When thou shalt besiege a city many days, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by lifting up an axe against them; for thou canst eat of them; and thou shalt not cut them down, for is the tree of the field a man that it should be besieged?
Deuteronomy 20 is a chapter of war laws, and it ends by protecting trees. An army in a siege needs timber. God still puts the fruit tree off limits, and the reason He gives ties that tree to human life.
The war laws of this chapter all point back to one thing: who the fighting really depends on.
Then in Deuteronomy 20 comes the law of battles. The greatest care is taken that they should in no way copy the loose ways of the nations. The governing principle here, as elsewhere, is confidence in the Lord. He had taken His people, brought them out of Egypt into relationship with Himself, and was now placing them in His own land... It was not a question of soldiery or strategy, of force or skill or fraud, but of the Lord their God.
The tree law comes last in a series of limits. Israel may eat from the trees, but may not swing an axe at them.
As to the enemy, a besieged town was always to have the offer of peace by submission. If it resisted, it suffered the penalty of resisting God, not man only; but they were to spare those who were not fighting. This does not apply to the Canaanites, who were under God's curse. As to the land, they were not to cut down the fruit trees, but leave them to support life.
God is judging His enemies — and in the same breath He gives a law about a single tree.
When Israel did besiege a city, God showed His care, even if it was only for a tree good for human food. He bound that care by His own hand on His people, in the middle of the very war that showed His face was set against the enemies of His glory in the world. Even there He would not let them act without thought where there was any food fit for people to eat... Such is God. He acts in time as He plans from eternity to eternity. Yet He stoops to speak to His people, and to exercise their thoughts about the smallest matters of this life.
The ESV asks it as a question: is a tree a man, that you should besiege it? Older translations give a reason instead — "the tree of the field is man's life." Writers take that phrase as a picture of fruitfulness.
Trees were not common in the landscape of Palestine, and because they were few they stood out all the more. Scripture builds various striking word-pictures on them... A tree stands for fruitfulness; and from this point of view Scripture called the tree of the field "man's life."
One writer ties this siege law to the scene after Jesus fed the crowd.
They were the food of life, the plants of the field, which God had given to man for his life. And life is a sacred thing... "The tree of the field is man's life," the law had said... It would have been waste, it would have been irreverence, to abuse the food of life, which was God's gift. And Jesus, in the same purity, in the perfectness of God's living order, would not let the fragments lie on the ground. "Gather up the leftover fragments," He said, "that nothing may be lost."
That reading turns the verse into a rule for ordinary households, not just armies.
We should guard against all reckless waste of anything people could use... It is painful at times to see the sinful waste of human food. People throw out as scraps many a thing that might supply a welcome meal for a needy family... We may be sure that to waste any creature of God is displeasing in His sight.
The next verse lets Israel cut down trees that bear no fruit for the siege works. One writer applies that distinction to how we handle Scripture.
Fruit trees are for man's nourishment, not for judgment. So, in the Word of God there are truths for nourishing and building up. But other truths are for pulling down strongholds (2 Cor. 10:4). It is important that we use the truth for the purpose that God intends, not to misuse it.
- Trust — The war laws of this chapter rest on confidence in God rather than on force, skill, or fraud.
- Limits — That trust shows up as restraint. Israel had to offer peace first, spare those who were not fighting, and leave the fruit trees standing.
- Care — Even while judging His enemies, God gives a law about one tree. He stoops to train His people's thoughts in the smallest matters of life.
- Life — Scripture calls the tree man's life because it feeds people. Food is God's gift, and abusing it is both waste and irreverence.
- Nothing lost — Jesus kept the same rule when He gathered up the leftovers. It reaches the kitchen that throws out what could feed a hungry family.
Only the trees which thou knowest are not trees for meat, thou mayest destroy and cut them down, and build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it fall.
Israel's laws of war end with a permission: the army may cut down trees, but only trees that bear no food, and only to build works for the siege. Why does God make a rule about trees while a city is falling?
This chapter tells Israel how to fight once they enter the land God gave them. One writer sums up its purpose:
In Deuteronomy 20 God makes provision so that any war that arises can go together with the enjoyment of the land and the blessing of God, whether for one person or in a conquest. He also gives directions to secure the presence of the power of God, and to show how Israel was to treat the enemies according to the mind of God.
The verse works by a distinction. You may cut down the trees you know bear no food; the rest stay standing. God draws that line while an army is at work.
When Israel besieged a city, God showed His care, even if it was only for a tree good for human food. He bound that care by His own hand on His people, even while proving that His face was set against the enemies of His glory in the world. Even there He would not allow them to act without thought where there was any food fit for human use. "Only the trees that you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down"; but God absolutely forbade cutting down those that supplied food. Such is God. He acts in time as He plans from eternity to eternity. Yet He stoops to speak to His people, and to exercise their thoughts about the smallest matters of this life.
Food trees are spared because their fruit is God's gift for human life. One writer sets that beside the Lord's care for scraps of bread after He fed the crowd:
If the lavish service of the heart or hand in worship is no waste, then the very crumbs of human food are sacred. They must not be thrown away. On one occasion He defended the spending of three hundred silver coins. On another He would not let the fragments of three loaves lie on the ground. In His eyes such fragments were sacred. They were the food of life, the herb of the field, which God had given to man for his life... It would have been waste, it would have been irreverence, to abuse in this way the food of life, which was God's gift.
The verse does not forbid cutting trees. It aims the axe at timber that feeds no one, and turns that timber into siege works. One writer draws the same line across two kinds of truth in Scripture:
In besieging a city, no fruit trees were to be cut down for use in the attack (v.19). Trees that did not bear fruit could be used for this (v.20). Fruit trees are for man's nourishment, not for judgment. So, in the Word of God there are truths for nourishing and building up. But other truths are for pulling down strongholds (2 Cor. 10:4). It is important that we use the truth for the purpose God intends, and not misuse it.
The siege presses on until the city falls. Israel could offer the Canaanite nations no terms at all. One writer reads that refusal as a picture:
There was one exception: there must be no peace with the Canaanites. Israel did not dread them as rivals; God had doomed them to destruction because of their vile practices and the way they drew others astray... Seen as a picture, the Canaanites represent the agents of Satan, the spiritual wickedness in heavenly places — those rulers of the darkness of this world with whom we are called to wrestle now... With such there can be, and there ought to be, no terms, no compromise, no ending of the fight at any time or under any circumstances.
The same care about waste reaches past ancient warfare into ordinary life:
"Let nothing be lost" is the Master's own word to us — a word that should always be remembered. "Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected." We should carefully guard against all reckless waste of anything that can be put to human use... Many a thing is thrown out as rubbish that might supply a welcome meal for a needy family... We may be sure that to waste any creature of God is displeasing in His sight. Let us remember that His eye is upon us.
- War, ordered. The chapter's aim is to keep war from spoiling Israel's enjoyment of the land and God's blessing on them.
- The axe, limited. Even while His face was set against His enemies, God fenced off the food-bearing trees by His own hand.
- The reason, sacred. Food is God's gift for human life, and wasting it is irreverence.
- The timber, used. What feeds no one becomes siege works. In the same way, some truth nourishes and other truth pulls down strongholds.
- The siege, finished. With the powers of evil there are no terms and no truce; the fight goes on until the city falls.