And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.
All Commentaries on Deuteronomy 20:5 Go To Deuteronomy 20
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Captains. Hebrew, "shot rim, (Septuagint grammateis,) shall proclaim to the people. "Whether these were the chief officers, or only heralds, does not appear. (Calmet)
They were probably the priests attached to the army, ver. 2. See chap. i. 15. (Haydock)
Dedicate it. Hebrew, "begin to use it "on which occasion a feast was made. (Jansenius)
Psalm xxix seems to have been intended for such a solemnity. At the dedication of the walls of Jerusalem, great rejoicings were made, 2 Esdras xii. 27. Josephus and the Rabbins allow a whole year for the occupation of the house, before the builder or new owner, could be obliged to go to war, in like manner as that term is specified for a person who had lately married a wife, chap. xxiv.5. The ancient Greeks deemed it a great misfortune to leave a house unfinished and a new wife desolate, which was the case of Protesilaus. (Homer, Iliad i.)
