Verse 22

He replied,“Do not strike them down! You did not capture them with your sword or bow, so what gives you the right to strike them down? Give them some food and water, so they can eat and drink and then go back to their master.”

Referenced Verses

  • Gen 48:22 : 22 As one who is above your brothers, I give to you the mountain slope, which I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.”
  • Deut 20:11-16 : 11 If it accepts your terms and submits to you, all the people found in it will become your slaves. 12 If it does not accept terms of peace but makes war with you, then you are to lay siege to it. 13 The LORD your God will deliver it over to you and you must kill every single male by the sword. 14 However, the women, little children, cattle, and anything else in the city– all its plunder– you may take for yourselves as spoil. You may take from your enemies the plunder that the LORD your God has given you. 15 This is how you are to deal with all those cities located far from you, those that do not belong to these nearby nations. 16 Laws Concerning War with Canaanite Nations As for the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing to survive.
  • Josh 24:12 : 12 I sent terror ahead of you to drive out before you the two Amorite kings. I gave you the victory; it was not by your swords or bows.
  • 2 Chr 28:8-9 : 8 The Israelites seized from their brothers 200,000 wives, sons, and daughters. They also carried off a huge amount of plunder and took it back to Samaria. 9 Oded, a prophet of the LORD, was there. He went to meet the army as they arrived in Samaria and said to them:“Look, because the LORD God of your ancestors was angry with Judah he handed them over to you. You have killed them so mercilessly that God has taken notice. 10 And now you are planning to enslave the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Yet are you not also guilty before the LORD your God? 11 Now listen to me! Send back those you have seized from your brothers, for the LORD is very angry at you!” 12 So some of the Ephraimite family leaders, Azariah son of Jehochanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jechizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai confronted those returning from the battle. 13 They said to them,“Don’t bring those captives here! Are you planning on making us even more sinful and guilty before the LORD? Our guilt is already great and the LORD is very angry at Israel.” 14 So the soldiers released the captives and the plunder before the officials and the entire assembly. 15 Men were assigned to take the prisoners and find clothes among the plunder for those who were naked. So they clothed them, supplied them with sandals, gave them food and drink, and provided them with oil to rub on their skin. They put the ones who couldn’t walk on donkeys. They brought them back to their brothers at Jericho, the city of date palm trees, and then returned to Samaria.
  • Ps 44:6 : 6 For I do not trust in my bow, and I do not prevail by my sword.
  • Prov 25:21-22 : 21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, 22 for you will heap coals of fire on his head, and the LORD will reward you.
  • Hos 1:7 : 7 But I will have pity on the nation of Judah. I will deliver them by the LORD their God; I will not deliver them by the warrior’s bow, by sword, by military victory, by chariot horses, or by chariots.”
  • Hos 2:18 : 18 New Covenant Relationship with Repentant Israel“At that time I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creatures that crawl on the ground. I will abolish the warrior’s bow and sword– that is, every weapon of warfare– from the land, and I will allow them to live securely.”
  • Matt 5:44 : 44 But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you,
  • Rom 12:20-21 : 20 Rather, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will be heaping burning coals on his head. 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.