Then Proclaim Peace Unto It: Offering Peace Before War

Then Proclaim Peace Unto It

Deuteronomy 20:10 follows directly after the laws of mandatory war and the exemptions from service (Deut 20:1-9) — and before any siege of any city begins, it inserts one more step. Israel does not march on a city assuming battle is inevitable. War is what happens after peace has been offered and refused, not the default starting point.

The word translated 'peace' here (shalom) does not necessarily mean the city keeps its full independence — the next verse shows what it actually entails. But it does mean the city is given a real choice before a single arrow is loosed. At every stage the law builds in an off-ramp: first the exemptions of verses 5-8, now this offer to the enemy itself.

Tributaries... or Besiege

The two possible outcomes are stated side by side, and the city's own response decides between them. If it 'make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee,' then 'all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee' (Deut 20:11) — the city continues to exist, its people continue to live, under a new arrangement. If instead it 'will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it' (Deut 20:12).

The structure places the moral weight of what follows on the city's own decision, not merely on Israel's intentions going in. Siege is presented as the second option — the one triggered by the city's refusal, not the one Israel arrives planning to execute regardless of any response.

Words of Peace Unto Sihon

Deuteronomy 2 narrates events from earlier in Israel's journey, before the laws of Deuteronomy 20 are even given — and Moses has already modeled their principle. Facing Sihon, king of Heshbon, blocking Israel's path through Transjordan, Moses 'sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace' (Deut 2:26), asking only for safe passage and offering to pay for food and water along the way (Deuteronomy 2:28-29). Sihon refused, and the battle that followed was his choice, not Israel's first move.

Joshua 9-11 shows the same principle from the other side. The Gibeonites, fearing destruction, tricked Israel into a treaty by disguising themselves as travelers from a distant land. When the deception was discovered, Israel honored the oath anyway: 'let them live; but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation' (Joshua 9:21). Joshua 11:19 sums up the entire conquest from this angle: 'There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, save the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon: all other they took in battle' (Joshua 11:19). Of every city in Canaan, only the one that sought peace — even by deception — was spared, exactly as Deuteronomy 20:10-11 promises.

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