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Biblical Military Regulations

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• All right, it's certainly good to see each one of you here again tonight, and I want you to please open your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 20. For those of you who have not been here this week, I've been dealing with the biblical doctrine of war, and the first night I dealt with the fact that God is a warrior, and then last night I dealt with the concept of a holy war and the concept of a just war. And tonight, Lord willing, I want to deal with some military regulations in the Bible—some that may surprise you. And hopefully, Lord willing, tomorrow night, I want to deal with the subject of warrior priests. So let's read all of Deuteronomy 20 tonight. Deuteronomy 20, beginning with verse 1.

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• God says, "When thou goest out 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 you come nigh unto the battle, that the priests shall approach and speak unto the people, and shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, you 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 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 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 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 faint-hearted? 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 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, 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.

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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, the Amorites, the Canaanites, 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 shall you 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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• Let me just say again tonight, before I get started having read Deuteronomy chapter 20, that tonight I'm going to be going a little fast. I try not to go too fast, but I do have about three different messages that I'm trying to combine in one. So once again, I'm going to be quoting a lot of scripture and just citing references, so make sure that you jot those references down so that you may check them out in the Word of God afterwards. Like Paul told those Bereans, he said that these Bereans were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they searched the Word of God daily as to whether or not those things were so. So even when the Apostle Paul preached, he commended the Bereans for searching the Word of God for themselves. Now we've dealt with God as a warrior. We've dealt with a just war and a holy war. Tonight we come to military regulations in the Bible, and Deuteronomy chapter 20 is an entire chapter that is given to military regulations.

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• Incidentally, and I will not get to preach this this week, but Israel had a militia. She did not have a standing army until later on under King David, but it was indeed a militia and God gives the rules and the regulations then for ordering the militia. Now all of the wars of Israel against their enemies were to be carried out in faith without fear and in total reliance upon the might and the power of God himself. As I pointed out last night, God requires that we be a people of faith, that we live in faith and not in fear. In fact, every area, every sphere of our life is to be brought into conformity to the Word of God. You remember in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, verses 1 through 8, the Word of God says to everything, there's a season and a time to every purpose under heaven. And right down in that, the last verse, verse 8, he says, a time to love and a time to hate, a time of war and a time of peace.

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• So God is saying there are times that there is indeed going to be peace, but there are also times there's going to be war. And so times nor circumstances change or alter the principle of faith. We are to exercise faith in times of war and trouble as well as in times of peace and prosperity. So let me begin in chapter 20 and look at verse one, if you would please. God says, "When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses and chariots and a people more than thou."

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• "Be not afraid of them. For the Lord thy God is with thee, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."

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• Now, the very first thing I want to share with you tonight is this, that fighting and war are assumed facts in Scripture. Note what God says. "When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies," not if, but when. In other words, God says, there is indeed going to be a time of war. There's going to be a time to fight. And whenever you go, there are certain principles that should be regulating that.

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• Look in Deuteronomy 21 and verse 10, since you're right there again. Once again, God says, "When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the Lord thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive." But note, if you would, "when thou goest forth to war." And then if you look in Deuteronomy 23 and verse 9, once again God says it like this, "When the host goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing." So here is a basic assumption in the Bible, and that basic assumption is indeed that there are going to be times of war. There's going to be times of fighting.

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• Now may I point out the fact it is just simply fantasy and wishful thinking to indulge in an ideology that envisions a world peace and perfect harmony in this world as a whole, when by and large this world rejects and despises the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot have a world peace apart from the Prince of Peace, and you have so many different philosophies abounding in this world today—there's communism, there's humanism, there's socialism, there's utopianism, and everyone tries to think that their little ism is going to bring in the perfect society and a world of peace. I never will forget years ago when I found out about the word utopia. You know, everyone wishes for a utopian society. That's a perfect world and the world of peace. Well, I was blessed, in one sense of the word, to have three years of Greek. And I was reading in the Greek New Testament, and I came across the word for utopia.

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• And I got so tickled and so excited, I could not stand it. The word utopia is made up of two Greek words. It's made up of, first of all, u, which is a negative, which means no, and topos, utopos. The word topos means place. Literally, the word utopia means no place. It doesn't exist. It's a figment of someone's imagination. So when you read about the communistic utopia, or the socialistic utopia, or the humanistic utopia, it's a figment of their imagination. It does not really exist.

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• You see, socialism and communism and utopianism, the United Nationism, if you want to put it like that, are nothing more than deceitful failures from their inception. It cannot be real. It is not reality, because it is apart from God and apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. You're never ever going to have a world of peace in a Bible-hating, God-hating, Christ-denying society. That's all there is to it. In Isaiah 57, verses 20 and 21, and you don't have to turn there, I'll quote it, God says, "But the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." So without Christ, there can be no peace. You remember our Lord said in Matthew 24, verses 6 and 7, He said, "And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars."

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• So what I'm trying to show you is this, that Scripture assumes the fact and the reality of war and the fact and reality of fighting. You see, one of the problems that we have as Christians is that in reality we are not biblicists. What do I mean by that? I mean that we actually have not developed a biblical attitude in every area, in every sphere of our life.

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• We tend to be brainwashed and propagandized by the TV and by humanism and by public education instead of submitting our minds to the Word of God. But the truth of the matter is this: when we fail to acknowledge the total depravity of man, and when we fail to acknowledge the fact that all men by nature are opposite of God and desire to be God, and they play God by being tyrannical and totalitarian, then the truth of the matter is if we believe that somehow that man is innately good and not totally depraved, and somehow man

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• is always going to look out for the other and do what is best for himself and everybody else—that is certainly insane, because man by nature does not look out for other people. Man by nature looks out for himself. Man by nature does what he wants to do contrary to God and contrary to the Word of God. That's why the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 6, especially verses 14 through 18, warn believers not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

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• Then he argued, what fellowship hath light with darkness? What concord hath Christ with Belial? And then he says, none. And then he said, come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord. So the truth of the matter is this, folks. Listen carefully. Biblicism, that is Christianity, has nothing in common with Communism. Christianity and humanism are diametrically opposed to each other. You cannot be a Christian humanist. You cannot be a Christian socialist. You cannot be a Christian communist. Those terms are totally opposite of each other. It's kind of like someone said, well, he's a Christian drunk. Well, you can't be a drunk and be a Christian at the same time.

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• I want you to understand that. And so what I'm saying when we take a Biblicist approach, then we understand the fact and the reality of Scripture that man is totally depraved, and inevitably, because of the consequences of sin, there's going to be war, and there's going to be fighting. So war and fighting is assumed in the Bible. Notice, if you would please, back in Deuteronomy 20 and verse 1, here's the second truth, that numerical odds are inconsequential to the people of faith.

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• Now, I had this question asked me today in one sense of the word, and there's another answer that I'm going to give you thirdly in just a moment. But look in verse 1. He said, "When thou goest out 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." Now he says, when you see a people more than you, be not afraid.

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• Do you realize that odds only count when you live by sight? They do not count when you live by faith. Do you remember in the book of Numbers chapter 13, when Moses had sent the spies out, you remember only two spies brought back a true and an accurate report, Joshua and Caleb. The other spies are the ones who said, oh man, you should have seen what we saw. We saw cities that are walled up into heaven. And we saw the children of Anak there. And we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants.

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• And we were, as in our own eyes, as grasshoppers. And so we were in their eyes.

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• Now, what were they saying? They were saying, man, these people are too many, they are too big, and they are too strong. There is no way in the world that we can conquer them. Well, when you get to Numbers chapter 14, Joshua and Caleb stilled the people and said, look, we're well able to overcome them. We're well able to whip them because we have God on our side. But instead of listening to Joshua and Caleb, the people listened to the other spies and despised God and despised what God had given them and they wanted to appoint a captain and turn back and go into Egypt. And God said, let me tell you something, these men are not going to inherit my land. Why? Because they were not people of faith, they were people of sight. And the Bible tells us in Hebrews 3, verses 17-19, that God was sore displeased with these people, and their carcasses fell in the wilderness for 40 years.

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• And what did He say? They entered not into that rest because they believed not. They were not a people of faith. They were indeed a people of sight. I want you to understand, folks, that odds are inconsequential to a people of faith. Let me read to you from 2 Chronicles, chapter 14, verses 9 through 13. Here's what the Word of God says. And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with a host of a thousand thousand and three hundred chariots. Now watch that. Here's a million warriors and three hundred chariots, and they came to Mareshah.

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• And Asa, that is King Asa, went out against him and set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. And Asa cried unto the Lord, and said, Lord, it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many or with them that have no power. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go against this multitude, O Lord. For Thou art our God. Let no man prevail against Thee. Guess what? Asa and that small number defeated Zerah and the million Ethiopians.

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• See, when he saw us outnumbered, his attitude was not one of sight, it was one of faith. He said, God, it doesn't matter to you. You can use a lot or you can use a few. You're the God of the battle. You're the God of the army. You're the one who gives the victory. I'm reminded of the incident in World War I, General Chesty Puller. Some of you know what I'm about to say. They came to Chesty Puller and they said, Sir, the enemy is in front of us. He said, they are. And they said, the enemy are behind us.

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• He said, is that right? And they said, moreover, the enemy is to the right of us. Oh, he said. And they said, General, the enemy is also to the left of us. And Chesty Puller said, good. We have them right where we want them. They can't get away from us now. Hey, that's faith, folks. That's exactly what I'm talking about. Have you ever noticed how easily we are discouraged when we're outnumbered? Have you ever noticed that?

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• It's exceedingly irritating to me. But, I mean, inevitably you hear somebody say, well, there are so many on the other side. That really doesn't matter, folks. Have you ever understood that God usually has a minority, and God usually works with and uses the minority? Have you ever thought about old Noah? What if Noah sat down and said, hey, there's so many on the other side, maybe they're right.

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• I don't think I'll build that ark. What if Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said, well, everybody's bowing down, why should not we? What if Daniel said, well, nobody else is praying. Maybe I shouldn't pray. You don't understand what I'm saying. And the fact is that there are odds stacked against us really is inconsequential to a people of faith. Do you realize that our Lord took five loaves and two fishes and fed 5,000 men, not counting the women and the children? Do you realize that our Lord took Gideon and 300 men and destroyed the entire Midianite army? Do you realize, if you are indeed a person of faith, listen carefully, you don't see how great the enemy is. You see how great, how powerful, and how magnificent our sovereign, omnipotent Lord is. We understand that He's well able to take care of exceedingly great numerical odds. So first of all, war is indeed assumed in Scripture. Secondly, I want to point out that numerical odds are inconsequential to the people of faith.

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• And then look thirdly in verse 1. He said, "When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses and chariots and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them." Here's the third point. Superior armaments are inconsequential to the people of faith. Now he said, when thou seest horses and chariots, may I remind you that horses and chariots were offensive weapons. It is true they may be used defensively, but mainly they were for purposes of aggression. They were offensive weapons.

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• Let me put it to you like this. Chariots and horses were pretty well known as the tanks and the bombers back in Bible times. They were the heavy artillery. They were indeed the heavy equipment. Have you ever noticed how easily we become discouraged when we see such powerful armament? And we think, how in the world can we survive? I've had people say, man, look at all the technology that's available today. Look at all the weapons. Let me tell you something, it is almost incomprehensible for me to believe this, but this was a weapon back in Vietnam.

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• They had a machine gun that was usually shot from a helicopter and one burst would put a bullet in every square inch of a football field. That's incomprehensible to me. But yet, it's true. They have weapons today that they're using—microwave technology. They have weapons that they can shoot and basically melt the skin off the bones. It's unbelievable. But may I tell you something? It really doesn't matter what the enemy has.

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• Pharaoh had his army and all of his chariots, but what good is a chariot in the bottom of the Red Sea? Have you ever stopped to think that God destroyed the Amorites in Joshua 10 with hailstones? Had you ever stopped to think that in Deuteronomy chapter 7 and verse 20, God used hornets to destroy an enemy? Hornets chased them out of the land. Do you know what God used to bring the Philistines down? Hemorrhoids.

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• You say, what are hemorrhoids? Well, most people say they're hemorrhoids. And I've got news for you folks. If that's what it is, that's what God used, you can't fire too much when you have a bad case of hemorrhoids. You can't run too quickly either. But the point I'm trying to make is this. It doesn't matter how great the armament is, if God is not on your side, all of those armaments are useless. The truth of the matter is this. Goliath, the well-trained, well-equipped warrior from his youth, fell before a young boy named David who used a slingshot.

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• I'd rather have a bow and arrow with the blessings of God upon it than a machine gun and a million rounds of ammo without the blessing of God. You see, folks, the truth of the matter is this. Samson, he picked up the jawbone of an ass and slew a thousand Philistines. It is not the armament that counts. It is the blessing and the power of God. And slingshots and jawbones are more than sufficient when they have the blessing and the power of God upon them. Notice what God said. God said, "Be not thou afraid of them." It doesn't matter about superior numbers. It doesn't matter about superior weaponry. God says, "Be not afraid of them." You know, the Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 7 that God hath not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. We're not to be afraid of the enemy. We are not to live in fear. The Bible says in Proverbs 29 and verse 25, that the fear of man bringeth a snare.

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• But whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall dwell safely. Why in the world should we sit back in fear when we know that we have the sovereign, omnipotent God of heaven and earth on our side? That brings me to this fourth point and you'll look in verse 1 again and you'll see the major difference or the stated advantage. He says, "When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them." Why? Why should we not be afraid of superior numbers and superior weaponry? Here's why. "For the Lord thy God is with thee." Do you remember in Exodus chapter 33, Moses was talking to the Lord and was praying, and God said to Moses, don't be afraid.

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• My presence shall go with you. And in verse 15, Moses said, "If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence." Moses said, I don't want to go, Lord, anywhere that you do not go. And you know what God told Joshua? Joshua 1 and verse 5. He said, "There shall not be any man able to stand before thee all the days of thy life." God said, "As I was with Moses, so will I be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."

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• Now, let me show you how this principle is applied. Look in verse 2. He said, "It shall be when you come nigh unto the battle, that the priests shall approach and speak unto the people." There were always ministers in a battle, before the battle, and by the way, it may surprise you to learn, I don't have time to go through all this in the Bible, but it was the priests and Levites who led the army into the battle. And they led them singing praises to the Lord and sounding the trumpets. But here's the priest, he goes out, look in verse 3, and here's what he says, He shall say, "Hear, O Israel, you approach this day into battle against your enemies."

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• Now watch, "Let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them." So, look at it over and over. You can't faint. You're not to fear. You're not to tremble. You're not to be terrified. Well, what in the world is going to stop a man from being afraid when he sees superior numbers and superior weaponry? Well, here's why, verse 4.

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• "For the Lord your God is He that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies to save you." Now note the presence. The Lord your God goeth with you. Note the power to fight for you against your enemy. Note the protection to save you. You know, there are many books written about the providential history of America. Do you remember the evacuation of Long Island when George Washington and his troops were basically surrounded by the British, and it looked like the end of the colonial soldiers. But God sent a fog in, so thick and so heavy, that those little boats rode back and forth until they basically evacuated all of Washington's little army. All with the blessing and the power of God. Certainly the British had superior numbers. They had superior weaponry. But God used a fog.

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• Now, let me just point out before I go further, that it requires faith to be fearless and to be undiscouraged in light of the circumstances. Do you remember how Elisha was in Dothan? And the Syrians were trying to capture the king of Israel. And finally, the king of Syria said to his men, what's going on? Who is it that's betraying me? Someone warns the king of Israel of my plans before I can ever execute them.

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• And his servant said, there's not a traitor in your tent. But he said, it's Elisha, the man of God in Dothan. He said, he tells the king of Israel everything that you say in your bedchamber. And he tells him not to go where you plan to attack because he knows. And so the king of Syria sent his entire army to Dothan and surrounded Dothan with Elisha there. And when the servant of Elisha got up the next morning, he looked out and he saw this vast army of Syrians surrounding the town. And he cried to Elisha, "Alas, my master, what shall we do?" And Elisha said, "Fear not."

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• "They be far more that are with us than they that are with them." And then he said, "Lord, I pray thee, open the young man's eyes." And God opened his eyes, and he saw angels surrounding the entire army. And then Elisha said, "Smite them with blindness, O God." And that's exactly what God did. And then Elisha just simply led them to the King of Israel. And of course, the King of Israel wanted to smite them. He said, no, you're not going to smite them. He said, you don't smite prisoners that you captured in battle. These are my prisoners.

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• Feed them and let them go. And then the Bible said the Syrians came no more against the king of Israel. I don't think I'd be wanting to fight against him any either. But the point I'm making is it requires faith. And Elisha was a man of faith. Do you remember the New Testament, Romans 8, verse 31, where Paul said, "And what shall we say to these things?" Help me out, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" You see, God's people are to be a people of faith.

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• Now, let me go a little bit further in Deuteronomy chapter 20. I've given you four things. First of all, fightings and wars are an assumed fact in Scripture.

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• Secondly, numerical odds are inconsequential to the people of faith. Thirdly, superior armaments or weaponry means absolutely nothing. That is also inconsequential to the people of faith. And then the major difference or the stated advantage is we have the sovereign God of heaven and earth on our sides.

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• Now in the Bible, when the Israelite militia was mustered, all males from 20 years old and upward presented themselves. However, not all of them went to war. In fact, in some cases, like Numbers chapter 31, only 1,000 from each tribe went to war. There were only 12,000 that went to war at that particular time. But in all cases, there were exclusions, there were exemptions from military service. Why were there these exclusions? Why were there these exemptions? And the Bible says, and I'll look at it within just a moment, but in verse 5, in verse 6, and verse 7, these exclusions were, "lest he die."

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• Now, that brings me to a very important point. And I want you to understand that men die in battle. Even righteous men die in battle. Even when they're fighting for a righteous cause. It is true that God generally and sovereignly protects his own in battle. If you study the Bible, and I don't have time to go over this with you, but before every battle, the soldiers gave a shekel, that is an atonement money or a half shekel, to the sanctuary. And that atonement money was for his life in case he died in battle. But God does sovereignly protect his people. For instance, in Numbers chapter 31, there were 12,000 Israelite soldiers that went into battle against the cities of Midian. Do you realize that during these battles, these 12,000 soldiers slew all the men of Midian?

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• They brought back 675,500 sheep, 72,000 cattle, 61,000 asses, and 32,000 unmarried women, all without the loss of one soldier. Not one Israelite died in those battles in Numbers chapter 31. God is indeed able to protect His own. And God is able to protect His own at all times. But there are some times God's sovereignty allows righteous men to die in battle, even when they're fighting for a righteous cause. And you say, why?

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• Well, the answer is really very simple. I could point it out like this. Do you realize it is God's will to heal most of the time? And I could prove that very simply, because everyone in this room has been sick and has gotten well. But it's not God's will to heal all of the time, because if He healed all the time, no one would ever die. And what's the Bible say?

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• The wages of sin are death. Now this is true in reference to war as well. We must remember that death is a part of life. Everyone in this room, if our Lord tarries, is going to die. That is a simple fact. Death is a part of life. You cannot die without having lived. God has not only ordained the end, He's also ordained the means to that end. In Job 7, verse 1, the Word of God says, "Is there not an appointed time for man upon earth? Are not his days also like the days of a hireling?" Do you realize the very days of our lives are numbered? Listen to what the Word of God says in Job 14, verse 5, talking about man, "Seeing his days are numbered, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass." We're not going to live one minute or one second past the time that God has ordained that we die. David said it like this in Psalm 31 and verse 15, he said, "My times are in thy hands."

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• In Psalm 66 and verse 9, he said it like this, "He, God, holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved." So the reality is that sometimes righteous men do die in battle, even when they are fighting for a righteous cause. Look at Stonewall Jackson. Stonewall Jackson, one of the most godly men that ever lived, and yet he was killed in battle by his own men, but still he was killed in battle. Look at Uriah. Uriah the Hittite. Uriah was a godly man. Joab was a murderer. And yet Uriah died, and Joab did not die in battle.

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• So the truth is, warfare is not child's play. It is grim, gruesome, and ugly. But it's necessary from time to time. And in war, many people die. And we've got to remember that according to the Word of God, war is waged upon the wicked who were already under the judicial sentence of death from God. Thus, when God brought Israel out of Egypt, He put the sword in their hand and instructed them to slay every one of those Canaanites.

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• Rushdoony, in his book, Institutes of Biblical Law, said this. He said, "If warfare is to punish or to destroy evil, the work of restoration requires that this be done, that an evil order be overthrown, and in some cases, some or many people executed." So, the point is, when you start punishing evil, when you start exercising biblical justice, men die, and oftentimes not just the wicked, sometimes the righteous as well.

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• Thus, in Deuteronomy chapter 20, God gives us some exemptions. Here are some men that although they were able to fight, qualified to fight, God said they shall not fight. Now, who does God exempt from military service? Well, look down in verse 5. The very first one that is exempted is one who has built a house and not dedicated it. "And the officer 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."

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• Now, when we talk about a house dedication, many of us think of some little ceremony that we go through today. I've dedicated houses. I've had people build houses. They're Christians, and they would say, pastor, come in for prayer, read some scripture. We want to give this house to the Lord. We want to use it for Him. And we want our doors to be open to all of God's people.

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• And I certainly do that. And usually that little ceremony takes about 15, 20, 30 minutes, whatever. It doesn't take long. That's normally what we think about, but that is the furthest thing from the truth when the Bible is here speaking about dedicating a house. The word dedicate is the word chanak in the Hebrew, and it literally means to narrow, or to discipline, or to train, or to dedicate, or to initiate. The root word is the word chanak, and it is translated as trained servants in Genesis 14 and verse 14. You remember Abraham had his 318 trained servants or 318 dedicated servants? Also in 2 Chronicles 7 and verse 5 and 1 Kings chapter 8 and verse 63, this same word is used of the priest or the Levites being trained in offering the sacrifices unto God. Now let me give you the same word in another passage that you're going to understand. Proverbs 22 verse 6, what's the Bible say? "Train up a child in the way that he should go." Literally, dedicate the child in the way that he should go.

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• And the word train there means to initiate or to discipline. You remember the Jews have a feast called Hanukkah. And that is basically from that same word, chanak. And it was a celebration of the restoration of the temple in 165, after they got rid of Antiochus Epiphanes. And the dedication of this house, then, is not just some little ceremony, but what the dedication of the house is, is the training and the discipline of that house. So here, the young husband, then, had to be exempt from service, in order that he might train his wife and discipline his children and train them as well.

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• Now, note, if you would please, in verse 5, "And the officer shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house?" Note, the house is already built. He's already living in it. "And hath not dedicated," that is, he has not trained his wife, his children, in the ways of truth and in the ways of righteousness. So God says, here's a young man. He has a wife. He has children.

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• But he hasn't had time to teach them. He hasn't had time to train them. God says he's exempt. Why? Lest he die in battle and another man dedicate or train or bring up his children. Let me ask you a question. Does every man in here want to bring up his children the way that he thinks ought to be brought up? That's exactly what this verse is talking about. So God says, the young husband who has a young wife and young children is to be exempt until he trains and disciplines his children. So that's the first exemption. Look at the second one in verse six. He said, "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 battle, and another man eat of it." So here's a man now who's planted a vineyard, and he's not eaten from it.

  #60 | 40:55 to 41:49 | cleaned

• You know, when we hear something like this, we automatically think, well, that's simple. Just go pick a few grapes and taste them and keep going. But it didn't work like that. Do you know how long this exemption could last, verse 6? Do you know how long this military exemption could last? It could last five years, depending upon when the vineyard was planted. For instance, look back in your Bibles. Hold Deuteronomy 20, but go back in your Bibles to the book of Leviticus chapter 19. Let me show you why I'm saying this exemption could be up to five years. Leviticus chapter 19, beginning there with verse 23. Leviticus 19, verse 23, "And when you shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then you shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised. Three years shall it be uncircumcised unto you.

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• It shall not be eaten of. But in the fourth year, all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the Lord withal. And in the fifth year, you shall eat of the fruit thereof, that it may yield unto you the increase thereof. I am the Lord your God." So the very first three years, all the fruit was unclean. The fourth year, God got it all. And the fifth year, you could eat of it. So, in Deuteronomy chapter 20 and verse 6, when a man has planted a vineyard and hath not eaten of it, that exemption could last him up to five years, depending on when it was planted. It could be anywhere from a year to five years. Now, look in verse 7. Here's the third exemption. He says, "And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her?

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• Let him go and return into his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her." Now, once again, this exemption would last at least a year, and could last longer, depending. You say, what are you talking about? Well, look in Deuteronomy 24 and verse 5. Deuteronomy 24, verse 5. Here's the exemption now. "When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business, but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken."

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• So God says you've got a year's honeymoon, basically speaking. Stay at home, take care of your wife. Well, let me ask you a question. Here's a one-year exemption. Well, what if the blessings of God give them a child that first year? Then he falls back under this first exemption mentioned in verse 5. You follow what I'm saying? So here then is this exemption where a young man has gotten married and God says he's to be free for one year.

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• Now, look at the fourth exemption found in Deuteronomy chapter 20. He says in verse 8, "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 own heart." So anyone who was fearful or fainthearted was exempt. Let me give you a scripture. I'll read it.

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• You just jot it down. It's found in Judges 7, verses 2 and 3. This is what God told Gideon. "And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.

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• Now therefore go to proclaim in the ears of all the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from Mount Gilead. And there returned to the people twenty and two thousand, and ten thousand remained." So when the offer was made, whoever's fearful and fainthearted, get out of here. 22,000 of Gideon's 32,000 men left him. Now, there is a reason why God wanted the fainthearted and the fearful, the soft and the easy out of there.

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• And I'm going to give it to you in just a few moments. But here's the fifth exemption. There's one other group that was always exempt, and that group was the Levites, or the preachers. Now usually, however, although they were exempt, they not only volunteered, and many times you find the Levites fighting, but many times they not only volunteered, but usually they were the ones leading the battle, either through praise, or through music, or through prayer.

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• Let me ask you this. In fact, you can jot it down. Numbers 1, verses 48 through 49. "For the Lord had spoken unto Moses, saying, Only thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi, neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel." So the Levites were not to be numbered. They were not to be counted. They were not to be mustered as fighting men. Now, let's ask a simple question.

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• Why does God give these exemptions? Well, first of all, let me answer them or try to answer them down the line. As important and as necessary as defense is, the family has priority over warfare. The family has priority over warfare. Soldiers cannot be produced without solid, stable homes. Have you ever realized, without the family, without solid, stable families, you not only do not have a society, you not only do not have a church, you don't have a civil government, you don't have an army.

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• I want you to think with me, just for a moment, at how unbiblical, how unethical, how immoral our modern day practices are, because what we do is, we take young men and snatch them out of their family, away from their wives, and we'll send them overseas, sometimes for a year, sometimes longer, separating them from their wives and their children, which leads to adultery, fornication, the breakup of homes, divorces. God says no. The family has priority over warfare. It is true that wars must be fought, but God says they are not to be fought at the expense of the family. Because if you destroy the family, you destroy the basis for society. Well, why was the young man who had married the wife for a year to be exempt? Well, you know as well as I do, a young husband whose mind is constantly and consistently on his wife cannot be dedicated and single-minded when it comes to battle. His thoughts are elsewhere. His thoughts are not in fighting. He wants to be home with that new wife.

  #71 | 48:17 to 49:44 | cleaned

• And so God says, don't put him there. Similarly, farmers are to be excluded as well. Because someone must feed the army. So those who have not had time to eat, hey, they're producing. And so God says they're exempt.

  #72 | 49:45 to 50:01 | cleaned

• Now, I want you to understand that these exemptions that I've just mentioned refer to those, basically, who have not had time to enjoy covenant life. They have not had time to enjoy their house, their wife, or their wine, so to speak. And I'm using that based upon Micah 4 and verse 4. Listen as I read it. Micah says, "But they shall sit every man under his vine, and every man under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it."

  #73 | 50:01 to 50:30 | cleaned

• Now what is God saying? God is saying, here's the blessing of covenant life, when you can sit back under your own vine, under your own fig tree, and enjoy the things of God. May I remind you folks, that it's only as you mature, that you begin to appreciate the things that God has given you, and the life, and the strength, and the health that God has given you.

  #74 | 50:32 to 50:55 | cleaned

• I'm not going to say that I'm 100% successful in what I'm about to tell you. But pretty much so, there are very few days that go by in my life that I don't awaken and the first thing I do is thank the Lord for life and for strength and for health. My wife and I both just this year attended our 40th class reunion. That tells you how old we are.

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• She's older than I am though. She had hers first. But I told her I didn't know we went to school with such old folks. I mean, you know, it was amazing. But you know, I saw men my age come in with walkers, some pulling oxygen bottles. Others had contraptions on the arms and on their legs. One of my best friends, whom I grew up with, had already had six bypasses.

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• And we hadn't been to a doctor in 30 years. You understand why I'm saying I'm thankful to the Lord? I'm grateful to the Lord? What God is saying is this, folks. If God has allowed you to live and enjoy your wife, or your husband, and your home, and your grandchildren, you ought to be thankful. That's why God exempts these men. They never had time to do that. I'm a deer hunter. I enjoy hunting. I have folks who come to my house who hunt.

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• And some of you in here have done so. And they can testify that I always say this, don't you kill a little deer. Don't you kill a yearling. Don't you kill a baby. I'm not going to shoot something like that. You know why? God has spared me and allowed me to be grown and enjoy life. Let them grow up and enjoy life for a while. You'll understand that when you get a little bit older. Some of you already understand it.

  #78 | 52:42 to 53:10 | cleaned

• But I was talking to the younger ones. But you understand, God is saying, here's why there is this exemption. Do you realize it is only when the curse of God is upon a people that they do not enjoy the blessings of covenant life? That's why Deuteronomy 28 and verse 30 says, under the curses of God, "Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her. Thou shalt build a house, and thou shalt not dwell therein. Thou shalt plant a vineyard, and thou shalt not gather the grapes thereof." In other words, God says, when you're under my curse, you'll not be able to enjoy the blessings of covenant life. And fourthly, God says the fearful and the fainthearted are released from service for two basic reasons.

  #79 | 53:10 to 53:53 | cleaned

• Number one, God's battles are to be fought in faith. And fear is the opposite of faith. And secondly, what God is doing is weeding out the deserters up front. He says, "lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart." God said, if that man's afraid, let him go. I'd rather lose one than lose ten or fifteen, because that one man who's fainthearted will affect someone else letting go. And so God's just simply weeding out the deserters up front.

  #80 | 53:53 to 54:29 | cleaned

• It's only after these exemptions and after these that are excused that the captains are appointed, and then, of course, they head into battle. Now, let me just show you several very quick principles, and I'm going to try to draw it to a close because I've got three messages I'm trying to concentrate on and bring them into one, okay? We've seen the military exemptions. We've seen the fact that fighting and wars are assumed. Now I want you to look at some of the rules and regulations of military fighting.

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• You see, we have deviated so far from the Word of God in every area of our life that when we hear a simple message on something like this, in reality, we're angered and we're horrified. We're angered in one sense of the word because we hadn't heard it before and we're horrified because, you know, we've sinned against God in so many areas in our lives. It's a wonder the judgment of God has never fallen on us more fully.

  #82 | 55:05 to 55:33 | cleaned

• And sometimes in unbelief we'll sit back and say, well, that won't ever work. Well, sure it will work because it's biblical and because it's right. And I'll tell you, one of these days, science is going to catch up with God, okay? For He said in Malachi 3, "I, the Lord, change not." And He doesn't change. I could give you many illustrations on that, but let's go on down in Deuteronomy chapter 20.

  #83 | 55:34 to 55:59 | cleaned

• Look, if you would please, beginning with verse 10. Before the battle, God requires that prior to an attack, or prior to a declaration of war, an offer of peace is to be extended to the enemy. Verse 10, "When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it make 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 make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, thou shalt besiege it."

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• Now watch, "And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it in 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, 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."

  #85 | 56:33 to 57:23 | cleaned

• So now God says here is an offer of peace to be made before there is an open declaration of war or before there is an attack. Now let me just tell you that this offer of peace is not a negotiation. This offer of peace is not a compromise. This offer of peace is based upon truth and right and justice. And what God is saying is this, the enemy must yield, he must submit, he must surrender in order to obtain peace. If there's going to be peace, says God, it's going to be peace on the terms of truth, righteousness, and justice. In other words, God is saying the right must always be maintained.

  #86 | 57:24 to 58:10 | cleaned

• Now, the offer is necessary to avoid excessive violence and excessive bloodshed. God says if that offer of peace is refused, then there is to be a full-scale war, and all the males are to be annihilated. So, basically here's what you have. We will either have peace in life on terms of justice, or death and destruction on terms of justice. But it is not a compromise. It is not a negotiation. Now, God says if they submit, then they become tributaries.

  #87 | 58:11 to 58:52 | cleaned

• Now, the word tributary is the word mas, which literally means someone that is taxed in the form of labor or money. And you will find that many of the enemies in the land that were not destroyed, they were made tributaries. You will also find that sometimes when Israel was conquered because of her rebellion against God, Israel was made a tributary. Now, a tributary was not a slave in the practical sense. The people went on about their lives in the normal sense of the word, but they were forced to support a superior nation and a superior society and a superior law order. That's what God is saying. God is saying, look, you make an offer of peace. If they accept, they become the support for a superior society and a superior law order.

  #88 | 58:53 to 59:49 | cleaned

• Now, God says in Deuteronomy 4, verses 6 through 8, that all these other nations will hear of my laws and they will understand that this is your wisdom, this is your righteousness. And that never has any other nation had a law so righteous as the one that I have given. Now, the only exception to this, the offer of peace, were the nations that God mentioned in verse 17.

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• The Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites. God says, no, do not offer them peace. They are under God's curse. They are under God's ban. They were under the judicial sentence of death from God. And so God says, you cannot offer them peace.

  #90 | 1:00:22 to 1:00:40 | cleaned

• Now, let me give you a principle before I go further. God said, here's the principle. We're to try to avoid bloodshed if possible. So what do we do? We make an offer of peace. We say, you submit and you surrender to these terms, to God's terms. Well, what happens if they refuse? Now, listen carefully. God said, you kill all the men. Are you listening? Here's what God is saying.

  #91 | 1:00:40 to 1:01:23 | cleaned

• If you have to fight, you fight to win. And when you fight to win, you win in such a manner that you won't be refighting the same battle the next year or two years thereafter. Moreover, if all the men are killed, basically the women then will intermarry or marry somewhere else and that whole culture is basically destroyed and therefore you won't be fighting that war again anytime at all soon.

  #92 | 1:01:24 to 1:01:59 | cleaned

• So God is saying, there must be an offer of peace, but if it is refused and you have to fight, you fight to win. And you fight so as you don't have to do it again any time soon. Now, let's go further. Look, if you would please, at verses 19 through 20. Here's the second principle. War is not to be waged against creation. It's not to be waged against nature, but against man. Verse 19, "When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, and make 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.

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• 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. Thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued." Here's what God is saying. These verses are to prevent wanton destruction. There is to be no scorched earth policy like Sherman did to the South. That is wicked. That is wrong.

  #94 | 1:02:47 to 1:03:18 | cleaned

• It's a violation of Scripture. God says there is to be no fruit-bearing trees that are to be destroyed. The only tree that you can destroy are those that are not fit for food. Creation is not the sinner. Man is. And God says you do not make war against His creation. The Bible says in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 5 and verse 9, "Moreover the profit of the earth is for all.

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• The king himself is served by the field." So God says you don't cut down, you don't destroy trees that can be used for food.

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• Now, let me make another application. What God is telling us is this, that production has a priority over politics. When Sherman came through the South, he destroyed everything. Salted fields, burned homes, destroyed crops, shot cattle, literally destroyed everything. In so doing, he and Sheridan and Lincoln elevated politics above production. And since that time, practically every president since Lincoln has done the same thing. Witness Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his New Deal. Do you realize that production of practically everything is now controlled by politics?

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• You say, oh, Brother Weaver, I don't believe that. I tell you what. You try farming one year. Just try farming one year. You say, well, I'm going to grow me 100 acres of peanuts. No, you're not. You're going to grow ever how many peanuts the government tells you that you can grow. And if you want to be bullheaded and grow 100 acres, go ahead. They're only going to let you sell 10 acres anyhow, because you can't sell without their number and without their permission. You see, we don't have supply and demand in this country. You think we do, but we don't. We basically have socialism or fascism, ever how you want to say it, because government is controlling production.

  #98 | 1:04:58 to 1:05:43 | cleaned

• And God is saying, that's wrong. Politics doesn't have a priority over production. A second implication is this. War is not to be waged against productive citizens. If you will read Psalm 1 and Judges 9, you'll find that sometimes in the Bible, trees are a symbol of man. You don't make war against innocent citizens, and you don't make war against productive citizens who are not fighting against you.

  #99 | 1:05:45 to 1:06:18 | cleaned

• Like we did when we bombed Dresden in Germany, and just destroyed people and factories and production to be destroying people and factories and production. You see, the truth is this, folks. If you destroy all the productive people and all the produce, once you win the war, who's going to rebuild? So, God is saying, that we're not to make war against His creation. We're not to make war against nature.

  #100 | 1:06:20 to 1:07:05 | cleaned

• Here's a third one, very quickly. The law of booty provides a reward for the soldiers. Look in verse 14, Deuteronomy 20 verse 14, "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."

  #101 | 1:07:05 to 1:07:27 | cleaned

• Now, may I remind you that this is not rape. This is not pillage. This is not plunder. There has been a battle. There has been an offer of peace. There has been an offer based upon righteousness and justice. The enemy now has been defeated, and God says that the soldiers now may take the plunder. You will find this in Numbers chapter 31, and may I tell you, this booty was divided between the soldiers. Many times it was divided, not only half between those who actually fought, but also between the other soldiers who did not actually fight, but would have fought. You'll find that also in 1 Samuel chapter 30, verses 22 through 25. But the booty was divided between the soldiers. Moreover, a percentage of the booty went to the church. Look in your Bibles.

  #102 | 1:07:28 to 1:08:20 | cleaned

• I'll show you this one. Numbers chapter 31. You ought to read this passage, but Numbers chapter 31. Look very quickly at verse 28. Numbers 31, verse 28. God says, "...and levy a tribute unto the LORD of the men of war which went out to battle, one soul out of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep." Look down to verse 47. He says it again, "Even of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one portion of fifty, both of man and beast, and gave them unto the Levites, which kept the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses." The Bible says, you can just jot this down, 1 Chronicles 26 and verse 27, "Out of the spoils won in battles did they dedicate to maintain the house of the Lord." Did you hear that? Out of the spoils won in battles. So many of the spoils were given then to the Levites and to the church.

  #103 | 1:08:20 to 1:09:21 | cleaned

• Let me point something out. You can study the Bible all the way through. When it comes to the biblical doctrine of war, and there is an amazing truth that will surprise you, no booty went to the state. None whatsoever.

  #104 | 1:09:22 to 1:09:41 | cleaned

• Now, David voluntarily shared some of his booty with those who had helped him and defended him in 1 Samuel chapter 30. But, none went to the state, and none went to the king per se. The only way the king could get some is if he fought as well. Do you realize Gideon, the leader of his army, and the commander of his army, had to ask for extra booty from his men, and they voluntarily gave it. But he had to ask for it.

  #105 | 1:09:43 to 1:10:13 | cleaned

• Now the point I'm trying to make is this. If the state, if the government, if politicians do not benefit from war, it will be a great restraint upon the initiation of wars of aggression. Do you realize one of the problems that we have today is war is money. There are huge economic benefits from war. Listen to your news. I just heard them today talking about how great our economy would be when we go to war with Iraq. Of all the labor and all the money that will be motivated and spent and created, they said. Let me tell you something, folks. A wartime economy may help temporarily, but it certainly will not help in the long run. And whenever you cut the politicians out, whenever you cut the government out, you have no reason to have basically a war of aggression. War is a multi-billion dollar industry. Multi-billion dollar industry.

  #106 | 1:10:14 to 1:11:27 | cleaned

• It's alright for soldiers to get paid for their work. But God said the booty does not go to the state. You know, it was interesting, I heard George Bush say that if the United Nations did not give him a resolution against Saddam, that he would lead a coalition against Saddam. I wonder if that means he's going over there and fighting himself. You reckon that's what it means? No. You know better than that. Wouldn't it be wonderful? Wouldn't it be wonderful if in our country and in every country, if we had a war, all the leaders had to be on the front line first? That would tend to stop a war of aggression. You know, when you consider the biblical doctrine of war, we have gone so far from the Bible, it's unbelievable.

  #107 | 1:11:29 to 1:12:26 | cleaned

• But once again, as I said last night, it's your responsibility to make sure that when and if you have to fight, that you fight biblically and scripturally. You make sure it's a holy cause and a just cause. And you follow the biblical rules and regulations. If we want to win any battle, we must fight on God's terms, not on ours, but on God's terms. And we need not be upset because the enemy will have superior numbers or superior armaments.

  #108 | 1:12:27 to 1:13:08 | cleaned

• God still has plenty of hornets left, and He can use something so small and so minute. Let me give you one illustration. Do you remember a few years ago about the fellow who got the paper cut on his finger and lost his life because of a flesh-eating virus? Can you imagine? All God has to do is to raise up some little invisible virus that we cannot see, hear, sense, or smell, and God could wipe out an entire country.

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• We're to live and fight by faith and not by sight. Scripture says, "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Let's pray. Father, once again, we honor Thee this night. We thank Thee for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. And we do pray that You would teach us, that You'd build us up in the most holy faith, that You'd enable us, Lord, to live our lives in conformity to the Word of God. You are the one true and the living God, and besides Thee Thou art God alone and there is none other. And we give Thee praise. Help us, Lord.

  #110 | 1:13:52 to 1:14:36 | cleaned

• In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask. Amen.

  #111 | 1:14:38 to 1:14:41 | cleaned

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T04:56:50Z