but trees thnt were not for food they might tion applies to both. To both also it mny cut down nnd use in their operntione against be objected that by this way of taking the the city. passage Moses fa ma,Ie to utter a sentiment at once puerile ancl irreleva.nt; for what Ver. 19.-To employ them in the siege; need to declare formally, or in dect, that lilere.lly, to come, i.e. that they should come a tree is not a man ? and what reason is into the siege before thee, i.e. either as thine there in this for not cutting down fruit ucl versory or to be usecl by theo for the trees e.ny more than other treC<!? In the siege. For the tree of the :field is me.n'a life. me.rgin of the Authorized Version an altcr- Thie m11y meou the.t the tree supplies food nati ve rendering is proposed, " 0 man, the for the sustenonce or man's lifo. But oe tree of the field is to be employed in the the words etnnd in the text, they can only siege." But admitting this as a possible be rendered thus : " For the m11n ia a tree rendering, it is exposed to the objection, on of the :field." This gives no good sense, the one hand, that it is improbable that in or indeed, any sense e.t all; and hence it is a prosaic address like this au explanatory proposed to alter the reacling or the text e.ppee.1 woulcl be introducecl: ancl on the so us to produce a meaning that shall be other, that it is inconcei,able that Moses acceptoble. From on early period the ex- would in this casual and startling way an- pedient has been resorteil to of reading the ticipate what he goes on in the next sentence clause interrogatively, ond, instead of re- to express deliberately anil clearly. The garding it as parenthetical, connecting it passage has probably suffered at the hancls with the following words, thus: "Is the of a transcriber, and the text e.s we have it tree of the field a man to come into siege is corrupt. The sense put upon it in the before thee?!' So the LXX., Rashi, etc. Authorized Version is that suggested by It has been thought that only a very slight lbn Ezra, and in the absence of anything change in the punctuation is required to better this may be accepted. The fruit justify this rendering (C'JlfJ instead of tree is man's life, as it furnishes that by c1Nl"l); but more than this is acquired: the which life is sustained, just as, in eh. xxiv. siibj~ct and object are hereby reversed, e.nd 6, the millstone is called a man's life, in- this is more than Cl:ID be allowed. From an asmuch as it supplies the !!leans of life. early period also it has been proposed to Ver. 20.-And thou she.It build bulwarks read the clause as a negation, "For the against the city . . . until it be subdued ; tree of the field is not a man to come in to litere.lly, That thou mayest build a siege- siege before thee." So the Targum of i.e. un instrument for besieging, a rampart, Onkelos, Abarbanel, Vulgate, etc. The or bulwark--<Zgainst the city, till it come sense here is substantially the same as in down (cf. eh. x.xviii. 52). the preceding, and the same general objec-
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-20.-Wars to be regulated by Divine precepts. The directions given by Mo~es in this chapter may serve to show the spirit in which wars should, if undertaken at all, be entered on and prosecuted. We are not called upon here to moot the question whether war is under any circumstances justifiable; since the principle on which the Hebrew lawgiver proceeds is that of tolerating for a while certain socially accepted customs, mitigating whatever in them is evil, and gradually educating people out of them altogether. In order to estimate the value of this chapter, it should be compared with the war customs of the nations round about. Dr. Ja.meson's" C,imment- ary" has some valuable references thereon. Here are directions: First, as to the men who are to serve. They are to be sifted. In each of the four cases of exemption there is an obvious significance. Having been chosen, they are then to be organized. And their attitude and courage in tho war wero to be those of men who knew that the Lord their God was with them. Note: No war should be entered on. in which the presence and help of God cannot be expected and implored. Secondly, as to the mode of carrying.on or entering on war. The nations of Canaan are to be "stamped out," that a great pollution may be driven from the world. With this exception the Hebrews are to avoid war, if possible (ver. 10), aud are only to engage in it if forced thereto by the people by whom they were opposed. When in war, no wanton destruction was to be allowed, They were to build _bulwarks e.g~inst invaders, but were not to destroy the subsistence of a people by cuttmg down frmt trees, etc. How wonderfully humane and even tender are these regulations compared with the customs of other natious at that timed S32 THE noorr. OF DEUTERONOM.1. [ctt. XL 1-20.