The Christian Family: Marriage and Household Order: The Family

When Is It Right To Fight - 3

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Family Government

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2006-12-22

Synopsis: In this sermon, John Weaver continues his exposition of Deuteronomy 20, focusing on verses 10-20. He outlines three key principles for biblical warfare: first, an offer of peace must be extended before an attack, but on terms of justice and righteousness, not negotiation; second, war is to be waged against man, not against creation, forbidding wanton destruction and scorched-earth policies; third, the law of booty provides reward for soldiers and the congregation, with a tithe to the Lord, but excludes the state, thereby restraining politicians from unnecessary wars. Applications emphasize the priority of production over politics and the importance of fighting to win to avoid future conflict.

[John Weaver] Okay, Deuteronomy chapter 20, and let's read the entire chapter. "'Now goeth thou to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses and chariots, and a people more than thou. Be not afraid of them, for the Lord thy God is with thee, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. It shall be, when thou art come nigh unto the battle, that the priests shall approach and speak unto the people, and shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, thou approach this day unto battle against thy enemies.'

[John Weaver] Let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them. For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you. And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it? Let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it. And what man is there that hath betrothed the wife, and hath not taken her? Let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her. And the officer shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return unto his house, and lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart.

[John Weaver] It shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people. When thou comest not into a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. It shall be, if it make thee an answer of peace to open unto thee, then it shall be that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee." And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it. And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword. But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, thou shalt take unto thyself, and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee." Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.

[John Weaver] But unto the cities of these people which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth. But thou shalt utterly destroy them, namely the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee." that they teach you not to do after all their abominations which they have done unto their gods, so should you sin against the Lord your God. For thou shalt besiege a city a long time, and making war against it, to take it. Thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them, for thou mayest eat of them. And thou shalt not cut them down, for the tree of the field is the man's life, to employ them in the siege." Only the trees, which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down, and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued."

[John Weaver] Now, this whole chapter is given to what I call militia or military regulations. Let me just take a few moments and review. I've already preached two messages on this chapter. First of all, in verse 1, I pointed out that fighting and wars.... are assumed facts and realities in Scripture. For instance, God says, when thou goest to battle against thine enemies. Secondly, I pointed out that numerical odds are inconsequential to the people of faith, because when you go to battle, he said, and see a people more than thou be not afraid. Thirdly, I pointed out that superior armaments are inconsequential to a people of faith. For he said, when thou goest out and seest horses and chariots, and the people more than thou." Remember, I told you that the horses and the chariots were the bombers and the tanks in Bible days. So he says, once you see superior weaponry, be not afraid.

[John Weaver] And then fourthly, I showed you the major advantage, or the major difference, and the stated advantage, and that is because the Lord, by God, is he that goeth with you and fighteth for you to save you. And then we look at some military exemptions in this chapter. Although all of the people, all of the males from twenty years and over, were mustered for the battle, not every man went to battle. Here were some of the exemptions.

[John Weaver] First of all, the man who had built a new house and had not dedicated, and I'm not going to explain that today since I dealt with that last Sunday, but the word dedication does not refer to just holding a little ceremony. So the man who had not trained his household yet was exempt, and I pointed out that this exemption could last for several years. The man was exempt who had planted a vineyard and had not yet eaten of it, and that exemption itself could last up to five years. For the first three years, the fruit of the vineyard was unclean. The fourth year, all the fruit was holy unto the Lord, and the fifth year the man could eat of his vineyard, which means the sixth year he would be ready for war. Of course, you've got to understand that Men who had had vineyards for five years already or for four years would soon be available. They would not necessarily have a five-year exemption. And then thirdly, there was the man who had betrothed a wife and had not taken her.

[John Weaver] God said he is exempt. And then, of course, those who are fearful and faint-hearted. As I've pointed out, those who are literally scared, silly. God says, let them go home. You don't need them anyhow. And all they'll do is discourage the brethren. Now, there was another group that I pointed out that was exempt that are not listed in this passage. And someone tell me who were they? The Levites. They were automatically exempt because the pastors, the teachers, were not included in this military census. Now, God says when all of these people are exempted then and then only you are to make captives to lead the people." Now, I pointed out that one of the reasons why these were exempted was because God says, lest he die in the battle.

[John Weaver] I made a distinction for you that although a man may be a righteous man and fighting in a righteous cause and fighting a righteous war, there is still the possibility that he may die in battle. Because although God generally protects his own, it is not God's will to protect all the time, because if he did, no one would ever die. And the Bible teaches that the wages of sin are certainly death. Then we may some applications.

[John Weaver] I showed you in all of this how the family has priority over defense and over warfare, how covenant life is to be enjoyed by all of God's people, and all of this enters into these military exemptions and exclusions. Today we are going to be dealing with verses 10 through 20. Let me begin by saying this, that man has deviated so far from the principles of the word of God in every area and every sphere of his life that when men hear the simple teaching of the word of God, they are both amazed and horrified. They are amazed, first of all, at the simplicity, the justice and the straightforwardness of And secondly, they are horrified at implementing the scriptures. When I say horrified at implementing the scriptures, the standard response is one of unbelief, and in unbelief people say, it will never work. Times have changed.

[John Weaver] This is the 21st century. We don't do things like that anymore. And we never stop to think probably one of the reasons we fail so often is we don't do things like that anymore. But you see, although times may change, and although the centuries roll by, and although people may change, God and his word never change. That's why he said in Malachi 3 in verse 8, I, the Lord, change not. When we talk about the immutability of God, we're talking about the unchangeableness of God. That's why the Bible says in Psalm 119 in verse 89, Forever, O Lord, is thy word settled in the heavens. So not only does God does not change, but his word does not change. So the principles of the word of God invariably remain the same.

[John Weaver] What worked 4,000 years ago will work today. What did not work 4,000 years ago will not work today, either.

[John Weaver] Now, let's begin by showing you, first of all, how in this passage God requires that before an attack, a declaration of war, that is, before an attack or declaration of war, An offer of peace is to be extended to the enemy. Look in your Bibles, beginning there with verse 10. He says, When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it make thee an answer of peace and open unto thee, then it shall be that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. If it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword. But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself, and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies which the Lord thy God hath given thee.

[John Weaver] Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations." But of the cities of these people which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth, watch now, but thou shalt utterly destroy them, namely the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, that they teach you not to do after all their abominations which they have done unto their gods, so should you sin against the Lord your God."

[John Weaver] Now, let me begin by making several statements. I just read where God says that before there is an open attack, before there is a declaration of war, an offer of peace is to be extended to the enemy. First of all, this offer of peace is not a negotiation. It is not a negotiation. Secondly, this offer of peace is not a compromise of righteousness. The righteous cause must always be maintained. What then does this offer of peace mean? It means that the enemy must yield. He must submit and or surrender to the offer of peace. You see, it is peace but it is peace on terms of justice and righteousness. That's why I said it is not a negotiated peace. The reason God says this is because this offer of peace is an offer which will avoid excessive violence and bloodshed. All the people have to do to avoid violence and bloodshed is to submit to righteousness. to submit to justice, to submit to that which God demands. If the people refuse the offer of peace on God's terms, then a full-scale war is to be waged and all the males are to be annihilated.

[John Weaver] So the enemy may have peace and life on terms of God's justice, or they may have death and destruction on terms of God's justice. God says that if the enemy receives the offer of peace, that is, if they open their gates to you, then you are not to kill anyone there. But they are to become your tributaries.

[John Weaver] Now, look, if you would, in verse 11. It shall be, it make thee an answer of peace and open unto thee, that is, you can just simply walk in. You don't have to fire a shot. Then it shall be that all the people therein that is found shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.

[John Weaver] Now, when we think of a tributary, we normally think of a slave. But let me point out the fact that although someone who is a tributary might be considered a slave in a practical sense, it does not necessarily include slavery in a real sense. For instance, I'm going to show you that the term tributary can be used in the Bible not only in the form of labor. That is, you're working for someone, but it can also be used in terms of tribute or taxes.

[John Weaver] Look in your Bibles, if you would please, first of all, to the book of Judges, chapter 1 and verse 30. The book of Judges. Judges, chapter 1, and note, if you would please, verse 30. The Bible says concerning the heathen, the Canaanites that dwelt in the land, neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron nor the inhabitants of Nahoral, but the Canaanites dwelt among them and became tributaries. So here were these Canaanites that God told the people that they were to kill, that they did not kill. They just simply became tributaries. What does that mean? It means that those existing Canaanites either or the Israelites, or they were so subdued that they paid a tribute and supported the Israelitish social order. Turn in your Bibles, if you would, to 2 Chronicles 8 and look at verse 8 to begin with.

[John Weaver] Watch closely as I read this. In fact, let's begin with verse 7. As for all the people that were left of the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, which were not of Israel, but of their children who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, then did Solomon make to pay tributes until this day.

[John Weaver] So what were they doing? They were basically taxed, is what it amounted to. They were recognizing that they were a conquered people and they were paying tribute to a superior nation. I will explain that statement in just a moment. Look in chapter 10 and verse 18 of 2 Chronicles. The Bible said, then King Rehoboam sent Hadorim, that was over the tribute, that is, he was over the taxes, and the children of Israel stoned him with stones and he died. But King Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot to flee in Jerusalem. So in this instance, the King of Judah was trying to tax the tribes of Israel, which this was for the great king, but he sent Hadorim, who was over the tribute. What was he over? He was over the taxes. So a tributary is literally someone who pays taxes, someone who recognizes that they have been conquered.

[John Weaver] Does that ring a bell? Now you know why we pay taxes, because we've been conquered. See, our Lord was asked, Did he pay taxes? And he asked the question, and he said, Are the children then free? And very obviously, yes, the children are free. He said, Of whom do kings take tribute? Of strangers or of the children? They said, Of strangers. He said, Then the children are free. So we are counted then as strangers in our own land because we are paying tribute to a conquering power, basically speaking.

[John Weaver] If you look in your Bibles to the book of Esther, Esther chapter 10, and verse 1. Esther chapter 10 and verse 1. Here the word of God says, And King Ahasuerus laid a tribute upon the land and upon the isles of the sea. What was he doing? He was laying a tax upon the land. So very obviously a tributary was a conquered people, but it did not necessarily mean that they were slaves in the sense that we think of slaves. A tributary was someone who went about their normal, everyday life, functioned the way they usually function. The only problem was, now they paid tribute. They paid a portion of their livelihood, a portion of their living, to the conqueror. Now, if you will turn in your Bible to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 4, I want to show you what I meant a while ago when I said that the conquered nation was paying tribute to a superior nation. When I said that, I did not necessarily mean superior militarily.

[John Weaver] Do you realize that many times Israel had an inferior military? and yet they conquered superior armies. What in the world am I referring to, then, when I say that the enemy has to recognize a superior nation? Here's what I'm referring to. Look in Deuteronomy 4, beginning there with verse 6. God is talking about his laws, his judgments, his statutes. He says, For this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of all the nations, which shall hear of all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all the things which we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, and hath statutes and judgments so righteous, as all this law which I set before you this day." So God's people are to have a superior society, a superior government. Why? Because our society and our government is to be based upon the law of God.

[John Weaver] You say, Brother Weaver, don't you know that this is the age of multiculturalism? And don't you know that all of the cultures are equal to ours? That ain't so, folks. It's just not true.

[John Weaver] Now, if you really believe that, I challenge you to go on over and move to India and worship the rats and the cows and starve to death with the rest of them. I believe our culture is far superior than that of India. as far superior than that of China, of Africa, of any of the nations. Why? Because when our culture began, it was based upon the Christian religion, based upon the laws of God. And so very obviously, God says, if this nation answers with peace They open unto you, they become your tributaries. Why?

[John Weaver] Because they're supporting God's law, God's work, and what is going to happen? If they open to you, then very obviously you're going to have free access to their cities, to their states. You're going to have free access to preach and to teach the word of God and teach them the law of God. So very obviously, here is an offer of peace to be extended to the enemy. I don't know if the enemy attacked first, or if maybe this was some other incident that is not necessarily explained in the word of God, but God says before an open attack, before a declaration of war, make an offer of peace.

[John Weaver] If they accept, fine, then you have no problem. If they don't accept, then all the All the males are to be killed."

[John Weaver] Now, the interesting thing is, if you look back in your Bibles to Deuteronomy 20, the only exception to this offer of peace were the Canaanites, those who then dwelt in the land. Look at what God says in verse 15,"...Thus thou shalt do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee." which are none of the cities of these nations," that is, of the Canaanites. Verse 16,"...of these thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth," verse 17, namely the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites. God said, I want you to kill every one of them. Man, woman, boy, girl, suckling, ox, ass, kill everything. Why? First of all, because they were under the ban, they were under the curse, they were under the judicial sentence of death from God. God says, I want you to exclude them because I have sentenced them to death. Secondly, God says in verse 18, that they teach you not to do after their abominations which they have done unto their gods, so should you sin against the Lord your God.

[John Weaver] God said, I don't want you learning their ways. I want them exterminated. Let me draw a biblical principle before I go further. Here is a principle I think we can see from this offer of peace. I believe that God is telling us that we are to always try to avoid bloodshed, if possible. Let me give you an illustration. Back when those riots were happening a few years ago out in Los Angeles, California, some of them filtered down to Atlanta and some of the little surrounding towns. And usually, especially if I have my wife with me, I'm always armed. And when I travel, I always carry a weapon. Always.

[John Weaver] You never know what's going to happen. And I was riding down a street that I've gone down all my life. And yes, it was in a black neighborhood, but I've been, I was, I drove, I've driven that ever since I've been driving. And there's one little black juke joint on the left, and here were four or five black men standing outside, and I was driving down that street. And Fitzgerald.

[John Weaver] And all of a sudden, I was by myself, and all of a sudden they started waving at me, come on, come on, and shook the fist. And I looked in my seat beside me, and I had a pistol with a 15-round clip with hydroshocks in it. And I looked at them and I smiled and I said, you really don't want me to stop. You just think you want me to stop. And I kept going. You say, well, Brother Weaver, why didn't you stop and fight?

[John Weaver] Because I'd end up shooting somebody. I'd either kill one of them or they'd kill me or I'd kill them all. You see what I'm saying? And all I've had to do is just laugh at them and keep going. So if I can avoid bloodshed, I'm going to avoid bloodshed.

[John Weaver] Now, let me finish this. Here's the principle. If we are to avoid bloodshed, if we're to try to avoid bloodshed, if at all possible, but, let me finish, If it is not possible to avoid bloodshed, God is telling us, fight to win so that you won't have to fight again. Now watch this. He said, if they open unto you, fine, they've just become your tributaries. But if they won't open unto you, what do you do? Kill all the males.

[John Weaver] Now let me ask you a question. If you go to a city or to a nation, and you exterminate all the males, how soon are you going to have to be back there fighting again? It will be a while. Of course, that would be referring to the men. What I'm showing you is this. What would that do to that city, that state or that nation? It would literally destroy their culture. You wouldn't be back there any time soon, I can assure you.

[John Weaver] So God says, here's the principle, we are to avoid bloodshed if at all possible. But if it is not possible, you fight to win. And you fight so that you won't have to do it over again. Let me tell you that this is so funny. When I was a boy, I used to have to ride the school bus, and there was a neighbor boy, He used to come up and try to wrestle me every day.

[John Weaver] And although I was older than he was, but he was larger than I was. And every day I would wrestle him down, every single day. And usually I'd get him in a headlock and I'd be, you know, and sometimes I'd put my knuckles up under there where it really, you know. But every day he'd come back and wrestle me again. And he never won. He never won. And the reason he would do that was because the older boys in the back would say, I'll give you a nickel, or I'll give you fifty cents, and go up and slap John back to the head.

[John Weaver] All they wanted to do was see a fight. And they never gave him the money. I mean, he wasn't very smart, you know. So he'd get whipped every day. But I told my father, I said, Dad, I'm getting so tired of fighting Jack. I said, every day I have to wrestle him down on the bus. And Daddy said, Son, if you hurt him one time, he'll stop. I said, Yes, sir. So I got on the bus that afternoon and I said, now Jack, I want to tell you something. If you mess with me this afternoon, I'm going to hurt you. I don't want to hurt you, but if you mess with me, I'm going to hurt you. Just remember that. Well, we got down the road and sure enough, I looked up in the mirror and I saw Jack slipping up behind me so he could slap me back to the head. I stood up and I turned around and I said, Jack, remember what I told you when you got on the bus. If you mess with me, I'm going to hurt you.

[John Weaver] So I turned around and sat back down. And sure enough, I watched him. He came up and slapped me right back to the head. And he turned around to run to the back of the bus. And when he did, I was up. I grabbed him. I spun him around. And when he spun around, I balled my fist up and I hit him as hard as I could in the stomach.

[John Weaver] I mean, he doubled over. You could hear the breath going out of him. And when he doubled over, I came up with an uppercut and I hit him right up in the jaw. And I knocked him so hard, I knocked him over A school bus seat, which I know fractured a rib. He was crying, blood was coming from everywhere. So when I got off the bus, I told my dad, I said, you're probably going to get a call from Jack's parents.

[John Weaver] Let me tell you what I did. You told me if I heard him, he'd leave me alone. You know, he did leave me alone for a couple of days. Until the boy said, I'll give you a dollar. But you know, that boy became one of my best friends. And he was converted later on under my ministry. And he's now dead. He died of cancer a number of years ago. But the amazing thing is, you know, Dad said, son, if you hurt him, he'll leave you alone. Here's the principle.

[John Weaver] If you've got to fight, fight to win so you won't have to fight again. Now, let's look at another principle. Let's go to number 2. Let's go to verses 19 and 20. Let's read it. When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, and making war against it to take it, Thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them. For thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down, for the tree of the field is a man's life, to employ them in the siege. Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down, and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued." Now, here is the second principle. War is not to be waged against creation. but against man. Let me say that another way. War is not to be waged against nature, but against man.

[John Weaver] These scriptures forbid what you and I would call a wanton destruction of the earth. Let me say it another way. These scriptures forbid the scorched earth policy. These scriptures were violated by Sherman and many others like him who looted, pillaged, burned and destroyed everything in their path. God says, now look, if you've got to build bulwarks You cut down the trees that are not meat or food-bearing trees. Don't be using pear trees. Don't be using peach trees. Don't be using any tree that's going to be good for food. You cut down one that you know is not going to be good for food. Why?

[John Weaver] Creation is not the sinner. Man is the sinner. I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 5. Notice verse 9, and then we'll make some applications. Ecclesiastes 5, verse 9. Look what God says. Ecclesiastes 5, verse 9. Moreover, the prophet of the earth is for all. The King himself is served by the field. So the earth, the prophet of the earth, is for all. So God says, You cut down the fruit trees, you're hurting yourself. You can live from those fruit trees just like your enemies could. So the principle here is this, no fruit-bearing trees are to be destroyed, only those that are not fit for food. Why? Let's make some applications.

[John Weaver] First of all, number one, are you listening? Production has priority over politics. Production has priority over politics.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to think with me. Everyone in here is familiar with the War of Northern Aggression or the War for Southern Independence or as some like to call it, Lincoln's War. Lincoln's War was a war of politics. Why? Because in his war of politics, he did not fight against the men in the South, per se, he fought against the South. He tried to destroy everything in the South, the fields, the crops, the trees, everything. In other words, he wanted it where the South would be starved into submission. That's why when Sherman marched to the sea, he burned, raped, pillaged, plundered everything in his path. Up until this time in our country, there had been no war as such against production. I want you to understand something. After Lincoln's war, production no longer has a priority over politics. has a priority over production, and after Lincoln there were many others who followed in his vein, but the prime imitator of Lincoln was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Why? Because production is now controlled by politics.

[John Weaver] If you don't believe that, I challenge anybody in here to try farming for one year. You can only plant what the government tells you you can plant. You say, bless God, I'll plant whatever I want to plant. Go ahead. You can't sell it. Not unless you can find individuals who will buy it, but you will not sell it on the market without their permission. God is saying that production has a priority over politics.

[John Weaver] Now, there's a second implication here. And that is this. War is not to be waged against productive citizens. War is not to be waged against productive citizens. Let me explain this. For instance, look in your Bibles to Psalm 1. I'm not going to read all of these passages. I do want you to see Psalm 1. Many of you can quote that Psalm. But you will find the same truth in Judges 9. Many times in the Bible, men are compared to trees. Many times. A tree in the Bible is a symbol for man. Look in Psalm 1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

[John Weaver] But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he," that is, that man,"...shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth its fruit in its season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away."

[John Weaver] So here men are compared to trees, and especially Christian men are the productive ones. But here is the principle War is not to be waged against productive citizens. Civilians, those who are not fighting, those fruit-bearing, those productive citizens are not to be attacked. Why? They will be a base of support after you have defeated your enemy. Let me give you a classic example. Many of you know that our bombers bombed Germany left and right. But does anyone know of one city that was bombed that had absolutely no military significance at all, no ammo dumps, no plants to manufacture bombs, was a center of culture, a center of art, Dresden? Dresden? Why? Listen, why was Dresden bombed? Nothing there.

[John Weaver] Well, maybe morals, so to speak. You see what I'm saying? But all they had there was art and that kind of stuff. So the point is, why in the world, the thing that really, really upsets me It's when I hear about someone who was killed in a drive-by shooting. Why would you shoot someone, number one, that you don't even know, number two, that's not an enemy of yours, and number three, that's minding his own business?

[John Weaver] It makes absolutely no sense. And that's what God is saying in this principle. Don't destroy the fruit-bearing people because after the victory, they're going to be the ones who will be the base of support for a reconstructed, godly social order. You know, many people do not know it, but after Japan was defeated, do you realize that thousands of missionaries went to Japan? In fact, they asked MacArthur to send them. MacArthur requested missionaries be sent there. The point I'm trying to make is, if you're going to conquer somebody, if you destroy the base of support, then you're going to have to put out everything yourself. God says, no, you're to make war against man, not war against his creation.

[John Weaver] Look back in your Bible to Deuteronomy 20, and let me very quickly give you the third principle that we're going to give from this passage today, and that is this. The law of booty provides a reward for the soldiers. Everybody know what booty is? That's the spoils. Watch this. Look in Deuteronomy 20, verse 14. God says, But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself, and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee."

[John Weaver] Do you remember what Caleb said when he was trying to get the people to go ahead and attack the enemy there to conquer Canaan land after they had said, man, those people are big and we're just grasshoppers in their sight. Remember what Caleb said? He said, they're bread for us. They're bread for us. Look in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Numbers, chapter 31.

[John Weaver] Let me show you this. Let's begin reading with verse 21, Numbers 31, verse 21. And Eliezer the priest, son of the men of war who went to the battle, this is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses. Only the gold and the silver and the brass and the iron and the tin and lead, everything that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean Nevertheless, it shall be purified with the water of separation, all that abide but not the fire you shall make go through the water. You shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean, and afterwards you shall come into the camp.' And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and beast," and the war has been won now, so they've got the prey, they've got the booty, they've got the spoils. "...both of man and beast, thou and Eliezer the priest, and the chief of the fathers of the congregation, and divide the prey into two parts."

[John Weaver] between them that took the war upon them, who went out to the battle, and between all the congregation. And levy a tribute unto the Lord of the men of war, who went out to the battle, one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the bees, and of the asses, and of the sheep. Take it of their half, and give it an alias of the priest, for in him offering to the Lord. And of the children of Israel's half thou shalt take one portion of fifty, of the persons, of the bees, of the asses, of the flocks, All the men are beasts, and give them unto the Levites, which keep the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord. And Moses and Eleazar the priesthood, as the Lord commanded Moses."

[John Weaver] Now, look if you would, please, at verse 29. Take it of their half. Look in verse 30. Of the children of Israel's half. Look in verse 42. And of the children of Israel's half, which Moses divided from the men that warred." Now, here's the war. And let's say, I'll give you an illustration, let's suppose that 200,000 men are mustered for a war, but only 100,000 actually have to go to war.

[John Weaver] The battle is won, there's a lot of spoil. Guess what God says? God says, you give half to the men who went to war, and you give the other half to those who didn't go to war. They were mustered, but they didn't go to war. You divide the spoil between them. Then God says you levy a tribute upon each hand, and that tribute is to be given to the Lord, to recognize his provision, his protection and his blessing.

[John Weaver] 1 Samuel, chapter 30. Let's begin reading with verse 22. In this passage, the Philistines have attacked Ziglag and burned it with fire. They have taken the wives and the children of David and his men and all the spoils. goes after the Philistines. And what happens is this. Well, let's begin reading in 1 Samuel, chapter 30, and notice if you would, let's go back to verse 5. And David's two wives were taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. And David was greatly distressed for the people's sake of stoning him, because the soul of all the peoples grieved every man for his sons and daughters, but David encouraged himself in the Lord." Now, David asked, should he go after them? God says yes. Watch verse 10,"...but David pursued he and four hundred men."

[John Weaver] for 200 abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook, be sore." So here David has 600 men. Two-thirds of them are able to go to battle. The other third, they just can't. Why? Because they're so distressed, they're so upset, they're weeping because their wives and their children have been taken.

[John Weaver] Now, what happens is this. Look in verse 19. And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil nor anything, that they had taken to them. David recovered all." Watch now,"...and David took all the flocks in the herds which they drayed before those other cattle, and said, This is David's spoil."

[John Weaver] Now remember, these Philistines had already been looting. OK? So they had not only gotten all David's men, Uh, the loop from those families, they had moved from other places that they had been looting as well. So David said, this is mine. And David came to the 200 men, which were so faint that they could not follow David, who they had made also to abide at the brook, be sore. And they went forth to meet David and to meet the people.

[John Weaver] And there were with that were with him. And when David came near to the people, he saluted them. Now watch, then answered all the wicked men and the men of Belial, that is these ungodly of those that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them all of the spoil that we have recovered, save that every man his wife, and every man his children,

[John Weaver] they may lead them away and depart." In other words, their attitude is this. We did the fighting, bless God. We're keeping the spoil. Just give them back their wives and kids, and that's it. Look what David says, verse 23. Thus said David, You shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the Lord hath given us. who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us in our hand?

[John Weaver] For who will hearken unto you in this matter? But as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarryeth by the stuff they shall part alike. And it was so from that day forward that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day." So the part that went to war and the part that tarried by the stuff split the spoil 50-50.

[John Weaver] I hope you understand this principle, not just monetarily speaking. This is true in a family situation. It's true in a church situation. I've used this verse many times to share things with Alice, but things which God enables me to do that she's not able to do. Just simple from the very fact that she supports me, whatever victory and blessing I have from God, half of it goes to her.

[John Weaver] Same thing with this assembly. Not everybody goes across this country preaching and teaching. God has allowed me to do so. But the blessings and the victory that God gives me, half of them go to you. That's the way God counts things. Because if it were not for you, I could not go and do what I do. You follow that principle? Someone, somewhere has to carry by the staff. Someone, somewhere has to farm and support an army. So God says they shall split and split alike.

[John Weaver] Now, here's what I want you to see. I want you to see out of all the spoils, out of all the booty, out of all the prey, part of it always went to the Lord and his work. Look back in your Bibles to the book of Numbers 31. We just read it. I'm going to start there and read one more time and then go forward. Numbers 31, look in verse 28. Numbers 31, verse 28. And levy a tribute unto the Lord of the men of war who went out to battle one soul of 500, both of the persons and of the bees and the asses and the sheep." So here was a percentage of their spoil that was given to the Lord. Look in verse 47.

[John Weaver] Even of the children of Israel's hand, that is, these who did not go to war now, Moses took one portion of fifty, both of man and beast, and gave them unto the Levites, who kept the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses." So God got a portion of those men who actually went to battle. God got a portion of those men who did not go to battle.

[John Weaver] Now turn right over to 1 Chronicles 26. You may be in for a real surprise as you read this verse. 1 Chronicles 26. By the way, I hope you know that the temple was an elaborate building. All kinds of gold, silver, brass, precious stones, everything. Where in the world did all that gold and silver come from? Well, look in 1 Chronicles 26 and verse 27. Here's what the Bible says.

[John Weaver] Out of the spoils won in battle did they dedicate to maintain the house of the Lord." And then you read about how David gave up his spoils, all the captains and all the mighty men gave up their spoils. So all the gold and the silver in the temple came from war. Look in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7. Remember we told you about the first war mentioned in the Bible, Genesis chapter 14. You will also find this in Genesis 14, but I wanted to read it to you from the New Testament because so many people are So funny when they say, but that's in the Old Testament, just like, you know, the Old Testament is not the Word of God. I want you to see the same things in the New Testament. So Hebrews 7 in verse 4, here was Abraham. He came back from the return of a slaughter of those kings. And the Bible says, Now consider how great this man was, in whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tithe of the spoils.

[John Weaver] So Abraham gave Melchizedek a tithe. of the spoils from the battle. So out of the spoils of battle, they did dedicate and maintain the house of war.

[John Weaver] Now, let me make a couple of applications. First of all, I think it's very obvious that it is proper, in one sense the word, to have soldiers paid for their services, and certainly the law of booty offers a good incentive to fight. By the way, let me point this out very clearly. The law of booty does not mean to rape, plunder, pillage, steal, take anything that you can get on your own.

[John Weaver] Whatever the enemy had, it was divided. No one had the right just to simply say, I'm going to take this for myself and that and that. It wasn't every man for himself. It was not that kind of thing. So the principle is there is an incentive then for soldiers to fight. Let me go ahead, I'm not going to get into this today. But there is also an aspect here of what we would call war indemnity or a penalty imposed upon the enemy. for being the aggressor or for starting the war or for causing the war, therefore they had to pay to defray the cost of the war. Now, are you listening?

[John Weaver] I don't know if you caught this. The booty was halved between those who fought and those who didn't fight. Then there was a tithe given to the Lord from each half. So the soldiers got some, the congregation got some, the Lord got some, but did you notice? No booty went to the state. None went to the government.

[John Weaver] Now, if you look back in your Bibles to 1 Samuel, chapter 30, I want you to see that David voluntarily shared some of his booty with those who had helped to hide and defend him, the elders. He did not have to, but he did so voluntarily. 1 Samuel 30, verse 26. And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold, a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord."

[John Weaver] to them which were in Bethel, and them which were in the south Ramoth, to them which were in Jeter, to them who were in Aurora, to them who were in Sipmoth, to them who were in Eshtimoah, and to them who were in Rachel, and to them who were in the cities of Jeremelites, and to them which were in the cities of the Kenites, and to them which were in Hormah, and to them which were in Korahashan, and to them which were in Atash, and to them which were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were walked to haunt or to hide." So David then said, I'll take some of mine and share it with some of these elders, some of these leaders. Why? Because they helped hide me. They helped defend me.

[John Weaver] But no, it was a voluntary thing. Let me go a little bit further. No special duty was even given to the commanders or the captains or the leaders of the armies. If you look in your Bibles to the book of Judges, chapter eight, You'll find that Gideon had to ask his men for something special.

[John Weaver] Now, they voluntarily gave it, but it was not his just simply by the fact that he was the leader. Judges chapter 8, and notice, if you would please, beginning there with verse 24. And Gideon said unto them, that is, to his men, I would desire a request of you, that you would give me every man the earrings of his prey. For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites, and they answered, We will willingly give them. So Gideon had to ask for it. He didn't just get it because he happened to be the commander.

[John Weaver] So you say, Brother Weaver, why are you making this point? Let me explain why. Since no booty went to the state, since no spoil went to the government, since none of it went to the politicians, If there are no spoils of war that goes to the government or to the politicians, it places a great restraint upon them to keep them from fighting. Let me tell you something, folks.

[John Weaver] One of the main problems that we have today in America is this. There are huge economic benefits from war that go to our government and to our politicians. That is an incentive for them to keep your sons in battles all across this world. Because they get rich by it. War is a multi-billion dollar industry. But if they get nothing from war, there's restraint placed upon them. Why fight?

[John Weaver] It's not going to benefit us. Now, that doesn't mean that we're not to defend ourselves, but I'm saying war is taken out from politics. And from government, it's brought down to defense. For liberty and freedom and the spoils go to the people. I don't know about you, But I haven't gotten my share from the Gulf War, Korean War, World War II, World War I. But the government has gotten millions of shares, not only from the spoils, but from the people in Texas.

[John Weaver] So the law of duty then excludes the state. and places restraint upon politicians and governments. Let's pray. Father, thy word is so clear and so practical and so simple, and yet we have erred and deviated so far from it. Our nation is in a mess, and most nations are, because they reject and refuse thy word. Teach us, Lord, that we may submit to Thee, and to honor Thee, and to glorify Thee, and to live for Thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

[John Weaver] This program was produced by Dominion Ministry. For more information about Pastor Weaver's sermons, You may contact Dominion Ministry by mail at 7400 Abercorn, that's A-B-E-R-C-O-R-N Street, Suite 705, P-M-B 175, Savannah, Georgia, 31406. Or give us a call at 912-925-7000.

[John Weaver] You can also visit our website at www.dominionministry.com

When Is It Right To Fight - 3

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	1017111628277
Subject	Family Government
Course	The Christian Family: Marriage and Household Order: The Family
Genre	Sermon
Date	2006-12-22
Dictation Name
Book	Book 036: When Is It Right To Fight — Chapter 3
Source Timed Segments	85

Formatted Transcript

Opening

Okay, Deuteronomy chapter 20, and let's read the entire chapter.

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 20:1-20

"When thou goest forth to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, and shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies." "Let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; for the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it? let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it. And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her. And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart." "And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people. When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: and when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: but the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee. Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations." "But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: but thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee: that they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the Lord your God. When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege: only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued."

Review of Previous Messages on Deuteronomy 20

Weaver reviews the first nine verses, covering the reality of war, the inconsequence of numerical odds and superior armaments for people of faith, God's presence as the major advantage, and military exemptions for those with new houses, vineyards, betrothed wives, and the fearful.

Now, this whole chapter is given to what I call militia or military regulations. Let me just take a few moments and review. I've already preached two messages on this chapter. First of all, in verse 1, I pointed out that fighting and wars are assumed facts and realities in Scripture. For instance, God says, "when thou goest to battle against thine enemies." Secondly, I pointed out that numerical odds are inconsequential to the people of faith, because when you go to battle, he said, "and see a people more than thou, be not afraid." Thirdly, I pointed out that superior armaments are inconsequential to a people of faith. For he said, "when thou goest out and seest horses and chariots, and the people more than thou." Remember, I told you that the horses and the chariots were the bombers and the tanks in Bible days. So he says, once you see superior weaponry, be not afraid.

And then fourthly, I showed you the major advantage, or the major difference, and the stated advantage, and that is because "the Lord thy God is he that goeth with you and fighteth for you to save you." And then we looked at some military exemptions in this chapter. Although all of the people, all of the males from twenty years and over, were mustered for the battle, not every man went to battle. Here were some of the exemptions. First of all, the man who had built a new house and had not dedicated it—and I'm not going to explain that today since I dealt with that last Sunday, but the word dedication does not refer to just holding a little ceremony. So the man who had not trained his household yet was exempt, and I pointed out that this exemption could last for several years. The man was exempt who had planted a vineyard and had not yet eaten of it, and that exemption itself could last up to five years. For the first three years, the fruit of the vineyard was unclean. The fourth year, all the fruit was holy unto the Lord, and the fifth year the man could eat of his vineyard, which means the sixth year he would be ready for war. Of course, you've got to understand that men who had had vineyards for five years already or for four years would soon be available. They would not necessarily have a five-year exemption. And then thirdly, there was the man who had betrothed a wife and had not taken her.

God said he is exempt. And then, of course, those who are fearful and faint-hearted. As I've pointed out, those who are literally scared silly. God says, let them go home. You don't need them anyhow. And all they'll do is discourage the brethren. Now, there was another group that I pointed out that was exempt that are not listed in this passage. And someone tell me who were they? The Levites. They were automatically exempt because the pastors, the teachers, were not included in this military census. Now, God says when all of these people are exempted then—and then only—you are to make captains to lead the people. Now, I pointed out that one of the reasons why these were exempted was because God says, "lest he die in the battle."

I made a distinction for you that although a man may be a righteous man and fighting in a righteous cause and fighting a righteous war, there is still the possibility that he may die in battle. Because although God generally protects his own, it is not God's will to protect all the time, because if he did, no one would ever die. And the Bible teaches that the wages of sin are certainly death. Then we made some applications.

The Offer of Peace Before Attack

God requires an offer of peace to the enemy before an attack. This is not a negotiation or compromise of righteousness; the enemy must submit to God's terms. If accepted, they become tributaries; if refused, all males are to be killed.

Now, let's begin by showing you, first of all, how in this passage God requires that before an attack, a declaration of war—that is, before an attack or declaration of war—an offer of peace is to be extended to the enemy. Look in your Bibles, beginning there with verse 10. He says, "When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it make thee an answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: and when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: but the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies which the Lord thy God hath given thee."

"Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations. But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: but thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee: that they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the Lord your God." Now, let me begin by making several statements. I just read where God says that before there is an open attack, before there is a declaration of war, an offer of peace is to be extended to the enemy. First of all, this offer of peace is not a negotiation. It is not a negotiation. Secondly, this offer of peace is not a compromise of righteousness. The righteous cause must always be maintained. What then does this offer of peace mean? It means that the enemy must yield. He must submit and or surrender to the offer of peace. You see, it is peace but it is peace on terms of justice and righteousness. That's why I said it is not a negotiated peace. The reason God says this is because this offer of peace is an offer which will avoid excessive violence and bloodshed. All the people have to do to avoid violence and bloodshed is to submit to righteousness, to submit to justice, to submit to that which God demands. If the people refuse the offer of peace on God's terms, then a full-scale war is to be waged and all the males are to be annihilated.

So the enemy may have peace and life on terms of God's justice, or they may have death and destruction on terms of God's justice. God says that if the enemy receives the offer of peace, that is, if they open their gates to you, then you are not to kill anyone there. But they are to become your tributaries.

The Meaning of Tributary

A tributary is a conquered people who pay tribute or taxes, not necessarily slaves. They support God's law and social order, allowing free access for preaching and teaching.

Now, look, if you would, in verse 11. "And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee"—that is, you can just simply walk in. You don't have to fire a shot—"then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee." Now, when we think of a tributary, we normally think of a slave. But let me point out the fact that although someone who is a tributary might be considered a slave in a practical sense, it does not necessarily include slavery in a real sense. For instance, I'm going to show you that the term tributary can be used in the Bible not only in the form of labor—that is, you're working for someone—but it can also be used in terms of tribute or taxes.

Look in your Bibles, if you would please, first of all, to the book of Judges, chapter 1 and verse 30. The book of Judges. Judges, chapter 1, and note, if you would please, verse 30. The Bible says concerning the heathen, the Canaanites that dwelt in the land,

Scripture Reading — Judges 1:30

"Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries."

So here were these Canaanites that God told the people that they were to kill, that they did not kill. They just simply became tributaries. What does that mean? It means that those existing Canaanites either labored for the Israelites, or they were so subdued that they paid a tribute and supported the Israelitish social order. Turn in your Bibles, if you would, to 2 Chronicles 8 and look at verse 8 to begin with.

Watch closely as I read this. In fact, let's begin with verse 7.

Scripture Reading — 2 Chronicles 10:18

"As for all the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which were not of Israel, but of their children, who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, them did Solomon make to pay tribute until this day."

So what were they doing? They were basically taxed, is what it amounted to. They were recognizing that they were a conquered people and they were paying tribute to a superior nation. I will explain that statement in just a moment. Look in chapter 10 and verse 18 of 2 Chronicles. The Bible said,

Scripture Reading — 2 Chronicles 10:18

"Then king Rehoboam sent Hadoram that was over the tribute; and the children of Israel stoned him with stones, that he died. But king Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem."

So in this instance, the king of Judah was trying to tax the tribes of Israel, which this was for the great king, but he sent Hadoram, who was over the tribute. What was he over? He was over the taxes. So a tributary is literally someone who pays taxes, someone who recognizes that they have been conquered.

Does that ring a bell? Now you know why we pay taxes, because we've been conquered. See, our Lord was asked, "Did he pay taxes?" And he asked the question, and he said, "Are the children then free?" And very obviously, yes, the children are free. He said, "Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?" They said, "Of strangers." He said, "Then are the children free." So we are counted then as strangers in our own land because we are paying tribute to a conquering power, basically speaking. If you look in your Bibles to the book of Esther, Esther chapter 10, and verse 1. Esther chapter 10 and verse 1. Here the word of God says,

Scripture Reading — Esther 10:1

"And the king Ahasuerus laid a tribute upon the land, and upon the isles of the sea."

What was he doing? He was laying a tax upon the land. So very obviously a tributary was a conquered people, but it did not necessarily mean that they were slaves in the sense that we think of slaves. A tributary was someone who went about their normal, everyday life, functioned the way they usually function. The only problem was, now they paid tribute. They paid a portion of their livelihood, a portion of their living, to the conqueror. Now, if you will turn in your Bible to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 4, I want to show you what I meant a while ago when I said that the conquered nation was paying tribute to a superior nation. When I said that, I did not necessarily mean superior militarily.

Exception for the Canaanites

The offer of peace does not apply to the Canaanite nations, who were under God's judicial sentence of death and were to be utterly destroyed to prevent Israel from learning their abominations.

Now, the interesting thing is, if you look back in your Bibles to Deuteronomy 20, the only exception to this offer of peace were the Canaanites, those who then dwelt in the land. Look at what God says in verse 15, "Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations," that is, of the Canaanites. Verse 16, "But of the cities of these people... thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth," verse 17, "namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites." God said, "I want you to kill every one of them. Man, woman, boy, girl, suckling, ox, ass, kill everything." Why? First of all, because they were under the ban, they were under the curse, they were under the judicial sentence of death from God. God says, "I want you to exclude them because I have sentenced them to death." Secondly, God says in verse 18, "that they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the Lord your God."

God said, "I don't want you learning their ways. I want them exterminated." Let me draw a biblical principle before I go further. Here is a principle I think we can see from this offer of peace. I believe that God is telling us that we are to always try to avoid bloodshed, if possible. Let me give you an illustration. Back when those riots were happening a few years ago out in Los Angeles, California, some of them filtered down to Atlanta and some of the little surrounding towns. And usually, especially if I have my wife with me, I'm always armed. And when I travel, I always carry a weapon. Always.

Principle: Avoid Bloodshed if Possible, but Fight to Win

We should try to avoid bloodshed, but if conflict is unavoidable, fight decisively to eliminate the threat and prevent future battles. Weaver illustrates with personal anecdotes.

You never know what's going to happen. And I was riding down a street that I've gone down all my life. And yes, it was in a black neighborhood, but I've been—I drove—I've driven that ever since I've been driving. And there's one little black juke joint on the left, and here were four or five black men standing outside, and I was driving down that street. And Fitzgerald. And all of a sudden, I was by myself, and all of a sudden they started waving at me, "Come on, come on," and shook the fist. And I looked in my seat beside me, and I had a pistol with a 15-round clip with hydroshocks in it. And I looked at them and I smiled and I said, "You really don't want me to stop. You just think you want me to stop." And I kept going. You say, "Well, Brother Weaver, why didn't you stop and fight?"

Because I'd end up shooting somebody. I'd either kill one of them or they'd kill me or I'd kill them all. You see what I'm saying? And all I've had to do is just laugh at them and keep going. So if I can avoid bloodshed, I'm going to avoid bloodshed.

Now, let me finish this. Here's the principle. If we are to avoid bloodshed, if we're to try to avoid bloodshed, if at all possible, but—let me finish—if it is not possible to avoid bloodshed, God is telling us, fight to win so that you won't have to fight again. Now watch this. He said, if they open unto you, fine, they've just become your tributaries. But if they won't open unto you, what do you do? Kill all the males.

Now let me ask you a question. If you go to a city or to a nation, and you exterminate all the males, how soon are you going to have to be back there fighting again? It will be a while. Of course, that would be referring to the men. What I'm showing you is this. What would that do to that city, that state or that nation? It would literally destroy their culture. You wouldn't be back there any time soon, I can assure you.

So God says, here's the principle, we are to avoid bloodshed if at all possible. But if it is not possible, you fight to win. And you fight so that you won't have to do it over again. Let me tell you that this is so funny. When I was a boy, I used to have to ride the school bus, and there was a neighbor boy. He used to come up and try to wrestle me every day. And although I was older than he was, but he was larger than I was. And every day I would wrestle him down, every single day. And usually I'd get him in a headlock and I'd be, you know, and sometimes I'd put my knuckles up under there where it really, you know. But every day he'd come back and wrestle me again. And he never won. He never won. And the reason he would do that was because the older boys in the back would say, "I'll give you a nickel," or "I'll give you fifty cents, go up and slap John back to the head."

All they wanted to do was see a fight. And they never gave him the money. I mean, he wasn't very smart, you know. So he'd get whipped every day. But I told my father, I said, "Dad, I'm getting so tired of fighting Jack. I said, every day I have to wrestle him down on the bus." And Daddy said, "Son, if you hurt him one time, he'll stop." I said, "Yes, sir." So I got on the bus that afternoon and I said, "Now Jack, I want to tell you something. If you mess with me this afternoon, I'm going to hurt you. I don't want to hurt you, but if you mess with me, I'm going to hurt you. Just remember that." Well, we got down the road and sure enough, I looked up in the mirror and I saw Jack slipping up behind me so he could slap me back to the head. I stood up and I turned around and I said, "Jack, remember what I told you when you got on the bus. If you mess with me, I'm going to hurt you."

So I turned around and sat back down. And sure enough, I watched him. He came up and slapped me right back to the head. And he turned around to run to the back of the bus. And when he did, I was up. I grabbed him. I spun him around. And when he spun around, I balled my fist up and I hit him as hard as I could in the stomach.

I mean, he doubled over. You could hear the breath going out of him. And when he doubled over, I came up with an uppercut and I hit him right up in the jaw. And I knocked him so hard, I knocked him over a school bus seat, which I know fractured a rib. He was crying, blood was coming from everywhere. So when I got off the bus, I told my dad, I said, "You're probably going to get a call from Jack's parents." Let me tell you what I did. You told me if I hurt him, he'd leave me alone. You know, he did leave me alone for a couple of days. Until the boy said, "I'll give you a dollar." But you know, that boy became one of my best friends. And he was converted later on under my ministry. And he's now dead. He died of cancer a number of years ago. But the amazing thing is, you know, Dad said, "Son, if you hurt him, he'll leave you alone." Here's the principle.

If you've got to fight, fight to win so you won't have to fight again. Now, let's look at another principle. Let's go to number 2. Let's go to verses 19 and 20. Let's read it. "When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege: only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued." Now, here is the second principle. War is not to be waged against creation, but against man. Let me say that another way. War is not to be waged against nature, but against man.

War Not Against Creation but Against Man

Deuteronomy 20:19-20 forbids destroying fruit-bearing trees during a siege, teaching that war should target sinful man, not productive creation. This prohibits scorched-earth policies.

These scriptures forbid what you and I would call a wanton destruction of the earth. Let me say it another way. These scriptures forbid the scorched earth policy. These scriptures were violated by Sherman and many others like him who looted, pillaged, burned and destroyed everything in their path. God says, now look, if you've got to build bulwarks, you cut down the trees that are not meat or food-bearing trees. Don't be using pear trees. Don't be using peach trees. Don't be using any tree that's going to be good for food. You cut down one that you know is not going to be good for food. Why?

Creation is not the sinner. Man is the sinner. I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 5. Notice verse 9, and then we'll make some applications. Ecclesiastes 5, verse 9. Look what God says.

Scripture Reading — Ecclesiastes 5:9

"Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field."

So the earth, the profit of the earth, is for all. So God says, you cut down the fruit trees, you're hurting yourself. You can live from those fruit trees just like your enemies could. So the principle here is this, no fruit-bearing trees are to be destroyed, only those that are not fit for food. Why? Let's make some applications.

Applications: Production Over Politics and Protection of Civilians

Production has priority over politics; war should not target productive citizens or civilians, who will be a base of support after victory. Examples include Lincoln's War and the bombing of Dresden.

First of all, number one, are you listening? Production has priority over politics. Production has priority over politics. Now, I want you to think with me. Everyone in here is familiar with the War of Northern Aggression or the War for Southern Independence or as some like to call it, Lincoln's War. Lincoln's War was a war of politics. Why? Because in his war of politics, he did not fight against the men in the South, per se, he fought against the South. He tried to destroy everything in the South, the fields, the crops, the trees, everything. In other words, he wanted it where the South would be starved into submission. That's why when Sherman marched to the sea, he burned, raped, pillaged, plundered everything in his path. Up until this time in our country, there had been no war as such against production. I want you to understand something. After Lincoln's war, production no longer has a priority over politics. Politics has a priority over production, and after Lincoln there were many others who followed in his vein, but the prime imitator of Lincoln was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Why? Because production is now controlled by politics.

If you don't believe that, I challenge anybody in here to try farming for one year. You can only plant what the government tells you you can plant. You say, "Bless God, I'll plant whatever I want to plant." Go ahead. You can't sell it. Not unless you can find individuals who will buy it, but you will not sell it on the market without their permission. God is saying that production has a priority over politics.

Now, there's a second implication here. And that is this. War is not to be waged against productive citizens. War is not to be waged against productive citizens. Let me explain this. For instance, look in your Bibles to Psalm 1. I'm not going to read all of these passages. I do want you to see Psalm 1. Many of you can quote that Psalm. But you will find the same truth in Judges 9. Many times in the Bible, men are compared to trees. Many times. A tree in the Bible is a symbol for man. Look in Psalm 1. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful."

"But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away." So here men are compared to trees, and especially Christian men are the productive ones. But here is the principle: War is not to be waged against productive citizens. Civilians, those who are not fighting, those fruit-bearing, those productive citizens are not to be attacked. Why? They will be a base of support after you have defeated your enemy. Let me give you a classic example. Many of you know that our bombers bombed Germany left and right. But does anyone know of one city that was bombed that had absolutely no military significance at all, no ammo dumps, no plants to manufacture bombs, was a center of culture, a center of art, Dresden? Dresden? Why? Listen, why was Dresden bombed? Nothing there.

Well, maybe morals, so to speak. You see what I'm saying? But all they had there was art and that kind of stuff. So the point is, why in the world—the thing that really, really upsets me is when I hear about someone who was killed in a drive-by shooting. Why would you shoot someone, number one, that you don't even know, number two, that's not an enemy of yours, and number three, that's minding his own business? It makes absolutely no sense. And that's what God is saying in this principle. Don't destroy the fruit-bearing people because after the victory, they're going to be the ones who will be the base of support for a reconstructed, godly social order. You know, many people do not know it, but after Japan was defeated, do you realize that thousands of missionaries went to Japan? In fact, they asked MacArthur to send them. MacArthur requested missionaries be sent there. The point I'm trying to make is, if you're going to conquer somebody, if you destroy the base of support, then you're going to have to put out everything yourself. God says, no, you're to make war against man, not war against his creation.

The Law of Booty: Reward and Restraint

Spoils of war are divided equally between those who fought and those who stayed behind, with a tithe given to the Lord. No booty goes to the state, which restrains politicians from waging war for profit.

Look back in your Bible to Deuteronomy 20, and let me very quickly give you the third principle that we're going to give from this passage today, and that is this. The law of booty provides a reward for the soldiers. Everybody know what booty is? That's the spoils. Watch this. Look in Deuteronomy 20, verse 14. God says, "But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee."

Do you remember what Caleb said when he was trying to get the people to go ahead and attack the enemy there to conquer Canaan land after they had said, "Man, those people are big and we're just grasshoppers in their sight"? Remember what Caleb said? He said, "They are bread for us. They are bread for us." Look in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Numbers, chapter 31.

Let me show you this. Let's begin reading with verse 21, Numbers 31, verse 21.

Scripture Reading — Numbers 31:21-30, 42, 47

"And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses; only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water. And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean, and afterward ye shall come into the camp. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast,"

and the war has been won now, so they've got the prey, they've got the booty, they've got the spoils.

Scripture Reading — Numbers 31:21-30, 42, 47

"...both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation: and divide the prey into two parts."

"between them that took the war upon them, who went out to the battle, and between all the congregation: and levy a tribute unto the Lord of the men of war which went out to the battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep: take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, for an heave offering of the Lord. And of the children of Israel's half, thou shalt take one portion of fifty, of the persons, of the beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, of all manner of beasts, and give them unto the Levites, which keep the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord. And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses."

Now, look if you would, please, at verse 29. "Take it of their half." Look in verse 30. "And of the children of Israel's half." Look in verse 42. "And of the children of Israel's half, which Moses divided from the men that warred." Now, here's the war. And let's say, I'll give you an illustration, let's suppose that 200,000 men are mustered for a war, but only 100,000 actually have to go to war. The battle is won, there's a lot of spoil. Guess what God says? God says, you give half to the men who went to war, and you give the other half to those who didn't go to war. They were mustered, but they didn't go to war. You divide the spoil between them. Then God says you levy a tribute upon each hand, and that tribute is to be given to the Lord, to recognize his provision, his protection and his blessing.

1 Samuel, chapter 30. Let's begin reading with verse 22. In this passage, the Philistines have attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire. They have taken the wives and the children of David and his men and all the spoils. David goes after the Philistines. And what happens is this. Well, let's begin reading in 1 Samuel, chapter 30, and notice if you would, let's go back to verse 5. "And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God." Now, David asked, should he go after them? God says yes. Watch verse 10, "But David pursued, he and four hundred men."

"for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor." So here David has 600 men. Two-thirds of them are able to go to battle. The other third, they just can't. Why? Because they're so distressed, they're so upset, they're weeping because their wives and their children have been taken.

Now, what happens is this. Look in verse 19. "And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all." Watch now, "And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drave before those other cattle, and said, This is David's spoil." Now remember, these Philistines had already been looting. OK? So they had not only gotten all David's men—the loot from those families—they had loot from other places that they had been looting as well. So David said, "This is mine." "And David came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to abide at the brook Besor: and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him: and when David came near to the people, he saluted them."

Now watch, "Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, of those that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them ought of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away, and depart." In other words, their attitude is this: "We did the fighting, bless God. We're keeping the spoil. Just give them back their wives and kids, and that's it." Look what David says, verse 23. "Then said David, Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the Lord hath given us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand." "For who will hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike. And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day." So the part that went to war and the part that tarried by the stuff split the spoil 50-50.

I hope you understand this principle, not just monetarily speaking. This is true in a family situation. It's true in a church situation. I've used this verse many times to share things with Alice, but things which God enables me to do that she's not able to do. Just simple from the very fact that she supports me, whatever victory and blessing I have from God, half of it goes to her. Same thing with this assembly. Not everybody goes across this country preaching and teaching. God has allowed me to do so. But the blessings and the victory that God gives me, half of them go to you. That's the way God counts things. Because if it were not for you, I could not go and do what I do. You follow that principle? Someone, somewhere has to tarry by the stuff. Someone, somewhere has to farm and support an army. So God says they shall split and split alike.

Now, here's what I want you to see. I want you to see out of all the spoils, out of all the booty, out of all the prey, part of it always went to the Lord and his work. Look back in your Bibles to the book of Numbers 31. We just read it. I'm going to start there and read one more time and then go forward. Numbers 31, look in verse 28. "And levy a tribute unto the Lord of the men of war which went out to the battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep." So here was a percentage of their spoil that was given to the Lord. Look in verse 47.

"Even of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one portion of fifty, both of man and of beast, and gave them unto the Levites, which kept the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord; as the Lord commanded Moses." So God got a portion of those men who actually went to battle. God got a portion of those men who did not go to battle. Now turn right over to 1 Chronicles 26. You may be in for a real surprise as you read this verse. 1 Chronicles 26. By the way, I hope you know that the temple was an elaborate building. All kinds of gold, silver, brass, precious stones, everything. Where in the world did all that gold and silver come from? Well, look in 1 Chronicles 26 and verse 27. Here's what the Bible says.

"Out of the spoils won in battles did they dedicate to maintain the house of the Lord." And then you read about how David gave up his spoils, all the captains and all the mighty men gave up their spoils. So all the gold and the silver in the temple came from war. Look in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7. Remember we told you about the first war mentioned in the Bible, Genesis chapter 14. You will also find this in Genesis 14, but I wanted to read it to you from the New Testament because so many people are so funny when they say, "But that's in the Old Testament," just like, you know, the Old Testament is not the Word of God. I want you to see the same things in the New Testament. So Hebrews 7 and verse 4, here was Abraham. He came back from the slaughter of the kings. And the Bible says, "Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils."

So Abraham gave Melchizedek a tithe of the spoils from the battle. So out of the spoils of battle, they did dedicate and maintain the house of the Lord. Now, let me make a couple of applications. First of all, I think it's very obvious that it is proper, in one sense of the word, to have soldiers paid for their services, and certainly the law of booty offers a good incentive to fight. By the way, let me point this out very clearly. The law of booty does not mean to rape, plunder, pillage, steal, take anything that you can get on your own. Whatever the enemy had, it was divided. No one had the right just to simply say, "I'm going to take this for myself and that and that." It wasn't every man for himself. It was not that kind of thing. So the principle is there is an incentive then for soldiers to fight. Let me go ahead, I'm not going to get into this today. But there is also an aspect here of what we would call war indemnity or a penalty imposed upon the enemy for being the aggressor or for starting the war or for causing the war, therefore they had to pay to defray the cost of the war. Now, are you listening?

I don't know if you caught this. The booty was halved between those who fought and those who didn't fight. Then there was a tithe given to the Lord from each half. So the soldiers got some, the congregation got some, the Lord got some, but did you notice? No booty went to the state. None went to the government.

Now, if you look back in your Bibles to 1 Samuel, chapter 30, I want you to see that David voluntarily shared some of his booty with those who had helped to hide and defend him, the elders. He did not have to, but he did so voluntarily. 1 Samuel 30, verse 26.

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 30:26-31

"And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord." "to them which were in Bethel, and to them which were in south Ramoth, and to them which were in Jattir, and to them which were in Aroer, and to them which were in Siphmoth, and to them which were in Eshtemoa, and to them which were in Rachal, and to them which were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to them which were in the cities of the Kenites, and to them which were in Hormah, and to them which were in Chorashan, and to them which were in Athach, and to them which were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were wont to haunt."

So David then said, "I'll take some of mine and share it with some of these elders, some of these leaders." Why? Because they helped hide me. They helped defend me.

But no, it was a voluntary thing. Let me go a little bit further. No special duty was even given to the commanders or the captains or the leaders of the armies. If you look in your Bibles to the book of Judges, chapter eight, you'll find that Gideon had to ask his men for something special.

Now, they voluntarily gave it, but it was not his just simply by the fact that he was the leader. Judges chapter 8, and notice, if you would please, beginning there with verse 24.

Scripture Reading — Judges 8:24-25

"And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you, that ye would give me every man the earrings of his prey. (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) And they answered, We will willingly give them."

So Gideon had to ask for it. He didn't just get it because he happened to be the commander.

So you say, "Brother Weaver, why are you making this point?" Let me explain why. Since no booty went to the state, since no spoil went to the government, since none of it went to the politicians, if there are no spoils of war that go to the government or to the politicians, it places a great restraint upon them to keep them from fighting. Let me tell you something, folks. One of the main problems that we have today in America is this. There are huge economic benefits from war that go to our government and to our politicians. That is an incentive for them to keep your sons in battles all across this world. Because they get rich by it. War is a multi-billion dollar industry. But if they get nothing from war, there's restraint placed upon them. Why fight?

It's not going to benefit us. Now, that doesn't mean that we're not to defend ourselves, but I'm saying war is taken out from politics and from government, it's brought down to defense for liberty and freedom, and the spoils go to the people. I don't know about you, but I haven't gotten my share from the Gulf War, Korean War, World War II, World War I. But the government has gotten millions of shares, not only from the spoils, but from the people in taxes.

So the law of booty then excludes the state and places restraint upon politicians and governments. Let's pray. Father, thy word is so clear and so practical and so simple, and yet we have erred and deviated so far from it. Our nation is in a mess, and most nations are, because they reject and refuse thy word. Teach us, Lord, that we may submit to Thee, and to honor Thee, and to glorify Thee, and to live for Thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Biblical Warfare Regulations

Summary: God provides specific rules for conducting war, including offers of peace, treatment of enemies, and environmental stewardship.

Evidence: Weaver expounds Deuteronomy 20:10-20, detailing the offer of peace, the tributary system, and the prohibition against destroying fruit trees.

Justice and Righteousness in Conflict

Summary: Peace offers must be on God's terms of justice, not compromise. Refusal leads to just annihilation of combatants.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'It is peace but it is peace on terms of justice and righteousness... If the people refuse the offer of peace on God's terms, then a full-scale war is to be waged and all the males are to be annihilated.'

Priority of Production and Life

Summary: War should not destroy productive resources or civilians, as they are essential for post-war reconstruction and godly order.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Production has priority over politics' and 'War is not to be waged against productive citizens.'

Restraint on Government Power

Summary: The law of booty excludes the state from war spoils, removing economic incentives for politicians to wage war.

Evidence: Weaver notes, 'No booty went to the state... it places a great restraint upon them to keep them from fighting.'

Fight to Win

Summary: If conflict is necessary, it should be decisive to prevent future battles, illustrated by personal stories.

Evidence: Weaver recounts his father's advice and the school bus fight: 'If you've got to fight, fight to win so you won't have to fight again.'

Key Arguments

Offer of peace is not negotiation

Summary: The peace offer in Deuteronomy 20 is a demand for surrender to God's righteous terms, not a compromise.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'This offer of peace is not a negotiation. It is not a negotiation. Secondly, this offer of peace is not a compromise of righteousness.'

Tributaries support God's order

Summary: Conquered peoples who accept peace become tributaries, paying taxes and supporting the superior society based on God's law.

Evidence: Weaver explains, 'They're supporting God's law, God's work... you're going to have free access to preach and to teach the word of God.'

Canaanites were under divine judgment

Summary: The Canaanites were excluded from peace offers because they were under God's curse and would lead Israel into sin.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'They were under the ban, they were under the curse, they were under the judicial sentence of death from God.'

Scorched earth policy is forbidden

Summary: Deuteronomy 20:19-20 prohibits destroying fruit trees, teaching that war should target people, not the environment.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'These scriptures forbid what you and I would call a wanton destruction of the earth... the scorched earth policy.'

Booty distribution restrains government

Summary: Since spoils go to soldiers, congregation, and the Lord, not the state, politicians lack economic incentive for war.

Evidence: Weaver argues, 'If there are no spoils of war that go to the government or to the politicians, it places a great restraint upon them to keep them from fighting.'

Scripture References

Deuteronomy 20:1-20

Context: The entire chapter is read and expounded as the basis for the sermon's principles on warfare.

Malachi 3:6

Context: Cited to support the immutability of God: 'I, the Lord, change not.'

Psalm 119:89

Context: Used to affirm the eternal nature of God's word: 'Forever, O Lord, is thy word settled in the heavens.'

Judges 1:30

Context: Example of Canaanites becoming tributaries instead of being destroyed.

2 Chronicles 8:7-8

Context: Solomon made the remaining Canaanites pay tribute.

2 Chronicles 10:18

Context: Hadoram was over the tribute (taxes), illustrating the tributary system.

Esther 10:1

Context: King Ahasuerus laid a tribute (tax) on the land.

Deuteronomy 4:6-8

Context: Israel's laws make them a wise and understanding nation, superior to others.

Ecclesiastes 5:9

Context: The profit of the earth is for all, supporting the principle of not destroying fruit trees.

Psalm 1:1-4

Context: Men are compared to trees, with the righteous being like a fruitful tree.

Numbers 31:21-30, 42, 47

Context: The law of booty: spoils divided between warriors and congregation, with a tithe to the Lord.

1 Samuel 30:5-6, 10, 19-24

Context: David's equal distribution of spoils between those who fought and those who stayed behind.

1 Chronicles 26:27

Context: Spoils won in battles were dedicated to maintain the house of the Lord.

Hebrews 7:4

Context: Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils to Melchizedek, confirming the tithe from war booty.

1 Samuel 30:26-31

Context: David voluntarily shared spoils with elders who helped him.

Judges 8:24-25

Context: Gideon requested earrings from the prey, and the men willingly gave them.

Historical References

Sherman's March to the Sea

Context: Weaver cites Sherman as violating the biblical principle against scorched-earth policies by looting and burning everything in his path during the Civil War.

Lincoln's War (Civil War)

Context: Referred to as a war of politics where production was targeted, contrasting with biblical warfare that prioritizes production over politics.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Context: Mentioned as a prime imitator of Lincoln in making politics control production.

Bombing of Dresden

Context: Used as an example of attacking a city with no military significance, violating the principle of not targeting civilians or non-military assets.

MacArthur and missionaries to Japan

Context: After Japan's defeat, MacArthur requested missionaries, illustrating the use of productive citizens as a base of support.

Important Quotes

This offer of peace is not a negotiation. It is not a negotiation. Secondly, this offer of peace is not a compromise of righteousness.

Significance: Clarifies that the biblical peace offer is a demand for surrender to God's justice, not a diplomatic compromise.

If you've got to fight, fight to win so you won't have to fight again.

Significance: Summarizes the principle of decisive warfare to prevent future conflicts, illustrated by personal story.

These scriptures forbid what you and I would call a wanton destruction of the earth. Let me say it another way. These scriptures forbid the scorched earth policy.

Significance: Highlights the biblical prohibition against environmental destruction in war.

Production has priority over politics.

Significance: A key application that economic productivity should not be sacrificed for political goals in warfare.

No booty went to the state. None went to the government.

Significance: Emphasizes that biblical war spoils were distributed to people and God, not the state, restraining political war-mongering.

Discussion Questions

How does the biblical offer of peace differ from modern diplomatic negotiations?

Context: Weaver stresses that the peace offer is not a negotiation but a demand for surrender to God's righteous terms.

In what ways does the principle 'fight to win so you won't have to fight again' apply to personal conflicts today?

Context: Weaver uses personal anecdotes to illustrate the need for decisive action to prevent repeated conflicts.

What are the implications of forbidding scorched-earth policies for modern warfare and environmental stewardship?

Context: The sermon argues that war should target people, not creation, based on Deuteronomy 20:19-20.

How does the biblical law of booty challenge contemporary government profiteering from war?

Context: Weaver points out that no spoils went to the state, which restrained politicians from unnecessary wars.

Why does God command the total destruction of the Canaanites, and how does this relate to the offer of peace for other nations?

Context: The Canaanites were under divine judgment and posed a spiritual threat, unlike distant cities.

Applications

Avoid bloodshed when possible

Summary: Christians should seek to avoid violent conflict if at all possible, as illustrated by Weaver's decision not to engage with threatening men.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'If I can avoid bloodshed, I'm going to avoid bloodshed.'

Fight decisively when necessary

Summary: When conflict is unavoidable, act decisively to win and prevent future battles, as taught by Weaver's father and demonstrated in the school bus story.

Evidence: Weaver recounts, 'Dad said, Son, if you hurt him, he'll leave you alone.'

Prioritize production over politics

Summary: In societal conflicts, productive resources and citizens should be preserved, not destroyed for political ends.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'Production has priority over politics.'

Support those who stay behind

Summary: Recognize that those who support from home share equally in the victories and blessings of those who go to battle, applicable in family and church contexts.

Evidence: Weaver applies the booty division to his wife and congregation: 'half of it goes to her... half of them go to you.'

Restrain government war incentives

Summary: Advocate for systems where politicians do not profit from war, reducing the likelihood of unnecessary conflicts.

Evidence: Weaver argues, 'If they get nothing from war, there's restraint placed upon them.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T00:31:52Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T14:58:22Z

Clean Transcript

When Is It Right To Fight - 3

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Okay, Deuteronomy chapter 20, and let's read the entire chapter. "When thou goest forth to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, and shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies."
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"Let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; for the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it? let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it. And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her. And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart."
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"And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people. When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: and when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: but the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee. Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations."
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"But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: but thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee: that they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the Lord your God. When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege: only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued."
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Now, this whole chapter is given to what I call militia or military regulations. Let me just take a few moments and review. I've already preached two messages on this chapter. First of all, in verse 1, I pointed out that fighting and wars are assumed facts and realities in Scripture. For instance, God says, "when thou goest to battle against thine enemies." Secondly, I pointed out that numerical odds are inconsequential to the people of faith, because when you go to battle, he said, "and see a people more than thou, be not afraid." Thirdly, I pointed out that superior armaments are inconsequential to a people of faith. For he said, "when thou goest out and seest horses and chariots, and the people more than thou." Remember, I told you that the horses and the chariots were the bombers and the tanks in Bible days. So he says, once you see superior weaponry, be not afraid.
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And then fourthly, I showed you the major advantage, or the major difference, and the stated advantage, and that is because "the Lord thy God is he that goeth with you and fighteth for you to save you." And then we looked at some military exemptions in this chapter. Although all of the people, all of the males from twenty years and over, were mustered for the battle, not every man went to battle. Here were some of the exemptions.
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First of all, the man who had built a new house and had not dedicated it—and I'm not going to explain that today since I dealt with that last Sunday, but the word dedication does not refer to just holding a little ceremony. So the man who had not trained his household yet was exempt, and I pointed out that this exemption could last for several years. The man was exempt who had planted a vineyard and had not yet eaten of it, and that exemption itself could last up to five years. For the first three years, the fruit of the vineyard was unclean. The fourth year, all the fruit was holy unto the Lord, and the fifth year the man could eat of his vineyard, which means the sixth year he would be ready for war. Of course, you've got to understand that men who had had vineyards for five years already or for four years would soon be available. They would not necessarily have a five-year exemption. And then thirdly, there was the man who had betrothed a wife and had not taken her.
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God said he is exempt. And then, of course, those who are fearful and faint-hearted. As I've pointed out, those who are literally scared silly. God says, let them go home. You don't need them anyhow. And all they'll do is discourage the brethren. Now, there was another group that I pointed out that was exempt that are not listed in this passage. And someone tell me who were they? The Levites. They were automatically exempt because the pastors, the teachers, were not included in this military census. Now, God says when all of these people are exempted then—and then only—you are to make captains to lead the people. Now, I pointed out that one of the reasons why these were exempted was because God says, "lest he die in the battle."
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I made a distinction for you that although a man may be a righteous man and fighting in a righteous cause and fighting a righteous war, there is still the possibility that he may die in battle. Because although God generally protects his own, it is not God's will to protect all the time, because if he did, no one would ever die. And the Bible teaches that the wages of sin are certainly death. Then we made some applications.
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I showed you in all of this how the family has priority over defense and over warfare, how covenant life is to be enjoyed by all of God's people, and all of this enters into these military exemptions and exclusions. Today we are going to be dealing with verses 10 through 20. Let me begin by saying this, that man has deviated so far from the principles of the word of God in every area and every sphere of his life that when men hear the simple teaching of the word of God, they are both amazed and horrified. They are amazed, first of all, at the simplicity, the justice and the straightforwardness of it. And secondly, they are horrified at implementing the scriptures. When I say horrified at implementing the scriptures, the standard response is one of unbelief, and in unbelief people say, "it will never work. Times have changed."
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"This is the 21st century. We don't do things like that anymore." And we never stop to think probably one of the reasons we fail so often is we don't do things like that anymore. But you see, although times may change, and although the centuries roll by, and although people may change, God and his word never change. That's why he said in Malachi 3 and verse 6, "I, the Lord, change not." When we talk about the immutability of God, we're talking about the unchangeableness of God. That's why the Bible says in Psalm 119 and verse 89, "Forever, O Lord, is thy word settled in the heavens." So not only does God not change, but his word does not change. So the principles of the word of God invariably remain the same.
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What worked 4,000 years ago will work today. What did not work 4,000 years ago will not work today, either.
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Now, let's begin by showing you, first of all, how in this passage God requires that before an attack, a declaration of war—that is, before an attack or declaration of war—an offer of peace is to be extended to the enemy. Look in your Bibles, beginning there with verse 10. He says, "When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it make thee an answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: and when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: but the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies which the Lord thy God hath given thee."
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"Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations. But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: but thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee: that they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the Lord your God."
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Now, let me begin by making several statements. I just read where God says that before there is an open attack, before there is a declaration of war, an offer of peace is to be extended to the enemy. First of all, this offer of peace is not a negotiation. It is not a negotiation. Secondly, this offer of peace is not a compromise of righteousness. The righteous cause must always be maintained. What then does this offer of peace mean? It means that the enemy must yield. He must submit and or surrender to the offer of peace. You see, it is peace but it is peace on terms of justice and righteousness. That's why I said it is not a negotiated peace. The reason God says this is because this offer of peace is an offer which will avoid excessive violence and bloodshed. All the people have to do to avoid violence and bloodshed is to submit to righteousness, to submit to justice, to submit to that which God demands. If the people refuse the offer of peace on God's terms, then a full-scale war is to be waged and all the males are to be annihilated.
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So the enemy may have peace and life on terms of God's justice, or they may have death and destruction on terms of God's justice. God says that if the enemy receives the offer of peace, that is, if they open their gates to you, then you are not to kill anyone there. But they are to become your tributaries.
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Now, look, if you would, in verse 11. "And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee"—that is, you can just simply walk in. You don't have to fire a shot—"then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee."
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Now, when we think of a tributary, we normally think of a slave. But let me point out the fact that although someone who is a tributary might be considered a slave in a practical sense, it does not necessarily include slavery in a real sense. For instance, I'm going to show you that the term tributary can be used in the Bible not only in the form of labor—that is, you're working for someone—but it can also be used in terms of tribute or taxes.
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Look in your Bibles, if you would please, first of all, to the book of Judges, chapter 1 and verse 30. The book of Judges. Judges, chapter 1, and note, if you would please, verse 30. The Bible says concerning the heathen, the Canaanites that dwelt in the land, "Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries." So here were these Canaanites that God told the people that they were to kill, that they did not kill. They just simply became tributaries. What does that mean? It means that those existing Canaanites either labored for the Israelites, or they were so subdued that they paid a tribute and supported the Israelitish social order. Turn in your Bibles, if you would, to 2 Chronicles 8 and look at verse 8 to begin with.
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Watch closely as I read this. In fact, let's begin with verse 7. "As for all the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which were not of Israel, but of their children, who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, them did Solomon make to pay tribute until this day."
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So what were they doing? They were basically taxed, is what it amounted to. They were recognizing that they were a conquered people and they were paying tribute to a superior nation. I will explain that statement in just a moment. Look in chapter 10 and verse 18 of 2 Chronicles. The Bible said, "Then king Rehoboam sent Hadoram that was over the tribute; and the children of Israel stoned him with stones, that he died. But king Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem." So in this instance, the king of Judah was trying to tax the tribes of Israel, which this was for the great king, but he sent Hadoram, who was over the tribute. What was he over? He was over the taxes. So a tributary is literally someone who pays taxes, someone who recognizes that they have been conquered.
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Does that ring a bell? Now you know why we pay taxes, because we've been conquered. See, our Lord was asked, "Did he pay taxes?" And he asked the question, and he said, "Are the children then free?" And very obviously, yes, the children are free. He said, "Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?" They said, "Of strangers." He said, "Then are the children free." So we are counted then as strangers in our own land because we are paying tribute to a conquering power, basically speaking.
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If you look in your Bibles to the book of Esther, Esther chapter 10, and verse 1. Esther chapter 10 and verse 1. Here the word of God says, "And the king Ahasuerus laid a tribute upon the land, and upon the isles of the sea." What was he doing? He was laying a tax upon the land. So very obviously a tributary was a conquered people, but it did not necessarily mean that they were slaves in the sense that we think of slaves. A tributary was someone who went about their normal, everyday life, functioned the way they usually function. The only problem was, now they paid tribute. They paid a portion of their livelihood, a portion of their living, to the conqueror. Now, if you will turn in your Bible to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 4, I want to show you what I meant a while ago when I said that the conquered nation was paying tribute to a superior nation. When I said that, I did not necessarily mean superior militarily.
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Do you realize that many times Israel had an inferior military, and yet they conquered superior armies? What in the world am I referring to, then, when I say that the enemy has to recognize a superior nation? Here's what I'm referring to. Look in Deuteronomy 4, beginning there with verse 6. God is talking about his laws, his judgments, his statutes. He says, "Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?" So God's people are to have a superior society, a superior government. Why? Because our society and our government is to be based upon the law of God.
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You say, "Brother Weaver, don't you know that this is the age of multiculturalism? And don't you know that all of the cultures are equal to ours?" That ain't so, folks. It's just not true.
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Now, if you really believe that, I challenge you to go on over and move to India and worship the rats and the cows and starve to death with the rest of them. I believe our culture is far superior than that of India, as far superior than that of China, of Africa, of any of the nations. Why? Because when our culture began, it was based upon the Christian religion, based upon the laws of God. And so very obviously, God says, if this nation answers with peace, they open unto you, they become your tributaries. Why?
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Because they're supporting God's law, God's work, and what is going to happen? If they open to you, then very obviously you're going to have free access to their cities, to their states. You're going to have free access to preach and to teach the word of God and teach them the law of God. So very obviously, here is an offer of peace to be extended to the enemy. I don't know if the enemy attacked first, or if maybe this was some other incident that is not necessarily explained in the word of God, but God says before an open attack, before a declaration of war, make an offer of peace.
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If they accept, fine, then you have no problem. If they don't accept, then all the males are to be killed.
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Now, the interesting thing is, if you look back in your Bibles to Deuteronomy 20, the only exception to this offer of peace were the Canaanites, those who then dwelt in the land. Look at what God says in verse 15, "Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations," that is, of the Canaanites. Verse 16, "But of the cities of these people... thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth," verse 17, "namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites." God said, "I want you to kill every one of them. Man, woman, boy, girl, suckling, ox, ass, kill everything." Why? First of all, because they were under the ban, they were under the curse, they were under the judicial sentence of death from God. God says, "I want you to exclude them because I have sentenced them to death." Secondly, God says in verse 18, "that they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the Lord your God."
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God said, "I don't want you learning their ways. I want them exterminated." Let me draw a biblical principle before I go further. Here is a principle I think we can see from this offer of peace. I believe that God is telling us that we are to always try to avoid bloodshed, if possible. Let me give you an illustration. Back when those riots were happening a few years ago out in Los Angeles, California, some of them filtered down to Atlanta and some of the little surrounding towns. And usually, especially if I have my wife with me, I'm always armed. And when I travel, I always carry a weapon. Always.
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You never know what's going to happen. And I was riding down a street that I've gone down all my life. And yes, it was in a black neighborhood, but I've been—I drove—I've driven that ever since I've been driving. And there's one little black juke joint on the left, and here were four or five black men standing outside, and I was driving down that street. And Fitzgerald.
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And all of a sudden, I was by myself, and all of a sudden they started waving at me, "Come on, come on," and shook the fist. And I looked in my seat beside me, and I had a pistol with a 15-round clip with hydroshocks in it. And I looked at them and I smiled and I said, "You really don't want me to stop. You just think you want me to stop." And I kept going. You say, "Well, Brother Weaver, why didn't you stop and fight?"
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Because I'd end up shooting somebody. I'd either kill one of them or they'd kill me or I'd kill them all. You see what I'm saying? And all I've had to do is just laugh at them and keep going. So if I can avoid bloodshed, I'm going to avoid bloodshed.
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Now, let me finish this. Here's the principle. If we are to avoid bloodshed, if we're to try to avoid bloodshed, if at all possible, but—let me finish—if it is not possible to avoid bloodshed, God is telling us, fight to win so that you won't have to fight again. Now watch this. He said, if they open unto you, fine, they've just become your tributaries. But if they won't open unto you, what do you do? Kill all the males.
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Now let me ask you a question. If you go to a city or to a nation, and you exterminate all the males, how soon are you going to have to be back there fighting again? It will be a while. Of course, that would be referring to the men. What I'm showing you is this. What would that do to that city, that state or that nation? It would literally destroy their culture. You wouldn't be back there any time soon, I can assure you.
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So God says, here's the principle, we are to avoid bloodshed if at all possible. But if it is not possible, you fight to win. And you fight so that you won't have to do it over again. Let me tell you that this is so funny. When I was a boy, I used to have to ride the school bus, and there was a neighbor boy. He used to come up and try to wrestle me every day.
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And although I was older than he was, but he was larger than I was. And every day I would wrestle him down, every single day. And usually I'd get him in a headlock and I'd be, you know, and sometimes I'd put my knuckles up under there where it really, you know. But every day he'd come back and wrestle me again. And he never won. He never won. And the reason he would do that was because the older boys in the back would say, "I'll give you a nickel," or "I'll give you fifty cents, go up and slap John back to the head."
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All they wanted to do was see a fight. And they never gave him the money. I mean, he wasn't very smart, you know. So he'd get whipped every day. But I told my father, I said, "Dad, I'm getting so tired of fighting Jack. I said, every day I have to wrestle him down on the bus." And Daddy said, "Son, if you hurt him one time, he'll stop." I said, "Yes, sir." So I got on the bus that afternoon and I said, "Now Jack, I want to tell you something. If you mess with me this afternoon, I'm going to hurt you. I don't want to hurt you, but if you mess with me, I'm going to hurt you. Just remember that." Well, we got down the road and sure enough, I looked up in the mirror and I saw Jack slipping up behind me so he could slap me back to the head. I stood up and I turned around and I said, "Jack, remember what I told you when you got on the bus. If you mess with me, I'm going to hurt you."
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So I turned around and sat back down. And sure enough, I watched him. He came up and slapped me right back to the head. And he turned around to run to the back of the bus. And when he did, I was up. I grabbed him. I spun him around. And when he spun around, I balled my fist up and I hit him as hard as I could in the stomach.
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I mean, he doubled over. You could hear the breath going out of him. And when he doubled over, I came up with an uppercut and I hit him right up in the jaw. And I knocked him so hard, I knocked him over a school bus seat, which I know fractured a rib. He was crying, blood was coming from everywhere. So when I got off the bus, I told my dad, I said, "You're probably going to get a call from Jack's parents."
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Let me tell you what I did. You told me if I hurt him, he'd leave me alone. You know, he did leave me alone for a couple of days. Until the boy said, "I'll give you a dollar." But you know, that boy became one of my best friends. And he was converted later on under my ministry. And he's now dead. He died of cancer a number of years ago. But the amazing thing is, you know, Dad said, "Son, if you hurt him, he'll leave you alone." Here's the principle.
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If you've got to fight, fight to win so you won't have to fight again. Now, let's look at another principle. Let's go to number 2. Let's go to verses 19 and 20. Let's read it. "When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege: only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued." Now, here is the second principle. War is not to be waged against creation, but against man. Let me say that another way. War is not to be waged against nature, but against man.
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These scriptures forbid what you and I would call a wanton destruction of the earth. Let me say it another way. These scriptures forbid the scorched earth policy. These scriptures were violated by Sherman and many others like him who looted, pillaged, burned and destroyed everything in their path. God says, now look, if you've got to build bulwarks, you cut down the trees that are not meat or food-bearing trees. Don't be using pear trees. Don't be using peach trees. Don't be using any tree that's going to be good for food. You cut down one that you know is not going to be good for food. Why?
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Creation is not the sinner. Man is the sinner. I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 5. Notice verse 9, and then we'll make some applications. Ecclesiastes 5, verse 9. Look what God says. "Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field." So the earth, the profit of the earth, is for all. So God says, you cut down the fruit trees, you're hurting yourself. You can live from those fruit trees just like your enemies could. So the principle here is this, no fruit-bearing trees are to be destroyed, only those that are not fit for food. Why? Let's make some applications.
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First of all, number one, are you listening? Production has priority over politics. Production has priority over politics.
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Now, I want you to think with me. Everyone in here is familiar with the War of Northern Aggression or the War for Southern Independence or as some like to call it, Lincoln's War. Lincoln's War was a war of politics. Why? Because in his war of politics, he did not fight against the men in the South, per se, he fought against the South. He tried to destroy everything in the South, the fields, the crops, the trees, everything. In other words, he wanted it where the South would be starved into submission. That's why when Sherman marched to the sea, he burned, raped, pillaged, plundered everything in his path. Up until this time in our country, there had been no war as such against production. I want you to understand something. After Lincoln's war, production no longer has a priority over politics. Politics has a priority over production, and after Lincoln there were many others who followed in his vein, but the prime imitator of Lincoln was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Why? Because production is now controlled by politics.
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If you don't believe that, I challenge anybody in here to try farming for one year. You can only plant what the government tells you you can plant. You say, "Bless God, I'll plant whatever I want to plant." Go ahead. You can't sell it. Not unless you can find individuals who will buy it, but you will not sell it on the market without their permission. God is saying that production has a priority over politics.
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Now, there's a second implication here. And that is this. War is not to be waged against productive citizens. War is not to be waged against productive citizens. Let me explain this. For instance, look in your Bibles to Psalm 1. I'm not going to read all of these passages. I do want you to see Psalm 1. Many of you can quote that Psalm. But you will find the same truth in Judges 9. Many times in the Bible, men are compared to trees. Many times. A tree in the Bible is a symbol for man. Look in Psalm 1. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful."
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"But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away."
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So here men are compared to trees, and especially Christian men are the productive ones. But here is the principle: War is not to be waged against productive citizens. Civilians, those who are not fighting, those fruit-bearing, those productive citizens are not to be attacked. Why? They will be a base of support after you have defeated your enemy. Let me give you a classic example. Many of you know that our bombers bombed Germany left and right. But does anyone know of one city that was bombed that had absolutely no military significance at all, no ammo dumps, no plants to manufacture bombs, was a center of culture, a center of art, Dresden? Dresden? Why? Listen, why was Dresden bombed? Nothing there.
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Well, maybe morals, so to speak. You see what I'm saying? But all they had there was art and that kind of stuff. So the point is, why in the world—the thing that really, really upsets me is when I hear about someone who was killed in a drive-by shooting. Why would you shoot someone, number one, that you don't even know, number two, that's not an enemy of yours, and number three, that's minding his own business?
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It makes absolutely no sense. And that's what God is saying in this principle. Don't destroy the fruit-bearing people because after the victory, they're going to be the ones who will be the base of support for a reconstructed, godly social order. You know, many people do not know it, but after Japan was defeated, do you realize that thousands of missionaries went to Japan? In fact, they asked MacArthur to send them. MacArthur requested missionaries be sent there. The point I'm trying to make is, if you're going to conquer somebody, if you destroy the base of support, then you're going to have to put out everything yourself. God says, no, you're to make war against man, not war against his creation.
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Look back in your Bible to Deuteronomy 20, and let me very quickly give you the third principle that we're going to give from this passage today, and that is this. The law of booty provides a reward for the soldiers. Everybody know what booty is? That's the spoils. Watch this. Look in Deuteronomy 20, verse 14. God says, "But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee."
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Do you remember what Caleb said when he was trying to get the people to go ahead and attack the enemy there to conquer Canaan land after they had said, "Man, those people are big and we're just grasshoppers in their sight"? Remember what Caleb said? He said, "They are bread for us. They are bread for us." Look in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Numbers, chapter 31.
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Let me show you this. Let's begin reading with verse 21, Numbers 31, verse 21. "And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses; only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water. And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean, and afterward ye shall come into the camp. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast," and the war has been won now, so they've got the prey, they've got the booty, they've got the spoils. "...both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation: and divide the prey into two parts."
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"between them that took the war upon them, who went out to the battle, and between all the congregation: and levy a tribute unto the Lord of the men of war which went out to the battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep: take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, for an heave offering of the Lord. And of the children of Israel's half, thou shalt take one portion of fifty, of the persons, of the beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, of all manner of beasts, and give them unto the Levites, which keep the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord. And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses."
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Now, look if you would, please, at verse 29. "Take it of their half." Look in verse 30. "And of the children of Israel's half." Look in verse 42. "And of the children of Israel's half, which Moses divided from the men that warred." Now, here's the war. And let's say, I'll give you an illustration, let's suppose that 200,000 men are mustered for a war, but only 100,000 actually have to go to war.
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The battle is won, there's a lot of spoil. Guess what God says? God says, you give half to the men who went to war, and you give the other half to those who didn't go to war. They were mustered, but they didn't go to war. You divide the spoil between them. Then God says you levy a tribute upon each hand, and that tribute is to be given to the Lord, to recognize his provision, his protection and his blessing.
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1 Samuel, chapter 30. Let's begin reading with verse 22. In this passage, the Philistines have attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire. They have taken the wives and the children of David and his men and all the spoils. David goes after the Philistines. And what happens is this. Well, let's begin reading in 1 Samuel, chapter 30, and notice if you would, let's go back to verse 5. "And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God." Now, David asked, should he go after them? God says yes. Watch verse 10, "But David pursued, he and four hundred men."
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"for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor." So here David has 600 men. Two-thirds of them are able to go to battle. The other third, they just can't. Why? Because they're so distressed, they're so upset, they're weeping because their wives and their children have been taken.
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Now, what happens is this. Look in verse 19. "And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all." Watch now, "And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drave before those other cattle, and said, This is David's spoil."
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Now remember, these Philistines had already been looting. OK? So they had not only gotten all David's men—the loot from those families—they had loot from other places that they had been looting as well. So David said, "This is mine." "And David came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to abide at the brook Besor: and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him: and when David came near to the people, he saluted them."
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Now watch, "Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, of those that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them ought of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away, and depart."
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In other words, their attitude is this: "We did the fighting, bless God. We're keeping the spoil. Just give them back their wives and kids, and that's it." Look what David says, verse 23. "Then said David, Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the Lord hath given us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand."
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"For who will hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike. And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day." So the part that went to war and the part that tarried by the stuff split the spoil 50-50.
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I hope you understand this principle, not just monetarily speaking. This is true in a family situation. It's true in a church situation. I've used this verse many times to share things with Alice, but things which God enables me to do that she's not able to do. Just simple from the very fact that she supports me, whatever victory and blessing I have from God, half of it goes to her.
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Same thing with this assembly. Not everybody goes across this country preaching and teaching. God has allowed me to do so. But the blessings and the victory that God gives me, half of them go to you. That's the way God counts things. Because if it were not for you, I could not go and do what I do. You follow that principle? Someone, somewhere has to tarry by the stuff. Someone, somewhere has to farm and support an army. So God says they shall split and split alike.
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Now, here's what I want you to see. I want you to see out of all the spoils, out of all the booty, out of all the prey, part of it always went to the Lord and his work. Look back in your Bibles to the book of Numbers 31. We just read it. I'm going to start there and read one more time and then go forward. Numbers 31, look in verse 28. "And levy a tribute unto the Lord of the men of war which went out to the battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep." So here was a percentage of their spoil that was given to the Lord. Look in verse 47.
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"Even of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one portion of fifty, both of man and of beast, and gave them unto the Levites, which kept the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord; as the Lord commanded Moses." So God got a portion of those men who actually went to battle. God got a portion of those men who did not go to battle.
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Now turn right over to 1 Chronicles 26. You may be in for a real surprise as you read this verse. 1 Chronicles 26. By the way, I hope you know that the temple was an elaborate building. All kinds of gold, silver, brass, precious stones, everything. Where in the world did all that gold and silver come from? Well, look in 1 Chronicles 26 and verse 27. Here's what the Bible says.
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"Out of the spoils won in battles did they dedicate to maintain the house of the Lord." And then you read about how David gave up his spoils, all the captains and all the mighty men gave up their spoils. So all the gold and the silver in the temple came from war. Look in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7. Remember we told you about the first war mentioned in the Bible, Genesis chapter 14. You will also find this in Genesis 14, but I wanted to read it to you from the New Testament because so many people are so funny when they say, "But that's in the Old Testament," just like, you know, the Old Testament is not the Word of God. I want you to see the same things in the New Testament. So Hebrews 7 and verse 4, here was Abraham. He came back from the slaughter of the kings. And the Bible says, "Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils."
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So Abraham gave Melchizedek a tithe of the spoils from the battle. So out of the spoils of battle, they did dedicate and maintain the house of the Lord.
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Now, let me make a couple of applications. First of all, I think it's very obvious that it is proper, in one sense of the word, to have soldiers paid for their services, and certainly the law of booty offers a good incentive to fight. By the way, let me point this out very clearly. The law of booty does not mean to rape, plunder, pillage, steal, take anything that you can get on your own.
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Whatever the enemy had, it was divided. No one had the right just to simply say, "I'm going to take this for myself and that and that." It wasn't every man for himself. It was not that kind of thing. So the principle is there is an incentive then for soldiers to fight. Let me go ahead, I'm not going to get into this today. But there is also an aspect here of what we would call war indemnity or a penalty imposed upon the enemy for being the aggressor or for starting the war or for causing the war, therefore they had to pay to defray the cost of the war. Now, are you listening?
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I don't know if you caught this. The booty was halved between those who fought and those who didn't fight. Then there was a tithe given to the Lord from each half. So the soldiers got some, the congregation got some, the Lord got some, but did you notice? No booty went to the state. None went to the government.
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Now, if you look back in your Bibles to 1 Samuel, chapter 30, I want you to see that David voluntarily shared some of his booty with those who had helped to hide and defend him, the elders. He did not have to, but he did so voluntarily. 1 Samuel 30, verse 26. "And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord."
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"to them which were in Bethel, and to them which were in south Ramoth, and to them which were in Jattir, and to them which were in Aroer, and to them which were in Siphmoth, and to them which were in Eshtemoa, and to them which were in Rachal, and to them which were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to them which were in the cities of the Kenites, and to them which were in Hormah, and to them which were in Chorashan, and to them which were in Athach, and to them which were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were wont to haunt." So David then said, "I'll take some of mine and share it with some of these elders, some of these leaders." Why? Because they helped hide me. They helped defend me.
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But no, it was a voluntary thing. Let me go a little bit further. No special duty was even given to the commanders or the captains or the leaders of the armies. If you look in your Bibles to the book of Judges, chapter eight, you'll find that Gideon had to ask his men for something special.
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Now, they voluntarily gave it, but it was not his just simply by the fact that he was the leader. Judges chapter 8, and notice, if you would please, beginning there with verse 24. "And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you, that ye would give me every man the earrings of his prey. (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) And they answered, We will willingly give them." So Gideon had to ask for it. He didn't just get it because he happened to be the commander.
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So you say, "Brother Weaver, why are you making this point?" Let me explain why. Since no booty went to the state, since no spoil went to the government, since none of it went to the politicians, if there are no spoils of war that go to the government or to the politicians, it places a great restraint upon them to keep them from fighting. Let me tell you something, folks.
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One of the main problems that we have today in America is this. There are huge economic benefits from war that go to our government and to our politicians. That is an incentive for them to keep your sons in battles all across this world. Because they get rich by it. War is a multi-billion dollar industry. But if they get nothing from war, there's restraint placed upon them. Why fight?
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It's not going to benefit us. Now, that doesn't mean that we're not to defend ourselves, but I'm saying war is taken out from politics and from government, it's brought down to defense for liberty and freedom, and the spoils go to the people. I don't know about you, but I haven't gotten my share from the Gulf War, Korean War, World War II, World War I. But the government has gotten millions of shares, not only from the spoils, but from the people in taxes.
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So the law of booty then excludes the state and places restraint upon politicians and governments. Let's pray. Father, thy word is so clear and so practical and so simple, and yet we have erred and deviated so far from it. Our nation is in a mess, and most nations are, because they reject and refuse thy word. Teach us, Lord, that we may submit to Thee, and to honor Thee, and to glorify Thee, and to live for Thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
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This program was produced by Dominion Ministry. For more information about Pastor Weaver's sermons, you may contact Dominion Ministry by mail at 7400 Abercorn, that's A-B-E-R-C-O-R-N Street, Suite 705, P-M-B 175, Savannah, Georgia, 31406. Or give us a call at 912-925-7000.
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You can also visit our website at www.dominionministry.com.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T00:31:52Z

When Is It Right To Fight - 3

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

In this sermon, John Weaver continues his exposition of Deuteronomy 20, focusing on verses 10-20. He outlines three key principles for biblical warfare: first, an offer of peace must be extended before an attack, but on terms of justice and righteousness, not negotiation; second, war is to be waged against man, not against creation, forbidding wanton destruction and scorched-earth policies; third, the law of booty provides reward for soldiers and the congregation, with a tithe to the Lord, but excludes the state, thereby restraining politicians from unnecessary wars. Applications emphasize the priority of production over politics and the importance of fighting to win to avoid future conflict.

Opening

Okay, Deuteronomy chapter 20, and let's read the entire chapter.

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 20:1-20

"When thou goest forth to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, and shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies." "Let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; for the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it? let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it. And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her. And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart." "And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people. When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: and when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: but the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee. Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations." "But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: but thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee: that they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the Lord your God. When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege: only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued."

Review of Previous Messages on Deuteronomy 20

The Offer of Peace Before Attack

The Meaning of Tributary

A tributary is a conquered people who pay tribute or taxes, not necessarily slaves. They support God's law and social order, allowing free access for preaching and teaching.

Scripture Reading — Judges 1:30

"Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries."

Watch closely as I read this. In fact, let's begin with verse 7.

Scripture Reading — 2 Chronicles 10:18

"As for all the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which were not of Israel, but of their children, who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, them did Solomon make to pay tribute until this day."

Scripture Reading — 2 Chronicles 10:18

"Then king Rehoboam sent Hadoram that was over the tribute; and the children of Israel stoned him with stones, that he died. But king Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem."

Scripture Reading — Esther 10:1

"And the king Ahasuerus laid a tribute upon the land, and upon the isles of the sea."

Exception for the Canaanites

The offer of peace does not apply to the Canaanite nations, who were under God's judicial sentence of death and were to be utterly destroyed to prevent Israel from learning their abominations.

Principle: Avoid Bloodshed if Possible, but Fight to Win

We should try to avoid bloodshed, but if conflict is unavoidable, fight decisively to eliminate the threat and prevent future battles. Weaver illustrates with personal anecdotes.

War Not Against Creation but Against Man

Deuteronomy 20:19-20 forbids destroying fruit-bearing trees during a siege, teaching that war should target sinful man, not productive creation. This prohibits scorched-earth policies.

Scripture Reading — Ecclesiastes 5:9

"Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field."

Applications: Production Over Politics and Protection of Civilians

Production has priority over politics; war should not target productive citizens or civilians, who will be a base of support after victory. Examples include Lincoln's War and the bombing of Dresden.

The Law of Booty: Reward and Restraint

Let me show you this. Let's begin reading with verse 21, Numbers 31, verse 21.

Scripture Reading — Numbers 31:21-30, 42, 47

"And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses; only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water. And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean, and afterward ye shall come into the camp. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast,"

and the war has been won now, so they've got the prey, they've got the booty, they've got the spoils.

Scripture Reading — Numbers 31:21-30, 42, 47

"...both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation: and divide the prey into two parts."

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 30:26-31

"And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord." "to them which were in Bethel, and to them which were in south Ramoth, and to them which were in Jattir, and to them which were in Aroer, and to them which were in Siphmoth, and to them which were in Eshtemoa, and to them which were in Rachal, and to them which were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to them which were in the cities of the Kenites, and to them which were in Hormah, and to them which were in Chorashan, and to them which were in Athach, and to them which were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were wont to haunt."

So David then said, "I'll take some of mine and share it with some of these elders, some of these leaders." Why? Because they helped hide me. They helped defend me.

Now, they voluntarily gave it, but it was not his just simply by the fact that he was the leader. Judges chapter 8, and notice, if you would please, beginning there with verse 24.

Scripture Reading — Judges 8:24-25

"And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you, that ye would give me every man the earrings of his prey. (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) And they answered, We will willingly give them."

So Gideon had to ask for it. He didn't just get it because he happened to be the commander.

When Is It Right To Fight - 3

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	1017111628277
Subject	Family Government
Course	The Christian Family: Marriage and Household Order: The Family
Genre	Sermon
Date	2006-12-22
Dictation Name
Book	Book 036: When Is It Right To Fight — Chapter 3
Source Timed Segments	85

Lecture Guide

Outline

Review of Previous Messages on Deuteronomy 20: Weaver reviews the first nine verses, covering the reality of war, the inconsequence of numerical odds and superior armaments for people of faith, God's presence as the major advantage, and military exemptions for those with new houses, vineyards, betrothed wives, and the fearful.
The Offer of Peace Before Attack: God requires an offer of peace to the enemy before an attack. This is not a negotiation or compromise of righteousness; the enemy must submit to God's terms. If accepted, they become tributaries; if refused, all males are to be killed.
The Meaning of Tributary: A tributary is a conquered people who pay tribute or taxes, not necessarily slaves. They support God's law and social order, allowing free access for preaching and teaching.
Exception for the Canaanites: The offer of peace does not apply to the Canaanite nations, who were under God's judicial sentence of death and were to be utterly destroyed to prevent Israel from learning their abominations.
Principle: Avoid Bloodshed if Possible, but Fight to Win: We should try to avoid bloodshed, but if conflict is unavoidable, fight decisively to eliminate the threat and prevent future battles. Weaver illustrates with personal anecdotes.
War Not Against Creation but Against Man: Deuteronomy 20:19-20 forbids destroying fruit-bearing trees during a siege, teaching that war should target sinful man, not productive creation. This prohibits scorched-earth policies.
Applications: Production Over Politics and Protection of Civilians: Production has priority over politics; war should not target productive citizens or civilians, who will be a base of support after victory. Examples include Lincoln's War and the bombing of Dresden.
The Law of Booty: Reward and Restraint: Spoils of war are divided equally between those who fought and those who stayed behind, with a tithe given to the Lord. No booty goes to the state, which restrains politicians from waging war for profit.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Offer of peace is not negotiation

The peace offer in Deuteronomy 20 is a demand for surrender to God's righteous terms, not a compromise.

Weaver says, 'This offer of peace is not a negotiation. It is not a negotiation. Secondly, this offer of peace is not a compromise of righteousness.'

Tributaries support God's order

Conquered peoples who accept peace become tributaries, paying taxes and supporting the superior society based on God's law.

Weaver explains, 'They're supporting God's law, God's work... you're going to have free access to preach and to teach the word of God.'

Canaanites were under divine judgment

The Canaanites were excluded from peace offers because they were under God's curse and would lead Israel into sin.

Weaver states, 'They were under the ban, they were under the curse, they were under the judicial sentence of death from God.'

Scorched earth policy is forbidden

Deuteronomy 20:19-20 prohibits destroying fruit trees, teaching that war should target people, not the environment.

Weaver says, 'These scriptures forbid what you and I would call a wanton destruction of the earth... the scorched earth policy.'

Booty distribution restrains government

Since spoils go to soldiers, congregation, and the Lord, not the state, politicians lack economic incentive for war.

Weaver argues, 'If there are no spoils of war that go to the government or to the politicians, it places a great restraint upon them to keep them from fighting.'

Scripture References

Deuteronomy 20:1-20: The entire chapter is read and expounded as the basis for the sermon's principles on warfare.
Malachi 3:6: Cited to support the immutability of God: 'I, the Lord, change not.'
Psalm 119:89: Used to affirm the eternal nature of God's word: 'Forever, O Lord, is thy word settled in the heavens.'
Judges 1:30: Example of Canaanites becoming tributaries instead of being destroyed.
2 Chronicles 8:7-8: Solomon made the remaining Canaanites pay tribute.
2 Chronicles 10:18: Hadoram was over the tribute (taxes), illustrating the tributary system.
Esther 10:1: King Ahasuerus laid a tribute (tax) on the land.
Deuteronomy 4:6-8: Israel's laws make them a wise and understanding nation, superior to others.
Ecclesiastes 5:9: The profit of the earth is for all, supporting the principle of not destroying fruit trees.
Psalm 1:1-4: Men are compared to trees, with the righteous being like a fruitful tree.
Numbers 31:21-30, 42, 47: The law of booty: spoils divided between warriors and congregation, with a tithe to the Lord.
1 Samuel 30:5-6, 10, 19-24: David's equal distribution of spoils between those who fought and those who stayed behind.
1 Chronicles 26:27: Spoils won in battles were dedicated to maintain the house of the Lord.
Hebrews 7:4: Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils to Melchizedek, confirming the tithe from war booty.
1 Samuel 30:26-31: David voluntarily shared spoils with elders who helped him.
Judges 8:24-25: Gideon requested earrings from the prey, and the men willingly gave them.

Historical References

Sherman's March to the Sea: Weaver cites Sherman as violating the biblical principle against scorched-earth policies by looting and burning everything in his path during the Civil War.
Lincoln's War (Civil War): Referred to as a war of politics where production was targeted, contrasting with biblical warfare that prioritizes production over politics.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Mentioned as a prime imitator of Lincoln in making politics control production.
Bombing of Dresden: Used as an example of attacking a city with no military significance, violating the principle of not targeting civilians or non-military assets.
MacArthur and missionaries to Japan: After Japan's defeat, MacArthur requested missionaries, illustrating the use of productive citizens as a base of support.

Important Quotes

This offer of peace is not a negotiation. It is not a negotiation. Secondly, this offer of peace is not a compromise of righteousness.

Clarifies that the biblical peace offer is a demand for surrender to God's justice, not a diplomatic compromise.

If you've got to fight, fight to win so you won't have to fight again.

Summarizes the principle of decisive warfare to prevent future conflicts, illustrated by personal story.

These scriptures forbid what you and I would call a wanton destruction of the earth. Let me say it another way. These scriptures forbid the scorched earth policy.

Highlights the biblical prohibition against environmental destruction in war.

Production has priority over politics.

A key application that economic productivity should not be sacrificed for political goals in warfare.

No booty went to the state. None went to the government.

Emphasizes that biblical war spoils were distributed to people and God, not the state, restraining political war-mongering.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does the biblical offer of peace differ from modern diplomatic negotiations?

[Context]

Weaver stresses that the peace offer is not a negotiation but a demand for surrender to God's righteous terms.

[Question]

In what ways does the principle 'fight to win so you won't have to fight again' apply to personal conflicts today?

[Context]

Weaver uses personal anecdotes to illustrate the need for decisive action to prevent repeated conflicts.

[Question]

What are the implications of forbidding scorched-earth policies for modern warfare and environmental stewardship?

[Context]

The sermon argues that war should target people, not creation, based on Deuteronomy 20:19-20.

[Question]

How does the biblical law of booty challenge contemporary government profiteering from war?

[Context]

Weaver points out that no spoils went to the state, which restrained politicians from unnecessary wars.

[Question]

Why does God command the total destruction of the Canaanites, and how does this relate to the offer of peace for other nations?

[Context]

The Canaanites were under divine judgment and posed a spiritual threat, unlike distant cities.

Applications

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