When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight
against it, then proclaim peace
unto it. And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee,
then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be
tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. And if it will make no peace
with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: And when
the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every
male thereof with the edge of the sword (Deut. 20:10-13).
Alternate version (NKJV):
When you go near a city
to fight against it, then proclaim an offer
of peace to it. And it shall be
that if they accept your offer of
peace, and open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall
be placed under tribute to you, and serve you. Now if the city will not make peace with you,
but war against you, then you shall besiege it. And when the Lord your God delivers it into
your hands, you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword (Deut.
20:10-13).
COMMON GRACE
ARGUMENT:
This text is appealed
to in order to refute the idea that the gospel cannot be called an “offer”
because with an “offer” there are no consequences for rejecting it, whereas
there are dire consequences for rejecting the gospel; therefore the gospel
cannot be an “offer.”
The passage is said
to contain a concrete example of an “offer” with dire consequences for the
rejection of it.
(I)
Rev. Angus Stewart
(03/06/2019)
There is indeed a well-known phrase, an “offer of
peace.” It may be made by person A to person B to try to effect reconciliation.
If it is used in an (older) military sense, as in Deuteronomy 20 or the
seventeenth century wars, to a besieged city, it means that, if the city
surrenders, they will be spared. But if not, they will be slaughtered.
But this is not what people think of by the word “offer”
in the twenty-first century. This makes them think, typically, of an item for
sale at reduced price for which there are
no serious consequences for non-compliance.
Besides, Deuteronomy 20 does not merely use the
word “offer.” It uses a technical phrase in a military context: “offer
of peace.”
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(II)
More to come! (DV)
(II)
More to come! (DV)
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