Encouragement for Battle

Deuteronomy 20:1–9 is the movement “Encouragement for Battle.” Read it inside Moses’ final covenant instruction to Israel on the eastern side of the Jordan as the people prepare for life in the land. The section opens with: “When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” It closes with: “And 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.”

The immediate task here is to understand the covenant instruction in its own setting before asking whether later Scripture develops the same theme. No later connection should be forced merely to make the section look fuller.