Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 20:12
And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:
12. But if it will make no peace with thee thou shalt besiege, i.e. confine or blockade it.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And if it will make no peace with thee,…. Will not accept of terms of peace offered:
but will make war against thee; come out and fight, or prepare to defend themselves: then thou shall besiege it; surround and block it up on all sides with their forces; the Jews say only on three sides, leaving one for any to flee and make their escape if they thought fit;
[See comments on Nu 31:7].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
If the hostile town, however, did not make peace, but prepared for war, the Israelites were to besiege it; and if Jehovah gave it into their hands, they were to slay all the men in it without reserve (“with the edge of the sword,” see at Gen 34:26); but the women and children and all that was in the city, all its spoil, they were to take as prey for themselves, and to consume (eat) the spoil, i.e., to make use of it for their own maintenance.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
12. And if he will make no peace. The permission here given seems to confer too great a license; for, since heathen writers (46) command even the conquered to be spared, and enjoin that those should be admitted to mercy who lay down their arms, and cast themselves on the good faith of the General, although the battering-ram may have actually made a breach in the wall, how does God, the Father of mercies, give His sanction to indiscriminate bloodshed? It has already been stated, that more was conceded to the Jews on account of their hardness of heart, than was justly lawful for them. Unquestionably, by the law of charity, even armed men should be spared, if, casting away the sword, they crave for mercy; at any rate it was not lawful to kill any but those who were taken in arms, and sword in hand. This permission, therefore, to slaughter, which is extended to all the males, is far distant from perfection. (47) But, although in their ferocity the Jews would have hardly suffered the perfection of equity to be prescribed to them, still God would at least restrain their excessive violence from proceeding to the extremity of cruelty. The question is as to cities taken by force, where it sometimes happens that there is no distinction of sex or age regarded; this inhumanity is here mitigated, since they might not kill either women or children.
(46) “Et cum iis, quos vi deviceris, consulendum est; tum 2, qui, armis positis, ad imperatorum fidem confugient, quamvis murum aries percusserit, recipiendi sunt.” — Cic, de Off. 1:11.
(47) Addition in Fr. , “et equite qui doit estre en tous enfans de Dieu;” and from the equity which ought to be in all God’s children.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
12. If it will make no peace If the city does not submit without fighting, then it is to be besieged, and, when taken by storm, the armed men are to be put to death, the women and children spared.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ver. 12, 13. If it will make no peacethou shalt smite every male To punish their obstinacy for rejecting peace, and for incurring all those horrors of war, which, no doubt, they were taught to expect if they refused the conditions offered.