Deuteronomy 20:8

8 The officers should also tell the troops, "If you are afraid or have lost your courage, you may go home. Then you won't ruin the morale of the other Israelites."

Deuteronomy 20:8 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 20:8

And the officers shall speak further unto the people
According to Maimonides F14, the priest the anointed of war spoke to the end of ( Deuteronomy 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
and then another officer causes all the people to hear it:

and they shall say, what man is there that is fearful and
fainthearted?
that has not courage to face his enemies, to whom the terrors of war, and especially of death, are dreadful; the Targum of Jonathan adds,

``because of his sin;''

whose sins stare him in the face, and lie heavy on his conscience; so that he is afraid he shall die in battle, and in his sins, and suffer divine vengeance; both these senses are observed in the Misnah F25. According to R. Akiba, a fearful and fainthearted man is one

``that cannot stand in battle array, or behold a drawn sword; but R. Jose the Galilean says, he is one that is afraid of the transgressions he has committed; and therefore the law joins to this all those things for which a man may return;''

as having built a new house, planted a vineyard, and betrothed a wife; that so it might be thought it was on account of one or other of these that he returned, and not through faintheartedness, either because of the terrors of war, or of his own conscience for his sins:

let him go and return to his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as
well as his heart;
lest, by his pale looks and trembling joints, his fainting fits and swoons, he discourage the rest in the same company with him, and by his example make them unfit for war also.


FOOTNOTES:

F14 Ut supra. (Hilchot Melachim, c. 7. sect. 3.)
F25 Misn. Sotah, c. 8. sect. 5.

Deuteronomy 20:8 In-Context

6 If you have planted a vineyard and not enjoyed the grapes, you may go home. Otherwise, you might die in battle, and someone else will enjoy the grapes.
7 If you are engaged to a woman but have not married her, you may go home. Otherwise, you might die in battle, and someone else will marry her."
8 The officers should also tell the troops, "If you are afraid or have lost your courage, you may go home. Then you won't ruin the morale of the other Israelites."
9 When the officers finish speaking to the troops, they should appoint commanders to lead them.
10 When you approach a city to attack it, offer its people a peaceful way to surrender.
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