It will be seen from the 10th and 11th verses, that those cities which accepted the offer of peace were to be spared. “When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.  And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be TRIBUTARIES unto thee, and they shall SERVE thee.”—­Deuteronomy xx. 10, 11.  These verses contain the general rule prescribing the method in which cities were to be summoned to surrender.

1.  The offer of peace—­if it was accepted, the inhabitants became tributaries—­if it was rejected, and they came out against Israel in battle, the men were to be killed, and the women and little ones saved alive.  See Deuteronomy xx. 12, 13, 14.  The 15th verse restricts their lenient treatment in saving the wives and little ones of those who fought them, to the inhabitants of the cities afar off.  The 16th verse gives directions for the disposal of the inhabitants of Canaanitish cities, after they had taken them.  Instead of sparing the women and children, they were to save alive nothing that breathed.  The common mistake has been, in taking it for granted, that the command in the 15th verse, “Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities,” &c. refers to the whole system of directions preceding, commencing with the 10th verse, whereas it manifestly refers only to the inflictions specified in the verses immediately preceding, viz. the 12th, 13th, and 14th, and thus make a distinction between those Canaanitish cities that fought, and the cities afar off that fought—­in one case destroying the males and females, and in the other, the males only.  The offer of peace, and the conditional preservation, were as really guarantied to Canaanitish cities as to others.  Their inhabitants were not to be exterminated unless they came out against Israel in battle.  But let us settle this question by the “law and the testimony.”  Joshua xix. 19, 20.—­“There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel save, the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon; all others they took in battle.  For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should COME OUT AGAINST ISRAEL IN BATTLE, that he might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favor, but that he might destroy them, as the Lord commanded Moses.”  That is, if they had not come out against Israel in battle, they would have had “favor” shown them, and would not have been “destroyed utterly”