Deuteronomy 20
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Deuteronomy 20:10-16, When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies. This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby. However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.
This chapter piggybacks on the last one dealing with the issue of murder and death. Just as manslaughter was not considered "murder" under the ten commandments, neither was warfare. Moses gives very specific instructions how to handle their conquests as they make their way into the land God promised them. This was an instruction booklet for holy war. There were different instructions for how to treat the people of the cities far from Canaan and those who lived closer to the promised land. Those who resided further away could be given a peace offering and allowed to live, even if they were put in forced servitude. Those who lived closer to God's people were to be totally annihilated.
While I struggle with the harshness of this, it makes sense that the pagan people close by would be able to tempt the Israelites with their false gods. The Israelites would be able to intermarry with those who resided near them, bringing idolatry into their homes and families. God wanted to totally prevent this. The land of Canaan was for his people and his people alone. He wanted his people to stay in covenant with him.
Let's pray...God, Again, I struggle to understand but I trust that your ways are higher and better. Your plan is perfect. We trust you in all the things we fail to understand. In Jesus' Name, Amen.