Deuteronomy 20:19-20 Bible Study | Episode 922

April 22, 2025

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life

Deuteronomy 20:19-20 Bible Study | Episode #922

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

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Transcript

This is Chad Harrison, and you're listening to Hope Applying God's word to your daily life. Hi, this is Chad Harrison and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and have been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open up.

His word to you and allow you.

To see him and to know him and to know his will, that you.

Might glorify him and that you might.

Walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today in Jesus name.

Well, good morning. Welcome to Lake Community Church's morning Bible study. We are in Deuteronomy, chapter 20, verses 19 and 20. Well, this is kind of a fun little. Two verses here of Moses giving them. Well, he's given the instructions about warfare, and as we bring it forward to the New Testament, it's instructions about spiritual warfare. It gives us some spiritual insights and even though not much we can be gained today about this passage as far as practical. Practical use in that he's talking about trees and siege weapons, that not much can be done as far as that for today, but a lot of spiritual insights can be gained by it. So I think this is one of those passages that for me is a lot of fun. It is interesting. It's talking about trees and the type of trees and what trees you can and can't cut down in order to use siege weapons. It reminds me, it kind of takes me back in time to when my pawpaw was alive. And we would go out in the woods here in Tallapoosa county, and we would go for walks and he would teach me about trees. You would think as many times as he did that I would be an expert in trees, but I was so young, I did not remember a whole lot of it. I do remember a lot about pine trees because he did grow a lot of pine trees. And I remember him talking about the different seed length and how that caused the tree to grow, how fast the tree grew. Because of that, pine trees are softwood trees. They're trees that grow fairly quickly to a size that you can use to harvest. The trees that don't grow that fast, but are more valuable because it takes a lot longer for them to grow, are called hardwood trees. So in this area, you have softwood, and hardwood that is actually a scientific designation for trees. It's not as straightforward as hard and soft wood, but it is a Designation that is used to describe trees. Generally speaking, though, when we're using this, especially as far as a spiritual insight, there's two things you have to kind of know from the outset and why this is. I don't know. Sometimes it makes really, really good sense and sometimes it's one of those things that you just have to go with because, go, God has used it. There's two things that. Two symbols in the Bible that speak to people. Meaning it just describes people in generality, not individual human beings, but just people as a whole. People as a large group of people, people together as a crowd, just people in general. And those two symbols are trees and fish, which is both kind of. If you step back, you go, why trees and fish? Well, I don't know, but it's trees and fish. And so when you're, when you're, when you're studying through scripture and you see trees being mentioned, maybe in a group of trees or trees being talked about, as far as maybe a parable, generally speaking, that's talking about human beings or a group of human beings, maybe even a group of human beings that might be a people group or a nation. The second group is a little bit more obvious, especially considering some of the teachings of Jesus, and that's fish. Especially when he's telling Peter to let down the nets for a catch and I'll make you fishers of men. All those stories, those are a little bit more straightforward. You kind of see the symbolism of fish. In fact, the revelation tells us that the river that flows from the throne of God flows into the sea. That's where the, the, the fish will gather, where the fresh water flows. And, and it's a beautiful picture of God nourishing his people from his very throne with his. With the refreshing work of his Holy Spirit. It's a beautiful picture to me anyway. And so when I, when I think about, whenever I going through scripture and it's specifically talking about trees or there's an illusion toward fish, and usually it's using fish as symbology. Anyway, whenever that comes up, I always, always, always in my own heart and mind, I always think people, just people in general. And so when we get to this passage and it's talking about cutting down trees and making siege weapons, I ask myself, you know, okay, what are we discussing here? What is God telling me out of this? And so let's just read it in that context. Let's just it that way. He says, when you besiege a city for a long time, and you know, that's where the city's got walls and you're surrounding the city with your army and you're cut off, cut them off from any supplies from the outside. If you're into history and into historical warfare, as I am, this would be a. This is, this is something that's just very common in history. This is one of those things that just has gone on for and when, say thousands of years. I mean, 4,000 years. This is one of the things that has happened and it still goes on even today in Ukraine. There are cities being besieged, being surrounded by an army, or the army is trying to surround the city, to cut it off so that it can take the city. It's one of those things that's just normal. It's a normal part of warfare. It's one of those things you should think about. So he says, when you besiege a city for a long time, meaning you're, you're out there and you're waiting for them to give up. And, you know, you're trying to figure it out while making war against it, to take it. You shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them. Well, now that's a problem. You can't wield the, you can't take an axe and destroy the trees around the city. Huh? Well, it's hard to make siege weapons without wood. Now, he qualifies that statement by saying, if you can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in the siege. For the tree of the field is a man's food. Oh, okay. So he's saying you can't cut down any tree. He says you can't cut down the fruit bearing trees. Boy, that's an important, that's an important distinction. And in scripture, especially in the New Testament, but really in the Old Testament too, going all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Fruit trees. Fruit is obviously a picture of the work of the Holy Spirit through a human being to bring about a unique gift to humanity, a new unique gift to people of their spiritual gifts being manifest in the world. It's a picture of God working through human beings to do his will in a beautiful, unique way that glorifies him uniquely. That's what a spiritual gift is. That's what the fruit of the Spirit is in our lives is, is God in His uniqueness and his wonder and his majesty, coming into your life and producing Himself, Godliness, goodness, all the things that come with God and who he is in our life. He produces that in our lives through us. And it's a unique expression. It's a unique manifestation of God's divine nature through human beings. It's a picture of the fruit, of the Spirit in our lives. It's a, what a powerful picture that really is if you think about it over time. And so fruit trees are pictures of believers, believers who, you know, who produce fruit, they produce spiritual fruit in their lives. And so when I think of fruit trees, I think of the fig tree that Jesus cursed because it wasn't producing any fruit. And I think of, I'm the vine, you're the branches. This is John, I think, 15. If you remain in me and I in you, you'll bear much fruit. But apart from me you can do nothing. It's a beautiful picture of God coming in and making, making great things out of, out of those who bear fruit. Making change in the world really through human beings. And so when, when, when I read this, there's a problem, a little bit of a problem because the fruit bearing trees, generally speaking, are hardwood trees, okay? They're not. Pine trees don't bear fruit. They do have a, you know, you do have a pine cone that comes from it, but it doesn't bear fruit. A fruit tree that bears like that, bears either its seed inside the fruit, like an apple tree or a pear tree or a nut tree, a tree that produces nuts, meaning there's a nut inside of some enclosure that the tree makes walnuts and pecans and those type of things. Those trees are generally hardwood trees. Now pecans are not as hard as say a walnut tree or something like that, but those trees are, generally speaking, very, very hard. And they're the best trees to use for siege weapons. For siege weapons. So you have the illustration of warfare, the illustration of trees and the illustration of bearing fruit. And he says that a tree that bears fruit, generally speaking, even though it's good for hardwood, I don't want you to cut it down. I don't want you to use it for the siege because it's of too much value. It's of too much value to the people. When the war is over, you're going to want those trees. Verse 20 says only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down to build siege works against the city. Make that makes war with you until it is subdued. What he's saying is, is that you don't need to destroy the fruit bearing trees in warfare. You don't need to cut them down and use them up because it's necessary that the people, that the people themselves are left behind so that they can bear fruit to those who come along after the war is over. Now you go, what does that mean? Well, oftentimes when we're involved in spiritual warfare and then we're involved in battles, struggles in the church, and I'm just putting it that way, a struggle in the church, a difficulty that we come across in the body of Christ, oftentimes as leaders, we say, okay, well, we just don't. The only answer to that is, you know, we're going to divide up and go our separate ways. Okay, we're going to cut down some trees and send them off. Okay. And God says, you know, that's not the optimal way to do it. In fact, you shouldn't do that. You should if it's a fruit bearing tree, meaning, Meaning that the, the person you're talking to, talking with, the person you're struggling with, the person you're having a difficult time with, if they're, if they're a person who is a fruit bearer, meaning you can see spiritual fruit in their lives, you need to do everything you can to keep that person in place, keep that person where they're at. You need to help them through whatever struggle they're having. You need to help through whatever difficulties taking place, whatever problem is developed between the parties that are at contention with the. Each other. You need to do that as best you can without cutting the tree down. It's not necessary to cut the tree down. Oftentimes that's the first as our first solution. Well, I'm just going to leave. I'm going to just get out of here. I'm, I'm, I ain't going to hang around with all this. And you know, that's all, none of that, none of that bravado and none of that thought process is godly. It's not. God's not a God of division. He's a God of unity. He's got a love. But now listen, if, listen, there are some things, there are hills to down spiritually. There are things that we have to stand on with the word of God. If the word of God stands in some area, we've got to stand on it. But I'm not talking about those kind of situations. I'm not talking about theological, where somebody is absolutely theologically wrong, biblically wrong. I'm talking about struggles in the church. You know, rarely does the, rarely does the enemy come in and this. But now, because we've had a lot of denominational issues lately, it seems like that's how the enemy's working all the time. But Usually when it's among individual people, it's not a theological problem. It's a personal problem. It's a. And the enemy tries to get in and divide people personally from each other. And so that's where you have two fruit bearers who seem to the enemy has caused contention, or one of them has allowed a root of bitterness to grow up in their lives, and they've begun to be at odds with each other. And I'm going to tell you, that's not from God, and it's. It's spiritual warfare. The enemy's trying to divide the church so the church doesn't produce the fruit it needs to produce. And everything needs to be done that possibly can be done to keep from cutting the trees down. Now, if it's a theological issue, that's, you know, a big, you know, we know what Scripture says, and we've got to stand with Scripture. Well, that's a. That's a different story. And y'all know how I feel about denominational debates and all that kind of stuff anyway, so it really doesn't matter. You know, I don't get into those things because I'm not involved in them. I decided to extricate myself from them so that I could be more effective in ministry. That being said, I stand on the word of God. Everything that the word of God teaches. I think y'all know I have a high view of scripture. I believe in every single word that God has said in his Word. And it is powerful and it's alive and. And that we ought to abide and dwell in it all that we can, all our lives. But when it comes to the enemy trying to get in and cause division among human beings, when that's the case, when that's how things work and how things operate, what the enemy's really trying to do is cut down the fruit tree trees from a church. He's trying to remove the strength of the church by cutting down, getting rid of the fruit trees that are producing the fruit that the people are eating, that is nourishing them spiritually so that they might grow and become grapefruit trees themselves. And it is very, very important that we not allow that to take place in church, in your church, wherever you're at, in our church, anywhere, whenever there is personal struggle between people, that we work through those struggles and we come to a resolution that is honoring of Christ and is able to allow everyone to worship and everyone to be the bearers, the bearers of Christ's image in the body and in the world. And so I read this passage, and I know it's about siege weapons, which I love, and warfare, which I love to study. It's really, really for the New Testament believer, it is a great insight into how to first identify is this a theological war? Is this a battle about theology and biblical truth? Or is this just a battle between two believers who are, for some reason, personality and circumstances has caused them to be in conflict? If it is, then we don't need to be cutting down fruit trees because the fruit's too good for the people for us to be allowing fruit trees to be uprooted and the fruit to cease to exist. So think about that over the weekend as you go. Today, I pray that the Lord will.

Bless you and keep you, that he'll make his face to shine upon you, and that he will give you hope and peace today, in Jesus name.