Where it leads to Jesus
First say, "Peace"
Deuteronomy 20:10leads toLuke 10:5-6
Moses tells Israel, "When you draw near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it" (20:10), and what follows turns on its answer (20:11-12). When Jesus sent seventy others "two by two ahead of him into every city and place where he was about to come" (Luke 10:1), he told them, "Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you" (Luke 10:5-6). Jesus doesn't cite Deuteronomy 20, so setting them together is a reading. One reading hears an echo of this chapter: peace spoken first, and what follows turning on its answer. Another reads "Peace be to this house" as a greeting to a house in its own setting, without pointing to this chapter.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Deuteronomy 20
That was a taste
The rest of Deuteronomy 20 is waiting in Favor
- Who goes home, and why
- Peace first
- "Is the tree of the field man?"
- Hearts that melt
- 11 questions as you read
- 11 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
שָׁלוֹםshalomsay sha-LOHM
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "completeness, soundness, welfare, peace", and among its senses "peace from war". "When you draw near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it" (20:10), and "if it gives you answer of peace and opens to you" (20:11). The next verse has the verb Strong's derives it from, shalam: "If it will make no peace with you" (20:12). Joshua uses that verb too: "There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon" (Joshua 11:19).
For your group
Deuteronomy 20 Bible study questions
- 1"When you go out to battle… you shall not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you" (20:1). What has God already brought you through that you could remember the next time something looks bigger than you?
- 2The fearful man went home "lest his brother’s heart melt as his heart" (20:8). Whose courage or fear rubs off on you most, and whose rubs off from you?
- 3The law sent home a man with a new house, a new vineyard or a bride not yet married, "lest he die in the battle" (20:5-7). Who around you is at a new beginning right now, and how could you make room for them to see it through?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Deuteronomy 20 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home