Deuteronomy 3:6

Deu 3:6 And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city.

Ver. 6. The men, women, and children.] The Hebrew word מהים, here rendered men, written with tsere, signifieth dead men: Surely every man in his best estate, or when best underlaid, is altogether vanity, Selah. {Psa 39:5}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Because this was God’s appointment, therefore it may not be judged cruel.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(6) We utterly destroyed them.—Devoted them, made them chêrem, as above (Deu_2:34).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. and we utterly destroyed them, etc.] See Deu_2:34 f.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And we utterly destroyed them,.... Not the cities, but the inhabitants of them:

as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon; they did not destroy his cities, for they took them and dwelt in them; but the people that lived there, as follows here:

utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city; see Deu 2:34.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Utterly. Yet out of the ruins they soon raised other strong cities, Numbers xxxii. 26. All the walls were not probably demolished, (ver. 19,) but only a part, so that they might be repaired with no great labour or expense. The inhabitants were all destroyed, that they might not pervert the Hebrews by their bad example; and because God had pronounced the sentence of death upon them, in punishment of their crimes. Hebrew seem to insinuate, that the cities were destroyed only by the death of the inhabitants. "We subjected them to anathema....utterly destroying the men," &c. (Haydock) --- We devoted to utter ruin the men, women, and children of the cities which we took. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

See Deu_2:34.

The destruction of the populations.

The difficulty is often urged of the numerous cases of the destruction of entire populations recorded in Scripture, and said to be commanded by God. It is a difficulty which all have felt, and which deserves remark. It is not questioned that, as a matter of policy, it was wise to root out these populations from the lands in which they dwelt; but the justice and humanity of the measure are thought to be more doubtful. The believer, on the other hand, cannot take a condemnatory view of these transactions (so far as covered by express command); but must treat them as he would treat similar difficulties in the ordinary providence of God, as matters which appear to conflict with the Divine goodness and justice, while doubtless admitting of a perfect reconciliation with both. But it may be suggested

I THAT THE FINER METHODS OF MODERN WARFARE CANNOT REASONABLY BE LOOKED FOR IN RUDER AGES. War in any case is an evil of terrible magnitude. The sufferings it inflicts, even when conducted most humanely, are incalculable. It is not the men in arms alone who suffer, but the populations whose villages are burned, whose fields are devastated, whose aged and sickly are driven out to perish, whose wives and mothers mourn their dead thousands. Modern warfare has, however, its alleviations, the result of centuries of civilization anti of the growth of Christian feeling. These did not, and could not, exist at the time of the conquest. It is not in analogy with God"s method of operation to suppose that he should have miraculously anticipated the work of long ages of development, and grafted on these wars the military science of the nineteenth century a science equally unsuited to the intelligence of the invader and to the tactics of the enemy. It would be as reasonable to allege that God should have anticipated the discoveries and methods of modern surgery, or armed the Israelites with nineteenth-century weapons. What may reasonably be expected is that, adopting as a basis the methods of warfare then customary, the evils of these should as far as possible be mitigated, and any improvements be introduced which the rudeness of the times admitted of. How far this was accomplished will appear to any one who studies the accounts of ancient warfare, with their shocking barbarities, mutilations, tortures; scarcely a trace of which is to be found in the wars of the Israelites, and none in the Law.

II THAT THE EXTERMINATION OF WHOLE POPULATIONS WAS NOT THE RULE OF JEWISH WARFARE, BUT WAS INVARIABLY A PUNISHMENT INFLICTED FOR SIN. The proof of the former of these propositions will be found in Deu_20:10-16; and examination of the special cases will show the correctness of the latter. The destruction of the Canaanitish nations, in particular, is put expressly on the ground of their horrible and nameless iniquities. (Lev_18:24, Lev_18:25) It was the execution of a long-delayed and richly deserved judicial sentence. The Midianites and Amalekites incurred this doom through sins against Israel (Num_32:16; Exo_17:16) as also to some extent did Sihon and OR. But while we cannot speak absolutely as to the moral state of the nations under these kings, it may be inferred that the cup of their iniquity had, in the Divine estimation, become full like the others. Do we condemn the sentence as too severe? Or must we not leave the judgment on a point like that to the Judge of all the earth? The essential difficulty is not greater than in the judgments of the Deluge or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, in which God claimed a like right to dispose of human life, and to vindicate his justice by the destruction of it. We ought rather to read in the severity of these punishments the awful lesson of sin"s evil and enormity, and of the abhorrence in which it is held by the holy Lawgiver. The emphasizing of guilt and its deserts was a necessary preliminary to the introduction of the gospel.

III THAT GOD IS AS SEVERE IN HIS DEALINGS WITH SIN IN HIS OWN PEOPLE AS IN HIS ENEMIES. This is a point which is surely of great moment. If severe in punishing these wicked nations, God is not less sparing of Israel when it follows in their ways, and does what is wrong. We think here of the destruction of thousands of their number for the sin of the golden calf, (Exo_32:28) and for the sin of Baal-peor; (Num_23:5) of the plagues, fiery serpents, etc., which chastised them for disobedience; of their defeat at Ai, (Jos_7:4) and of the threatenings recorded against them in this book. (De 28) We think of Moses himself excluded from the land of promise. Nor is sin made less of in the New Testament than in the Old. In the cross of Jesus, where the Holy One is made a curse for sinners, a far more affecting demonstration is given of the judicial sternness of God, than in the destruction of the nations of his foes. There is with God no respect of persons; and if one can believe in his love to Israel notwithstanding these inflictions, he may believe in his love and. justice notwithstanding the punishments inflicted on the sinful nations around. As regards the Canaanitish nations, their rooting out, so just otherwise, was plainly necessary for the preservation of Israel"s purity. J.O. (Deu_7:1-6)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

החרם — This has a present frequentative meaning: going on and destroying (see Rashi on Numbers 25:17).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.