The Fruit of the Matter: God's Rules for War Text: Deuteronomy 20:19-20
Introduction: God in the Details
We live in a sentimental age. It is an age that wants a God of broad, abstract principles, a God of Hallmark card niceness, but not a God who gets His hands dirty with the gritty details of life. Our generation wants a God who is vaguely for love and kindness, but not a God who gives specific, binding laws about property lines, infectious diseases, or, as we have it in our text, the proper conduct of a military siege. But the God of the Bible is not the god of the philosophers. He is the living God, the Lord of Heaven and Earth, and He cares about everything, from the thoughts of our hearts to the trees outside a city wall.
The laws of God, and particularly the case laws we find in the Pentateuch, are a stumbling block to the modern mind. They seem archaic, strange, and sometimes severe. But if we have the mind of Christ, we must see them as God's wisdom applied. They are not arbitrary regulations; they are windows into the very character of God. They show us His justice, His mercy, His prudence, and His hatred of chaos. And they are given for our good. To reject them is to reject the God who gave them. To study them is to study Him.
Our text today is a classic example. Here we are, in the middle of the laws of warfare, and God pauses the instruction on holy war to give a command about trees. This is not some quaint aside. This is a direct polemic against the pagan nations and a profound lesson in godly stewardship that echoes all the way down to the ministry of the Lord Jesus. The pagan nations of the ancient world practiced what we would call scorched-earth warfare. When they besieged a city, they would destroy everything in their path, leaving a barren wasteland. It was warfare born of rage, vengeance, and a desire for total annihilation. The gods of the pagans were chaotic and destructive, and their people waged war in their image.
But the God of Israel is the God of creation, the God of order, the God who plants gardens. He is not a God of wanton destruction. His justice is fierce, yes, but it is never chaotic. It is always purposeful, always measured. This law concerning trees is a rebuke to the pagan mindset and a call for Israel to remember who they are and whose they are, even in the heat of battle. They are to be creators and cultivators, not destroyers. They are to be stewards of God's world, not vandals. And in this seemingly small distinction, we find a universe of theological truth.
The Text
"If you besiege a city for many days, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, and you shall not cut them down. For is the tree of the field a man, that it should be besieged by you? Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you shall destroy and cut down, that you may build siegeworks against the city that is making war with you until it falls."
(Deuteronomy 20:19-20 LSB)
Pragmatic Piety (v. 19)
We begin with the prohibition in verse 19:
"If you besiege a city for many days, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, and you shall not cut them down. For is the tree of the field a man, that it should be besieged by you?" (Deuteronomy 20:19)
The first thing to notice is the sheer practicality of this command. God is not a sentimentalist. He is not giving this command because trees have feelings. This is not the charter for a radical environmentalist group that chains itself to bulldozers. The reason given is straightforward: "for you may eat from them." God is commanding His people to exercise wise stewardship, even in the middle of a war. A long siege requires provisions. Destroying the local food source in a fit of rage is militarily foolish. It is cutting off your nose to spite your face. God's law promotes sanity. It is a leash on the mad dog of human passion that is unleashed in warfare.
This is a principle that runs throughout Scripture. God's commands are for our good. They are not arbitrary hoops to jump through. They are the manufacturer's instructions for human flourishing. Sin is, at its root, insanity. It is self-destructive. This law is a guardrail against that kind of destructive folly. You are here to take the city, not to ruin the entire territory for generations to come. You are conquerors, not nihilists.
Then we have this curious phrase: "For is the tree of the field a man, that it should be besieged by you?" The Hebrew here can be read in a couple of ways. It can be read as a rhetorical question, as most modern translations have it. Is a tree an enemy combatant? Can it run from you? Can it hide behind the city walls? Of course not. So do not treat it like one. Your war is with the inhabitants of the city, not with the orchard. This reading emphasizes the need for focused, discriminate justice. War is not a license for indiscriminate destruction.
Another way to read it is as a statement of dependence: "For the life of man is the tree of the field." In other words, you depend on these trees for your very life. To destroy them is to destroy your own sustenance. Both readings get us to the same place. God is commanding a disciplined, forward-thinking approach to warfare that stands in stark contrast to the pagan world's orgies of destruction. The Israelites are to remember that the land is a gift from God, and they are to inherit it, not ruin it.
Discriminating Destruction (v. 20)
But God is not a pacifist, and He is certainly not a tree-worshipper. The command is not absolute. Verse 20 provides the necessary clarification.
"Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you shall destroy and cut down, that you may build siegeworks against the city that is making war with you until it falls." (Deuteronomy 20:20 LSB)
Here we see the principle of discrimination. God creates by making distinctions, and He requires us to live by them. There is a difference between a fruit tree and a non-fruit tree. One provides life-sustaining food; the other provides timber for the tools of war. You are permitted, even commanded, to use the resources God has provided to prosecute a just war. You can cut down the non-fruit-bearing trees to build ramps, ladders, and siege engines.
This is a death blow to any kind of nature-worshipping pantheism. The creation is not divine. It is a resource given to man to be used for God's glory. Adam's first commission was to "work and keep" the garden, to exercise dominion over it. This is simply the application of that dominion mandate to a wartime situation. The world is God's gift, but it is not God. We are to be stewards, not worshippers, of the creation. This means we must make wise distinctions. We must discern between what is to be preserved for life and what may be used for other necessary purposes, like executing God's judgment on a wicked city.
The modern environmentalist movement is, at its heart, a pagan religion. It deifies nature and demonizes man. It would see this verse as an atrocity. But the Bible presents a sane middle ground. We are neither to worship the creation nor to wantonly destroy it. We are to rule it, wisely and righteously, under God. This law teaches us that true stewardship requires discernment. It requires us to ask, "What is the God-ordained purpose of this thing?" A fruit tree's purpose is to give food. A cedar's purpose might be to become a siege ramp, or a beam in the Temple. Both uses, when done in obedience to God, are righteous.
From Siege Engines to the Savior
Now, how does this ancient law about trees in battle apply to us? As with all Old Testament judicial law, we must look for the "general equity" thereof. We are not under the Mosaic covenant in the same way Israel was. We are not a nation-state with a border and an army in that sense. But the principles of God's character and wisdom are eternal. And more than that, the entire Old Testament points forward to Christ.
This passage is fundamentally about fruitfulness and judgment. The distinction is between the tree that bears fruit and the tree that does not. This is a distinction that the Lord Jesus and His apostles pick up and drive home with tremendous force.
John the Baptist comes preaching repentance, and what is his warning? "Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire" (Matthew 3:10). The axe of God's judgment is not for swinging wildly. It is for a very specific purpose: to cut down unfruitful trees. The siege has begun. God is laying siege to the rebellious city of this world, and He is making a distinction.
Jesus Himself makes this point repeatedly. In the Sermon on the Mount, He warns against false prophets, and the test is the same. "You will recognize them by their fruits... Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire" (Matthew 7:16, 19). He curses the barren fig tree as a living parable of judgment on an unfruitful Israel (Matthew 21:19). He tells the parable of the vinedresser who pleads for one more year for the unfruitful fig tree before it is cut down (Luke 13:6-9).
The message is clear. In the great war of human history, God is looking for fruit. He preserves the fruitful. He judges the unfruitful. The fruit trees are those who are united to Christ by faith. As Jesus says in John 15, "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit... If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned" (John 15:5-6).
Conclusion: Bearing Fruit Under Siege
So what is the application for us? We are living in a besieged city. The world, the flesh, and the devil are making war against us. And in the middle of this war, God gives us the same command He gave to Israel. We are to be fruitful, and we are to be discriminating.
First, we are to be fruitful. Our lives are to be orchards that sustain others in the battle. We are to bear the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). This is the fruit that proves we are truly connected to the vine, who is Christ. An unfruitful Christian is a contradiction in terms. He is a tree that is good for nothing but the axe of judgment. We are not saved by our fruit, but we are saved unto fruitfulness. If there is no fruit, there is no root.
Second, we are to be discriminating. We are to use the resources of this world for the purposes of the Kingdom. We are to take the "non-fruit-bearing trees" of secular culture, the logic, the art, the technology, and build siege engines against the city of man. We are to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). We are not to engage in wanton, angry destruction. We are not to have a scorched-earth policy toward our neighbors. But neither are we to be sentimental preservationists who think that every tree is sacred. We must have the wisdom to distinguish between that which gives life and that which can be used as a tool for righteous warfare.
This law in Deuteronomy is a call to be wise, prudent, and faithful stewards in the middle of a war. It is a call to remember that our God is a God of life and order, not chaos and death. And it points us to the ultimate fruit-bearer, the Lord Jesus, and to the great distinction that will be made on the last day, when the axe will fall, and every tree will be judged by its fruit. Therefore, abide in Him, that you may bear much fruit, and that your fruit may remain.