Deuteronomy 20: A Pacifist Approach

This claim shocks many people, especially atheists who deride the Bible and the God of the Bible as a "violent" and "genocidal" "warmonger."

And it's true: God did command ancient Israel to commit a form of genocide against the Canaanites and other ethnic groups residing in the land God promised to Abraham.

I'd like to answer that question. I'd like you to follow the links below and become a committed Christian "pacifist."

Then I'd hope you would have a thirst to understand the meaning of Deuteronomy 20 in the context of Biblical pacifism.

The Case for Pacifism

The word "pacifism" comes from the Latin word for "peace" -- pax (genitive pacis). It does not come from the word "passive." Indeed, Biblical pacifists are active in overcoming violence, but they overcome evil with good (Romans 12:14-21).

"Everybody knows" that Jesus commanded His disciples to be "pacifists." He commands us to

People who want to be respected by Presidents, Generals, Political Science Professors, and Defense Industry CEOs claim Jesus was only talking about our "personal" or "spiritual" side of our lives, but His commandments are not to be followed by those who are in positions of public responsibility ("The State"). As a result, since I was born, the government of the United States has killed, crippled, or made homeless TENS of MILLIONS of innocent non-combatant civilians around the world.

People who do not identify themselves as "pacifists" or do not believe that politicians and generals should take Jesus literally, believe that the United States is basically good, and is a force for good and for peace in our world. The prophets of the Old Testament would say that "The United States" is the modern parallel to Babylon or Assyria of old. The U.S. is the enemy of God and humanity.

Believing that "a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4:4), I don't care if I'm respected by the “military-industrial-congressional” complex (as Dwight Eisenhower at one point called it),

A logically consistent Christian pacifist is also an anarchist, for two reasons: first, a pacifist is against violence, and "the State" is institutionalized, systematic violence; second, Jesus prohibits His followers from being "archists" An "archist" is one who believes he has a right to impose his own will on others. Chiefly, the "archist" imposes his will on others through the machinery of "the State," which includes fines, prisons, torture, executions, armed invasions, and terrorism. The Christian, on the contrary, believes it is always sinful to impose your own will on others by initiating force or threatening violence. (We are to be servants, not "archists." Mark 10:42-45.) I know, that sounds "weird." "Anarchism?" Aren't "anarchists" bad people?

Because it is a pacifist manifesto, the Bible is an Anarchist Manifesto. "The State" is "the Sword." "The State" is a war machine.

There will always be criminals -- in a pacifist society, and in a militarist society. But if we reject Jesus' commandments for dealing with evil criminals, then we will be cursed with war and tyranny (see Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26). God supernaturally curses societies that refuse to take Jesus seriously, and yet this supernatural act of providence can be explained "naturally" -- non-pacifists "vote" for tyrants and generals to "protect" them from criminals. They "vote" for their own cursing and judgment.

Here is how the Bible says a pacifist society can prevent a lot of crime from occurring in the first place. (Example: our government prohibits public school teachers from telling students that God says "Thou shalt not steal." Do you think that's going to lower crime or increase it?)

The total social cost of a non-pacifist "government" (including police, courts, prisons, and the military-industrial complex) to "protect" us against criminals (both foreign and domestic) is greater than the total cost to society of criminals. "Government" takes 60% of everything you earn to "protect" you from criminals. (And it doesn't protect you, it only takes punitive vengeance against criminals after you have been damaged, and you pay for the vengeance.) If we abolished the institutionalized violence of non-pacifist "government," your income would be triple what it is today. You would have to pay half of your tax dividend for roads and schools and other "government services" in a competitive free market, where the quality of those services would be much higher than those you receive from socialist bureaucrats. Your discretionary income would double, and most people would tithe a fraction of that windfall profit to schools and rehabilitation programs for the poor (because when they voted to abolish the government, they understood the need to do this. See below.). This would dramatically reduce crime. There would still be some crime, but the cost to society would be much less than the cost to society of maintaining vengeful archist "government."

How Can a Society Beat "Swords into Plowshares" and Abolish "The Government?"

What are the necessary conditions for us to beat "swords into plowshares" (Micah 4:1-5)? At least a plurality -- if not a majority -- of voters would have to become pacifist/anarchists to vote all the politicians and generals out of office. They would most likely come to this point as a result of conversion to Christian pacifism. They will become "the salt of the earth" and a "city upon a hill." "The State" and its military-industrial complex will not be abolished by the criminals which state-educated people think of as "anarchists" -- atheists, criminals, and meth-heads. The typical cartoon "anarchist" character is a caped, bearded, bomb-throwing assassin. The Christian anarchist is a pacifist who takes personal responsibility to become the servant of others. In America, we would need 200 million church-going Christians to repudiate their support for the MIC and stop their cheerleading for war.

Abolition of the State requires massive, society-wide moral elevation. We would have to raise our commitment to obey Jesus in order to abolish the State. The State will not be abolished by so-called "anarchists." It will not be abolished by people who "resist" tyranny. Resistance only feeds the Beast. Resistance only gives the State a raison d'etre and a joie de vivre. The State will go out of business when politicians, bureaucrats, generals, soldiers, and police realize that they are cracking the skulls and burning the flesh of people who are their moral superiors. The State will go out of business when statists repent of their non-pacifism and become followers of Jesus the executed Christ.

But after massive, society-wide conversion and moral elevation, sufficient to abolish the State, who is going to sign up to help "evil take over?" If Germans had been Christian pacifists, who would have run the trains that took the Jews to the concentration camps? Who would have run the concentration camps? Who would have gone door-to-door rounding up Jews? Hitler could not have done it himself. He needed "sensible," "practical," "realistic" Lutherans who didn't buy into all this "Christian pacifist" nonsense. Hitler needed "Christians" who limited Jesus to their "personal," "non-public" lives.

If you take Jesus seriously, the unbelieving world (and most church-goers) will say you're "unrealistic," "impractical," and "utopian." They will call you a "pacifist" and an "anarchist."

The Westminster Larger Catechism elaborates on the implications of the Sixth Commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." It is pretty much a pacifist manifesto. But the Westminster Divines included three excuses for not being a pacifist, and these three exceptions to the rule against killing virtually swallow up the entire rule:

When God says "Thou shalt not kill," it is clear that God abhors killing. Why did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah? Most Christians know the Biblical answer. Or think they do. Why did God destroy the world at the time of Noah? The Bible says it was because "great men" were committing "violence" (Genesis 6). Who does most of the killing in the world? "The State" -- rich and powerful people -- through war and capital punishment (or other "police actions," like those in Korea and Vietnam). Very few people are killed in "self-defense," and most of those killings are by non-pacifist private citizens who are imitators of state action. "If the government can do it, so can I." They graduated from government-run "public" schools.

No pacifist I've ever met is opposed to defending oneself against violence. If you have a shield, and some evil man is approaching you with a sword, no pacifist says you cannot use your shield to protect yourself against his sword. But if he gets tired of hitting his sword on your shield and says, "I need to take a break," you cannot bash his skull open with your shield while he sleeps, even though that would prevent him from resuming his attack after his nap. You can defend yourself by running away. "Thou shalt not kill."

Deuteronomy 20: A Pacifist Approach

People make reference to this chapter in their defense of war, but nobody really looks at it in detail. Nobody really takes the Old Testament seriously. Deuteronomy 20 is just a bumper-sticker employed to "preach to the choir."

The text is in the left-hand column, and in the right-hand column we'll make a few notes and ask a few questions.

Deuteronomy 20 (KJV)
1 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, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.	I believe this passage is similar to Deuteronomy 17 and 24. Defenders of war say Deuteronomy 20 justifies war. But Deuteronomy 17 does not justify human kings and Deuteronomy 24 does not justify divorce. They are all law-words given to hard hearts. Ultimately, Israel was an apostate nation, and a massive failure. Deuteronomy 17 (link to discussion of human kingship and interpreting Deuteronomic curse-prophecies) ¹⁴When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; Deuteronomy 24 24 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. 1 Samuel 8 says the desire for a king "like as all the nations that are round about me" (Deuteronomy 17) is a rejection of God. Jesus (Matthew 19) says divorce is a rejection of God's plan for marriage in Genesis 1 and 2. I would say "going to battle" is like getting a divorce and like demanding an earthly king. The fact that God "regulates" the hard hearts of Israel does not mean that God condones the behavior He regulates. These regulations are also predictive curses. "When you ask for a king," "when you divorce your wife," and "when you go to battle," are all followed by regulations which were not followed, and had the spirit of those regulations been followed, kingship, divorce, and war would not have occurred. But God points this out, and predicts ultimate failure and judgment upon Israel for rejecting anarcho-pacifism. Deuteronomy is filled with predictions of apostasy, faithlessness, disobedience by Israel, and cursing by God. Look at Deuteronomy 28. Fifteen verses of blessings for obedience and 50 verses of curses for disobedience. The whole book of Deuteronomy maintains that balance. God repeatedly says, "I know you're going to disobey Me, and here's what's going to happen as a result." God amplifies the disobedience by showing how far Israel has departed from the Standard, even in the sub-standard situation that Israel has chosen. Example, Israel's king is God, so when Israel rejects God in favor of an earthly king, God says the earthly king should not do A, B, and C, and of course the king does exactly that. For the most part, Israel never obeyed Deuteronomy 20. Instead, Israel made arms-deals with pagans. "Christian America" ignores the specifics of Deuteronomy 20 as well, even as it uses the bare citation of the passage as a slogan to justify militarism and imperialism, and not taking Jesus "literally."
2 And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people,	Why is the priest involved in something "secular" or "civil" like war? What about "the separation of church and state?" The priest was involved in war for the same reason a priest was involved in something "secular" or "civil" like "capital punishment." What we call "capital punishment" was actually a blood-shedding ritual to make atonement, cleansing the land of the pollution caused by "capital crimes." Search for the word "priest" as you read carefully this essay: A Theonomic Argument Against Capital Punishment Part 2 of that article is the application of the priestly principles to "war." War was "capital punishment" on a national scale. “Holy War” as an Excuse for Not Following Jesus Deuteronomy 20 is part of the "ceremonial" law, not the "judicial" or "civil" law. "War" in the Old Covenant was a priestly activity, not a "governmental" activity ("church" rather than "state").
³And 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;	These two verses essentially repeat verse 1.
⁴For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.	These two verses essentially repeat verse 1.
⁵And 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.	Notice all the exemptions. Building a family (house) is more important than prosecuting a war. Today's generals would say we could never levy a war if we allowed all these exemptions from conscription. Maybe that's God's point, God's "hidden agenda."
⁶And 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.
⁷And 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.
⁸And 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.
⁹And 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.
¹⁰When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.	Peace should be desired. It seldom is. If we really wanted peace, instead of building up a military-industrial complex, costing trillions of dollars, we would teach children the Law of God. Instead of sending the Marines, we would send missionaries. See an example here, in the case of Iraq.
¹¹And 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.	Although Deuteronomy 20 is thrown about in support of war, nobody wants to obey this verse. Nobody wants the responsibility of overseeing the slaves and making them work. Just kill'em all. Besides, these ignorant, illiterate foreigners will only take away jobs from the ignorant, illiterate products of U.S. public schools. The last thing the forces of war want is massive immigration. But that's what God wants.
¹²And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:
¹³And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:
¹⁴But 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.	There was some controversy over the Iraq War that the U.S. simply wanted Iraq's oil. But what's wrong with that? If we're really taking Deuteronomy 20 seriously, taking Iraq's oil is commanded! But nobody is really taking Deuteronomy 20 seriously. It's just a bumper-sticker to justify war and profits for the military-industrial complex.
¹⁵Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.	Why is Israel banging on the gates of cities far away from Israel?
¹⁶But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:	If Israel had been obedient and executed all the people of the promised land for their capital crimes, they would not have experienced subsequent military skirmishes with these people throughout the rest of Israel's history. But if Israel had even greater faithfulness, God could have trusted them with being "priests to the nations." They wouldn't have had to exterminate the residents of the promised land. They would have evangelized them and converted them. See verse 18 and comments.
¹⁷But 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:
¹⁸That 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.	Christians are supposed to have more spiritual power than Old Testament saints. No Christian today should be tempted in any way by the religions of the ancient middle east. Israel was weak and tempted. Christians as the new Israel are not only strong enough to resist temptation, but powerful to convert the tempters. Ancient Israel was made unclean by contact with non-Israelites; Christians make the unclean clean (Luke 8:46; 1 Corinthians 7:14). Even atheists seem to understand the teaching of Jesus that the goal of Christianity is to convert the unsaved, not to kill them. Even Muslims would agree that Jesus taught that it is better to be killed than to kill. Neo-conservative Christians don't get it. Deuteronomy must be put in its context. Taken as a whole, the message of the Bible is "swords into plowshares" (Micah 4:3) and monogamous families living peacefully under their “*Vine & Fig Tree.” The "good news" ("gospel") is that all nations will experience the “Vine & Fig Tree*” society (Galatians 3:8) as sons of Abraham. The "good news" is not "Let's get a divorce (Deuteronomy 24), elect a king (Deuteronomy 17), and invade another country (Deuteronomy 20)!"
¹⁹When 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:	"Christian America" gave no thought to Deuteronomy 20 when it defoliated Vietnam. "Agent Orange was one of a class of color-coded herbicides that U.S. forces sprayed over the rural landscape in Vietnam from 1961 to 1971 to defoliate trees and shrubs and kill food crops that were providing cover and food to opposition forces." Notice: this is not "environmentalism." This is concerned with "man's life." The U.S. was not concerned with human life when it sprayed Agent Orange: The Red Cross estimates that three million Vietnamese have been affected by dioxin, including at least 150,000 children born with serious birth defects. Millions of Americans and Vietnamese are still affected, directly and indirectly, by the wartime U.S. spraying of Agent Orange and other herbicides over southern and central Vietnam. Agent Orange was sprayed at up to 20 times the concentration the manufacturers recommended for killing plants. It defoliated millions of acres of forests and farmland. Large tracts of that land remain degraded and unproductive to this day. The chemical dioxin in Agent Orange can remain toxic in the soil for decades.... To prevent dioxin from entering the food chain and affecting both adults and children in surrounding areas, these chemical “hot spots” are now being cleaned up. What is Agent Orange? - The Aspen Institute
²⁰Only 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.	Notice that this city is making war against Israel. The assumption here is that the Lord did not send this army to make war on Israel. Israel is innocent and the pagan nation is aggressive. But in Israel's history, this seldom if ever happened. The armies of pagan city-states were sent by God to judge Israel for her sins, and Israel was commanded not to defend herself against the sword of the Lord. Otherwise, the operating principle is that God will not send a sword against Israel, and Israel will dwell in peace, with none to make them afraid.

Here are two articles on Deuteronomy 20 which do not take a purely pacifist approach, but still make a few interesting observations:

(Isaiah 9:6-7) For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of peace. {7} Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

(Luke 2:8-14) And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them ... and the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, good will toward men.

(Luke 1:77-79) To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, {78} Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, {79} To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

(Proverbs 16:7) When man's ways please the LORD, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

(Hosea 2:18) And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of the heavens, and with the creeping things of the ground; and I will break the bow and the sword and warfare out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.

(Revelation 1:4) John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

If you were to go through scripture and collect the passages that deal with peace, you would find it surprising how many such passages there are. Very clearly, peace is a central purpose of God's plan for man and the earth. Peace as scripture describes it is first and foremost peace with God. Then when man is at peace with God, there is peace between man and man, and man and nature.

Let us now look a little further into the doctrine of peace. Peace is a translation of a Hebrew word, Shalom. We have it in ‘Jerusalem’. Salem. It is the greeting in Hebrew. Instead of saying hello, it is: ‘Shalom’. Peace. Now, peace, shalom, in Hebrew, comes from the root ‘to be whole’ wholeness, soundness, health, well-being, prosperity, peace as opposed to war, concord as opposed to strife.

As a result the Biblical doctrine of peace is very closely related to the Biblical doctrine of salvation. This is why throughout the New Testament, as well as in Old Testament prophesy, the culmination of Christ’s work is peace. And Christ even in the midst of trouble and of strife and turmoil, gives us peace.

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Peace, thus, is a present possession in Christ; and it is a future possession as Christ’s reign is extended throughout the world

Peace is thus, that order of peace and prosperity, a salvation of health, which flows out of our reconciliation to God in Jesus Christ, and our restoration to life under God. Life in Eden was a life of peace with God, therefore peace with yourself, peace with nature. The source of that peace is the primary relationship with God, and Christ having restored it, all other forms of peace shall flow out of that peace we have with God, in Jesus Christ.

Statist peace, on the other hand, is simply an absence of hostility. It means that war has ended. That there has been a suppression, perhaps, of criminal activity. The state cannot regenerate man. It cannot even establish the limited peace it aims at, because the power of the state is essentially the power of the sword. The state cannot order [compel] men to love one another, or to live in peace, and when it tries to do so it only aggravates the situation.

The state therefore can never bring about peace. As a matter of fact, the state, when it tries to make peace its goal, only destroys the peace of citizens and usurps God's peace and the free-man’s peace in Christ. The state can only be an instrument of peace when it ... acknowledges that peace can only come when man is redeemed by God in Christ.

Thus the doctrine of peace is a very important one in law, because it is first of all important in terms of the doctrine of salvation. The vine and the fig tree imagery are thus essential to scripture. They are God-centered doctrines, God-centered symbols, setting forth the peace, the salvation, the fulfillment of man in prosperity, in joy, and in wellbeing. In God through Christ.

More Bible Verses about War, Peace, and Pacifism:
For deeper understanding, look up these scripture verses in your own Bible and read them in context.

The Bible is a pacifist manifesto. Those who defend war take a few verses out of their theological context and ignore the rest of the Bible.

Sixth Commandment

Sermon on the Mount

Humility

John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

What about Exodus 22:2-3

The New Testament was written in the last days of the Old Covenant. The "night" of the Old Age was passing (Hebrews 8:13), and we are now to live in the Day (Romans 13:11-13; Luke 1:78; Malachi 4:2; Revelation 22:5; 1 John 2:8).

Christians who live in the Day do not need to kill. We know too much. God will hold us to the higher standard.

If Exodus 22 is no justification for killing an individual sent by God to "invade" our home, much less is it a justification for war against an entire population, none of whom are invading us.