| Deuteronomy 20:19
| When thou hast besieged a city a long time, and hath compassed it with bulwarks, to take it, thou shalt not cut down the trees that may be eaten of, neither shalt thou spoil the country round about with axes: for it is a tree, and not a man, neither can it increase the number of them that fight against thee.
| Not a man. Hebrew, "the tree of the field, man." Which the Protestants supply, "is man's life to employ them in the siege." Septuagint, "is the tree....a man?" (Haydock) --- We might render the Hebrew, "as for the tree of the field, it shall come to thy assistance in the siege," ver. 20. (Haydock) --- They are "like men," and may be of great service in making warlike engines. They are here contrasted with fruit-trees, which must not be cut down, unless they be in the way, or of service to the enemy. All other things of the same nature, as houses, corn, water, etc., must be spared, as well as those who do not bear arms. Yet God ordered the houses to be demolished in the war with the Moabites, 4 Kings 3:19. (Calmet) --- Pythagoras enjoins his disciples not to spoil a fruit tree. Jamblic and the greatest generals have complied with this advice. (Calmet)
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