Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
God commands that in war, new builders, vine-growers, bridegrooms, and the fearful be sent home. Second, verse 13, He commands that in a city captured in war all males be killed, except infants: but in Canaan He commands all to be killed, even women and infants. Third, verse 19, He forbids the cutting down of fruit-bearing trees of the enemy city, but permits the cutting of unfruitful ones.
Vulgate Text: Deuteronomy 20:1-20
1. If you go out to war against your enemies, and see horsemen and chariots, and a multitude of the adversary's army greater than you have, you shall not fear them; because the Lord your God is with you, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 2. And when battle now draws near, the priest shall stand before the line of battle, and shall speak thus to the people: 3. Hear, O Israel, today you join battle against your enemies; let not your heart be dismayed, do not fear, do not yield, nor dread them; 4. because the Lord your God is in your midst, and will fight for you against your adversaries, to deliver you from danger. 5. The captains also shall proclaim through the several companies, the army hearing: Who is the man that has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? Let him go, and return to his house, lest he die in battle, and another dedicate it. 6. Who is the man that has planted a vineyard, and has not yet made it common, so that all may eat from it? Let him go, and return to his house, lest he die in battle, and another man perform his office. 7. Who is the man that has betrothed a wife, and has not taken her? Let him go, and return to his house, lest he die in battle, and another man take her. 8. These things said, they shall add the rest, and speak to the people: Who is the man that is fearful and faint of heart? Let him go, and return to his house, lest he make the hearts of his brethren afraid, as he himself is terrified with fear. 9. And when the captains of the army have fallen silent, and made an end of speaking, each shall prepare his own companies for battle. 10. If at any time you approach to besiege a city, you shall first offer it peace. 11. If it accepts, and opens its gates to you, all the people in it shall be saved, and shall serve you under tribute. 12. But if it will not enter into an alliance, and begins war against you, you shall besiege it. 13. And when the Lord your God shall have delivered it into your hand, you shall strike everything of the male sex in it with the edge of the sword, 14. except the women and infants, the livestock, and everything else that is in the city. You shall divide all the spoil among the army, and you shall eat of the spoils of your enemies, which the Lord your God has given you. 15. So shall you do to all cities that are very far from you, and are not among those cities that you are to receive as a possession. 16. But of those cities that shall be given to you, you shall permit absolutely no one to live: 17. but you shall slay with the edge of the sword the Hittite, namely, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as the Lord your God has commanded you; 18. lest perhaps they teach you to do all the abominations that they have practiced toward their gods, and you sin against the Lord your God. 19. When you besiege a city for a long time, and surround it with fortifications to take it, you shall not cut down the trees from which you can eat, nor shall you devastate the surrounding region with axes: for it is a tree, and not a man, nor can it increase the number of those fighting against you. 20. But if any trees are not fruit-bearing, but wild, and fit for other uses, cut them down and construct siege engines, until you capture the city that fights against you.
Verse 4: You Shall Not Fear
4. YOU SHALL NOT FEAR (the chariots and multitude of the enemy), BECAUSE THE LORD YOUR GOD IS WITH YOU, who is powerful to save and to give victory as much in few as in many. Let the commanders of the camps note this, and take care that the soldiers live in a Christian and pious manner, and so have God with them: for then they will be invincible; for if God is for us, who is against us? This Constantine, Theodosius, Charles, Godfrey of Bouillon, the Maccabees, and in this age Ferdinand, Charles V, Albuquerque, and others have experienced.
"Soldiers ought not," says Constantine, "to place their hope in arms or in the strength of their bodies, but to acknowledge the God of the universe as the author of all good things, and of victory itself," as Eusebius relates, Book 4 of the Life of Constantine, chapter 19.
Therefore let commanders and soldiers, in order to obtain victory, observe that passage in chapter 23, verse 9: "When you go forth against your enemies in battle, keep yourself from every evil thing," namely from fornication, drunkenness, pillaging, quarrels, oaths, blasphemies, duels, envies, etc.
This is what Joshua did, who succeeded Moses, and therefore achieved so many victories. This is what Narses, the liberator of Italy, did, who was generous toward the poor, diligent in restoring churches, and so devoted to vigils and prayers that he obtained more victories by divine supplications than by terrors of war, as Evagrius relates, Book 4, chapter 24. And Procopius, Book 3 of the Gothic War, writes that he attributed all success in affairs and all good fortune in war to God alone; and that he exhorted soldiers about to advance into battle to similar piety.
Hear the memorable example of the Moor. Cabones, a Moorish commander near Tripoli, after he heard that the Vandals were moving war against him, first commanded his subjects to abstain from all iniquity and from food that served for luxury, and above all from the company of women. And having set up two camps, in the one he himself was with the men in arms, in the other he enclosed the women, threatening the punishment of death if anyone entered the women's enclosure. Then he sent scouts to Carthage with orders that if they saw anything impious perpetrated by the Vandals in Christian churches, they should observe it, and afterwards, when the Vandals had departed, restore it; and he added that he indeed did not know the God whom the Christians worshipped: but it seemed reasonable to him that, since (as was said) He was strong and powerful, He would punish the despisers of His divinity and protect His worshippers. The scouts, after they came to Carthage, saw the enormous preparation for war. Then following the army, they observed horses and pack animals being brought into the Christian churches, licentiousness and lust being practiced, priests being struck with blows, and many other impious and horrible things being done by the Vandals. After their departure, the scouts cleansed the churches, honored the priests, and distributed alms generously to the poor. Finally, when the battle was joined, the Vandals were slaughtered to the last man, and the Moors won the victory. So Evagrius, Book 4, chapter 15, and Nicephorus, Book 17, chapter 11.
Finally Jovian, when he was being chosen emperor after the death of Julian the Apostate: "I cannot," he said, "rule the army of Julian, which is imbued with such pestilent doctrine; for such an army, abandoned by God, will easily be overcome by enemies." Upon hearing which, the soldiers cried out with one voice: Do not hesitate; you will command Christian men, raised in true piety. So Theodoretus, Book 4, chapter 1.
Verse 5: Who Has Built a New House
5. THE CAPTAINS ALSO, etc., SHALL PROCLAIM: WHO IS THE MAN THAT HAS BUILT A NEW HOUSE, AND HAS NOT DEDICATED IT? -- "Has not dedicated" -- in Hebrew, has not inaugurated, that is, has not begun to inhabit it. The Lord wished these men to be sent back from the camp to their own affairs, lest out of longing for their possessions, which they had not yet enjoyed, they should lose heart in battle and take to flight with the scandal and danger of their comrades. For a soldier must be free and unencumbered both in mind and in body. So Abulensis. St. Augustine notes, Question 30, that these words are spoken not so much imperatively as by way of trial and permission, to test the spirits of the men: for those who manfully wished to overcome and set aside this excessive attachment to their possessions could remain in the camp; but those who could not or were unable to overcome this attachment went home, and by withdrawing from the camp revealed their faint-heartedness, and that they were held by an excessive attachment to their possessions.
Verse 6: Who Has Planted a Vineyard
6. WHO IS THE MAN THAT HAS PLANTED A VINEYARD, AND HAS NOT YET MADE IT COMMON? -- has not yet enjoyed its fruit? Which only happened in the fifth year; for according to the law of Leviticus 19:25, during the first three years the fruits were considered unclean; in the fourth year they were given to God, and were as it were sacred; in the fifth year they became common or profane, as the Hebrew has it, and anyone could eat of them with the owner's consent.
Verse 7: Who Has Betrothed a Wife
7. WHO IS THE MAN THAT HAS BETROTHED A WIFE TO HIMSELF, AND HAS NOT TAKEN HER? -- Tropologically it is signified, says Cyril in the Collectanea, that it is not fitting for one who has recently received virtue dwelling with him to be led out to labors and persecutions, until he is fully bound and fastened to the love of it.
Verse 8: Who Is the Man That Is Fearful
8. WHO IS THE MAN THAT IS FEARFUL? -- Thus by this law Gideon, about to go against the Midianites, cried out: If anyone is faint of heart, let him depart from the camp; and out of thirty-two thousand warriors, twenty-two thousand withdrew, Judges 7:3.
For in war three hundred resolute and spirited soldiers will accomplish more than thirty thousand fearful and hesitating ones. Scipio Africanus, asked by someone on what grounds he dared to transport his army from Sicily to Africa against the Carthaginians, pointed out to him three hundred men, adding: "There is not one of these who would not, at my command, having climbed this tower, throw himself headlong into the sea." So Plutarch in the Apophthegms of the Romans. Courage therefore is required in a soldier, especially in a captain and commander.
What did the spirited Alexander not break through? He had few soldiers and innumerable enemies: Parmenio urged him to attack them secretly by night; to whom he replied: "I do not wish to steal a victory."
Similar was Gaius Fabricius, the Roman consul, to whom the physician of Pyrrhus promised by letter that, at his command, he would kill Pyrrhus with poison; Fabricius sent that letter to Pyrrhus, saying: You judge badly both of your friends and of your enemies; the spirited consul therefore did not wish to overthrow the king by treachery, but by open combat: whence he also sent back to him as many captives as Pyrrhus had sent. So Plutarch in the Apophthegms of the Romans. It is the soldier's part therefore in war not to be afraid, nor to fear death, but rather to desire it; for, as Epaminondas used to say: "The most beautiful death is in battle." This is most true of the Christian soldier, who, living in a Christian manner, fights for God, for the Church, for justice. "More beautiful is the soldier killed in battle than saved in flight," says Livy, Book 2, decade 1. And Philemon: "A soldier," he says, "is a victim, so that when the time comes, he may be sacrificed for his country." The mothers of the Spartans used to tell their sons "either to return victorious with their arms, or to be carried back dead in their arms:" the witness is Valerius Maximus, Book 2, chapter 8. Caesar's was that famous saying: "Learn to strike, learn to die." One syllable, shorter or longer, will vary your fate: either you will kill, or you will be killed. For either outcome, show yourself prepared at all hours and places. Aratus used to say "it is a soldier's duty to count his life as nothing." Xerxes, hearing how bravely and successfully Artemisia had managed affairs against his own forces in the naval battle, said "that his women had been men, while his men had been women," because they had managed things so poorly; the witness is Herodotus, Book 8. When, because of disordered ranks in Marcellus's forces, Hannibal had been victorious, Marcellus, having returned to camp and assembled the army, said "that he indeed saw many Roman arms and bodies, but no Roman:" the witness is Plutarch in Marcellus.
Verse 10: You Shall First Offer Peace
10. IF AT ANY TIME YOU APPROACH TO BESIEGE A CITY, YOU SHALL FIRST OFFER IT PEACE. -- He speaks of a city that was situated outside the Promised Land, as is clear from verse 15: for if it accepted peace under the condition of tribute, with all its inhabitants safe, it became tributary to the Hebrews: but if it refused peace, it was besieged, and all the inhabitants were killed by the law of war and the command of God, except women and infants: for to the cities situated in Canaan, the Hebrews could not offer peace; but they had to kill absolutely all the inhabitants, even women and infants, both because the whole of Canaan had been given by God to the Hebrews to possess; and because the Canaanites were the most wicked of men, and as it were a corrupted and accursed seed, who, if they had been spared, would have drawn the Hebrews living with them to their idols and vices, as is said in verse 17, and more fully in Wisdom 12:3 and following. Let princes learn here to offer peace before war, namely by peacefully demanding from the enemy a just satisfaction. For, as St. Augustine says, letter 207 to Boniface: "The will should seek peace; war should be a necessity."
Verse 19: You Shall Not Cut Down the Trees
19. YOU SHALL NOT CUT DOWN THE TREES FROM WHICH YOU CAN EAT, etc., FOR IT IS A TREE, AND NOT A MAN. -- So also the Chaldean: therefore take the Hebrew as a question, with the Septuagint, in this manner: Is a tree of the field a man, that it should come before you in a siege? As if to say: A fruit tree is useful to you, nor can it besiege you or harm you: therefore it should not be cut down, but preserved; but other trees, although they cannot harm you, because they are unfruitful, will serve you for constructing siege engines. So Abulensis.
Others, as Vatablus, thus translate and explain the Hebrew: the trees of the fields (understand: the life) are for man (as if to say: they sustain the life of man): you shall not cut them down, namely to construct siege engines from them for the besieging of a city.