Deuteronomy 20:3

3 Hear, O Israel; ye are going this day to battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint, fear not, neither be confounded, neither turn aside from their face.

Deuteronomy 20:3 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 20:3

And shall say unto them, hear, O Israel
Exciting their attention to what he was about to say, and which, as Jarchi observes, was spoken in the holy tongue, or in the Hebrew language:

you approach this day unto battle against your enemies;
were marching or ready to march, preparing to engage with them, and a battle seemed near at hand:

let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye
terrified because of them;
many words are made use of to animate them against those fears which the strength, number, and appearance of their enemies, would be apt to cause in them. Jarchi observes, that here are four exhortations, answerable to four things which the kings of the nations do (in order to inject terror into their enemies); they shake their shields, to clash them one against another, that hearing their noise they may be afraid of them and flee; they prance their horses, and make them neigh, to cause the noise of the hoofs of their horses to be heard; they shout with their voices, and blow with their trumpets: and accordingly these several clauses are so interpreted in the Misnah {e}

``"and let not your hearts faint"; at the neighing of the horses, and the brightness of swords: "fear not"; at the clashing of shields: "and do not tremble"; at the sound of trumpets: "neither be ye terrified" at the voice of shouting;''

and no doubt but it takes in everything that has a tendency to cause fear, faintness, and dismay, which they are cautioned against.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 Misn. Sotah, c. 8. sect. 1.

Deuteronomy 20:3 In-Context

1 And if thou shouldest go forth to war against thine enemies, and shouldest see horse, and rider, and a people more numerous than thyself; thou shalt not be afraid of them, for the Lord thy God with thee, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

2 And it shall come to pass whenever thou shalt draw nigh to battle, that the priest shall draw nigh and speak to the people, and shall say to them,

3 Hear, O Israel; ye are going this day to battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint, fear not, neither be confounded, neither turn aside from their face.

4 For the Lord your God who advances with you, to fight with you against your enemies, to save you.

5 And the scribes shall speak to the people, saying, What man he that has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the war, and another man dedicate it.