{"id":5978,"date":"2026-06-08T00:01:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T07:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/?p=5978"},"modified":"2026-04-27T17:09:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T00:09:08","slug":"deuteronomy-208-9-the-officers-shall-speak-further-to-the-people-and-say-what-man-is-there-who-is-fearful-and-fainthearted-let-him-go-and-return-to-his-house-lest-the-heart-of-his-br","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/?p=5978","title":{"rendered":"Deuteronomy 20:8\u20139: “The officers shall speak further to the people, and say, ‘What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.’ And so it shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

These verses complete an interesting list of requirements found in Deuteronomy 20, concerning those who would be allowed to fight in the army of God. It was a weeding out process done to ensure that only those in the right frame of mind spiritually were allowed to take part in the battle. There were 4 things that affected their readiness to be effective in battle for the Lord. Those to be excused from battle were:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. men who had recently finished a new home,<\/li>\n
  2. men who had recently planted a vineyard,<\/li>\n
  3. men betrothed but not yet married, and<\/li>\n
  4. men who were faint-hearted, or simply, whose hearts
    \nwere not in the battle.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Any man who fell into one of these categories was to go home. It was better to be without them than for them to negatively affect the other warriors on the battlefield. A distracted, half-hearted, faint-hearted, or frightened person couldn’t be relied upon to stand in battle. From the men left, they were to choose the leaders of the army.<\/p>\n

    God is still looking for followers who are not overly encumbered with the cares of this world. He seeks those who will forsake all and follow Him. Alan Redpath in Victorious Christian Living<\/em> wrote: “Full blessing in the Christian life is not bestowed except to eager, hungry people who press in to receive it.” As we walk with the Lord, we will face battles every day. Our battle is with the flesh, the devil, and the world, but we can be encouraged because the battle belongs to the Lord (1 Sam. 17:47).<\/p>\n

    “LORD, we want to fully follow You through ever step today. Make us hungry and eager to serve in every opportunity presented to us this day.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

    =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Deuteronomy 20 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1<\/sup>\u00a0When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people,\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0And 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;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0For the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. 5<\/sup>\u00a0And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man\u00a0is there\u00a0<\/em>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.\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0And what man\u00a0is he\u00a0<\/em>that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not\u00a0yet\u00a0<\/em>eaten of it? let him\u00a0also\u00a0<\/em>go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it.\u00a0\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0And what man\u00a0is there\u00a0<\/em>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.\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man\u00a0is there that is\u00a0<\/em>fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren\u2019s heart faint as well as his heart.\u00a0\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0And 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.\u00a0 10<\/sup>\u00a0When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.\u00a011<\/sup>And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be,\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>all the people\u00a0that is\u00a0<\/em>found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.\u00a012<\/sup>And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0And when the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city,\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God hath given thee.\u00a0\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities\u00a0which are\u00a0<\/em>very far off from thee, which\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>not of the cities of these nations.\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0But of the cities of these people, which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God doth give thee\u00a0for\u00a0<\/em>an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0But thou shalt utterly destroy them;\u00a0namely\u00a0<\/em>, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God hath commanded thee:\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God. 19<\/sup>\u00a0When 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\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>man\u2019s\u00a0life\u00a0<\/em>) to employ\u00a0them<\/em>in the siege:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0Only the trees which thou knowest that they\u00a0be\u00a0<\/em>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.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    These verses complete an interesting list of requirements found in Deuteronomy 20, concerning those who would be allowed to fight in the army of God. It was a weeding out process done to ensure that only those in the right frame of mind spiritually were allowed to take part in the battle. There were 4 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5978"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5978"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16023,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5978\/revisions\/16023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}