Deuteronomy 20:6

6 Or if any man has made a vine-garden without taking the first-fruits of it, let him go back to his house, so that in the event of his death in the fight, another may not be the first to make use of the fruit.

Deuteronomy 20:6 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 20:6

And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not
yet eaten of it?
&c.] Which he has a right to do, and it is hard for him to be deprived of it, ( 1 Corinthians 9:7 ) or "hath not made it common" F11; according to the law in ( Leviticus 19:23-25 ) . Three years the fruit of trees, and so of vines, might not be eaten; in the fourth, they were devoted to the Lord, and might be redeemed from the priest, and so made common; and on the fifth year were eaten in course; so the Targums of Jerusalem, Jonathan, and Jarchi, interpret it: "let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it"; or make it common, according to the above law: Aben Ezra seems to have another sense of this passage, deriving the word from another, which signifies piping and dancing, and observes, that it was a custom to sing, pipe, and dance in vineyards; and the Septuagint version is, "hath not been made merry of it"; though that may signify not having drank of the wine of it, to be made merry with it.


FOOTNOTES:

F11 (wllx al) "necdum fecit eam esse communem", V. L. "et non fecit eam communem", Vatablus, Fagius.

Deuteronomy 20:6 In-Context

4 For the Lord your God goes with you, fighting for you to give you salvation from those who are against you.
5 And let the overseers say to the people, If there is any man who has made for himself a new house and has not gone into it, let him go back to his house, so that in the event of his death in the fight, another may not take his house for himself.
6 Or if any man has made a vine-garden without taking the first-fruits of it, let him go back to his house, so that in the event of his death in the fight, another may not be the first to make use of the fruit.
7 Or if any man is newly married and has had no sex relations with his wife, let him go back to his house, so that in the event of his death in the fight, another man may not take her.
8 And let the overseers go on to say to the people, If there is any man whose heart is feeble with fear, let him go back to his house before he makes the hearts of his countrymen feeble.
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