And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren’s heart faint as well as his heart.
Israel was at this time to be considered rather as a camp than as a kingdom, entering upon an enemy's country, and not yet settled in a country of their own; and, besides the war they were now entering upon in order to their settlement, even after their settlement they could neither protect nor enlarge their coast without hearing the alarms of war.
Commenting on Deuteronomy 20:1-9
And the officers shall speak further unto the people,.... According to Maimonides (n), the priest the anointed of war spoke to the end of Deu 20:7 and which the officers repeated after him to the people aloud, as before observed; and then after that an officer speaks of himself, or in his own words, and not in those of the priest, as follows: what man that is fearful, &c.
Deu 20:8 The first intention only existed in the case of the timid (the soft-hearted or despondent). ימּס ולא, that the heart of thy brethren “may not flow away,” i.e., may not become despondent (as in Gen 17:15, etc.).