Let Him Go Home

Deuteronomy 20:5-11 – The officers shall say to the army: “Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may begin to live in it. Has anyone planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it. Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her.” Then the officers shall add, “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.” When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it. 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.

2 Samuel 24:1 – Again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.”

Deuteronomy 24:5 – If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.

2 Kings 6:22 – “Do not kill them,” he answered. “Would you kill those you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master.”

Application:

• ·         Although Scripture is clear that God does not cause anyone to sin, it is also clear that the evil acts of people and Satan are under God’s sovereign control.
• ·         Marital bliss was held in high regard.
• ·         The Lord’s purpose in capturing the Arameans in 2 Kings was to demonstrate to them and their king and to the Israelites and their king that Israel’s national security ultimately was grounded in the Lord, not in military forces or strategies.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV