Skip to content Deuteronomy 20-22: Facing Battles with Faith and Courage Apr 9 · 17 min ...more
Deuteronomy 20-22: Facing Battles with Faith and Courage
April 9, 2026 · 17 min
Learn to trust in God during spiritual warfare as taught in Deuteronomy 20's battle preparation.
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Deuteronomy 20-22: Overview and Timeless Principles 0:10 Good morning. Welcome to Stand on the Word. Today, our journey through the Bible takes us to Deuteronomy chapters 20 through 22. Verse 5 of chapter 22, a woman shall not wear anything that0:21 pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the lord your god. Figured that would get everyone's attention. Alright. Today, we're gonna look at, military0:33 marriage and murder. Sounds like an Alfred Hitchcock thriller, but it's not. We read of more guidance that god gives for this new nation as they, are beginning to move into the promised land.0:45 There's, direction on establishing military, how they deal with unsolved murder cases, guidance for marriage, and, kind of a grab bag of other miscellaneous items. Now in just a few days,0:57 we're gonna wrap up the book of Deuteronomy, and we'll be finished with the Pentateuch, the book of the laws. And, that combined with Job means that we've already completed1:09 6 books on this journey through the bible. You're making great progress. Now you're not gonna wanna miss the next leg of our journey as we move into the historical books. In fact, we're gonna be reading1:21 Joshua next week. And, I tell you what, 1 of my favorite books of the Bible, Joshua. I guess I've got about 66 favorite books. But this is a great 1, and this is a great time to invite someone to join1:33 us on this journey. They're gonna learn so much from the book of Joshua, especially as it pertains to leadership principles. Joshua was a great leader. If you wanna invite someone, simply have them text the word bible to1:45 6 7 7 4 2, bible to 6 7 7 4 2. We'll send them a link where they can get all the resources to join us on this journey. Now remember, as we are looking at the Old1:56 Testament, we are looking primarily for spiritual principles that would apply to us as believers in Jesus Christ today. What god has been doing through Moses in Exodus,2:08 Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy was first first was restoring an understanding of the moral law of god or natural law that is written on the hearts of human beings at2:20 creation, but it was dulled by the effects of sin. This was what the 10 commandments were about, restoring an understanding of the moral law of god in large part. Now the moral law of god2:31 continues. Okay? Of course, we can't keep it any better than they did in the Old Testament, and therefore, we cannot and are not saved by keeping the 10 Commandments or any2:43 other commandments of God. But what they do is they make us aware of our inadequacy to live up to God's standard of righteousness, which is why we need a savior. The law, as Paul said, is a2:55 tutor. It brings us to Christ. Jesus Christ is the savior. He is the only way that we can have standing before god, righteous standing before god.3:07 So here we go. Moses directed by god. He also establishes ceremonial laws for worship and civil laws for the theocratic nation in which god was the head. That was Israel.3:19 Now in these latter 2 categories, we looked we we still look look for guiding principles. We can't take laws crafted for a theocracy 3400 years ago3:32 and apply them directly to our nation. But but there are principles that we can glean from. And in fact, our founders did glean from and3:43 apply these principles to our nation, and some we've already seen in this study. So think about it this way. If god gave direction, you know it's good. God's gonna give good3:55 direction. So we would benefit today from this transcendent wisdom and truth found in god's guidance millennia ago. So we4:07 have we we we stand to benefit greatly by understanding God's word, by allowing the Holy Spirit to show us the principles here in the Old Testament and their application to our lives.4:19 Alright. Let's begin verse 1, chapter 20, We start with a look at military. Alright. When you go out to battle against your enemies and you see horses and chariotsMilitary: Facing Battles with Faith and Courage 4:31 and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them. For the lord your god is with you who brought you up from the land of Egypt. So it shall be when you are on the verge of battle that the priest shall approach4:41 and speak to the people. And he shall say to them, hear, oh Israel, today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart be faint. Do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be4:53 terrified because of them. For the lord your god is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you. That's a great verse to remember.5:05 Now for for a military to succeed, they they need to be focused and fearless. And and what we see here is not the size of the army in the battle that our eye should be fixed5:17 upon, but the size of the God who leads us. And the priest were there to deliver a message. Do not fear. Now fear is real. Warfare and death are5:29 real, but so is God. And he goes with us. The presence of the priest pointed to god was a reminder of their transcendent calls, meaning a purpose beyond5:40 themselves. As believers, as we engage in spiritual battle, spiritual warfare, it's real. We have God with us, the presence of God through the Holy Spirit who is abiding with us,5:52 and we have the power. And and and and 1 of my favorite chapters of the book of Ephesians, 1 of my favorite books, Ephesians 6, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might, for6:04 we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age. We're in a spiritual battle, but the Lord fights for us. You know, George Washington,6:15 the commander of the Continental Army, he understood this, which is why he asked for funds to be given to the military to have chaplains. In July of6:27 17 75, congress approved the request, and the chaplain corps was created and has been in our military ever since. But just as we read in these passages, diligence is6:38 required to preserve what is established and to keep it from drifting into apostasy, which has been happening in recent years in our military. Now in verses 5 through 9, we read6:50 various exemptions for service that were granted, military service that were granted. Number 1, if you had a new house, a new vineyard, which is livelihood, a new wife, or you were fearful. This is7:02 important because I think it has, I think it has bearing on us today. I think the reasons for these exemptions went to the the purpose of the military. It was to fight and win the nation's7:13 battles. These individuals described above that were given exemptions would be distracted and would become a distraction and would become a hindrance to others.7:25 Now I personally think this supports the idea of a volunteer military, which we've had since, since the draft was abandoned after Vietnam. I volunteered right after Viet shortly after7:37 Vietnam ended. And this was, this is, I think, worked very well for us. However, you know, the last 20 years, the military has been infused with the left's social7:49 policies, which has what? Distracted our military from its mission. Thankfully thankfully, I think our military is currently on a course correction. Let's pray that they complete that8:00 course. Another aspect of the military, this passage addresses, is that warfare should not be our focus. Right? That was not the focus of the nation of Israel. They were they did not have a8:12 full time military to speak of. It was they would muster at the time of need. And their primary focus, if you look in verses 10 through,8:24 15, their their primary focus was a foreign policy that preferred peace. Warfare was not to be a way of life, but a means of protecting and preserving8:35 life. They were not to be a warring nation. In in verses, 19 and 20, practical guidance for besieging a city considers how warfare impacts the environment and the8:47 production of food. You know, war and political stability today are the or still today, are the number 1 causes of famine. When you look at parts of the world in which they are experiencing famine,9:00 it is because of warfare and political instability. Alright. On to chapter 21 verse 1, if anyone is found slain lying in the field in the land which the lord your god is giving you to possess,Justice, Community Care, and God's Design 9:12 and it is not known who killed him. When your elders and your judges go out and measure the distance from the slain, then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance9:24 from the slain man to the surrounding cities. So who done it? The city nearest the murder victim was to take responsibility9:36 for not just investigating it, but in dealing with the stain. This was the main focus, the stain of innocent blood on the land. Look at verse 9. So you shall put9:48 away the guilt of innocent blood from among you when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord. They were to offer a heifer and offer it as a sacrifice to make redemption for the10:00 innocent blood that was shed. We've seen a lot already about the how the shedding of innocent blood pollutes the land. Now considering the time, if you read through this, and I know10:12 we kinda skim through it, but, I mean, just kinda think through this for a moment. There was considerable time and resources involved here. I mean, that that took a lot of time, a lot of10:23 trouble, and they out of their their, civic funds, out of their taxation, they they had to pay for this heifer. It was I mean, this was not insignificant. And10:35 and so, therefore, they would want to ensure these types of things didn't happen. I mean, just think about for a moment. If these things if this were required today, I'm not saying it is or it should be. I'm just saying10:44 what if. Given the elevated homicide rates in most of our cities in America today, we'd run out of cows. Now what is the principle, though, that we should take away from this instruction?10:57 Here it is. Right? Here are the consequences. When we devalue human life and the shedding of innocent blood goes unaccounted for, no 111:09 and and meaning no 1 pays a price. No 1 is we don't investigate these. We don't or or else we let people off the hook for shedding of innocent blood. Guess what? We get more of it, and the land begins to11:21 be polluted with blood. Now in the rest of chapter, chapters 21 and 22, several issues are addressed. And, again, we're looking at principles that may apply to the policies that we adopt. For example, look at chapter11:33 22 verse 1. You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep going astray and hide yourself from them. You shall certainly bring them back to your neighbor. And it's not talking about playing hide and seek with your,11:44 neighbor's farm animal animals. What we're we're we're what it's saying here is that we should not look the other way and not get involved when there there are consequences for a neighbor. For for instance, if if your11:56 neighbor's house is on fire, you don't just turn the other way. You you need to get involved. You need to call 9 1 1. You need to check on your neighbor. I mean, the the the idea here12:08 is is that we need to look out for our neighbors. Verse 5, a woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment for all who do so are an abomination to the lord your god.12:20 Drag shows are not innocent entertainment. They're abominable acts. This does not mean that a man this does not mean that a woman cannot wear a pair of pants. What what it's12:32 talking about here is the confusion of the genders. Verse 6. If a a bird's nest happens to to be before you along the way in any tree or on the ground12:44 with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. You shall surely let the mother go and take the young for yourself that it may be well with you12:56 and that you may prolong your days. Now as we saw in chapter 20 about cutting down trees if you're sieging a city, the bible speaks to environmentalism, if you will.13:09 There is a responsibility we have for the environment, for the well-being of I mean, we live here. We need to take care of it. I I call it conservationism. I I'm a conservationist.13:21 I I do not believe we should litter. We should pollute. I believe we should be good stewards of what God has given us. Now that said, we're not to worship creation. We're to care for it.13:33 And I think what we see today, or what we have been seeing in recent times is this push to that literally worships creation. That's not what God is calling us to. Verse 8, when you build a new house, then13:45 you shall make a parapet for the roof that you may not bring guilt of bloodshed on your household if anyone falls on it. Now in in in that time period, even today in that part of the world,13:57 the the roof is used for, to to do things on top of. And it says, look. Just build a guardrail around it because you don't want someone falling off because you're guilty, because you were negligent. So there14:09 are biblical building codes. Now I will as we're building a house, unfortunately, not something I wanted to do, but we had to after the flood, that14:23 these building codes today have gone kind of overboard. But the reason here's the reason. Here's the reason we see so much government today is because we have neglected14:35 personal responsibility. If if we were each to take the responsibility as laid out here in scripture as as, you know, I've used this quote before, and it's applicable.14:47 John Adams says our laws are made for a moral and religious people. They're wholly inadequate for the government of any other. Meaning that our laws were created initially for those who would14:59 govern themselves according to the word of God. Now as we've neglected that, what's happened is government has grown, and it regulates everything. I mean, every aspect of our lives are regulated. Why? Because15:11 we have neglected the government of ourselves. Now the Bible is very practical. And for most of our country's history, we have followed biblical principles rooted15:23 in moral or natural law. But what's happened in the last 60 years as we've departed from these truths individually and collectively, we have seen lawlessness.15:35 We've seen the growth in government. I would even say government at times leaning toward the tyrannical because we have neglected the15:47 truth of god's word, and we need to return to that truth individually and collectively. Father, we thank you for your word, and I do pray that we would return to your word, applying the principles of your15:59 word to our lives, that we would govern ourselves according to your word, that transcendent truth. Lord, that we would, continue to we continue to pray for the Holy Spirit to help us as16:11 we as we journey through the Old Testament knowing, Lord, that this is the old covenant, but the principles here, which applied to the physical in the Old Testament, clearly have spiritual principles for16:23 us today, and they're applicable to our lives in many ways. So I pray that you would help us to understand that and know how to rightfully apply your word and learn from it. And we would know more16:35 about you through your word. So we thank you, Lord, for the Holy Spirit. We thank you for your word, and we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright. Thanks for joining me this morning, and until16:46 next time, keep standing on the word.16:51 Today's study comes from the stand on the word bible reading plan available for free at frc dot org slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you17:03 can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 Deuteronomy 20-22: Overview and Timeless Principles4:22 Military: Facing Battles with Faith and Courage9:03 Justice, Community Care, and God's Design
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