Comentario citado sobre I Samuel 17:47

WHEN THOU GOEST FORTH TO BATTLE AGAINST THINE ENEMIES, AND SEEST HORSES, AND CHARIOTS etc. This is a new commandment which he now declared to them as they came into battles. The purport of the verse, For the Eternal your G-d is He that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you²⁹³Verse 4. is to admonish them against becoming faint-hearted and that they should not fear their enemies. He states that they are not to rely in this matter on their own strength, thinking in their hearts: We are mighty men, and valiant men for the war,²⁹⁴Jeremiah 48:14. but instead they are to turn their hearts only to G-d and rely on His help, thinking that He delighteth not in the strength of the horse, and He taketh no pleasure in the legs of a man,²⁹⁵Psalms 147:10. for The Eternal taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that wait for His mercy.²⁹⁶Ibid., Verse 11. He states to fight for you against your enemies²⁹³Verse 4. meaning that He will make them fall before you by the sword. He states to save you²⁹³Verse 4. meaning that they will be spared in battle and that not a man among them will be missing,²⁹⁷See Numbers 31:49. for it would be possible that they vanquish their enemies and that many of them, too, would die, as is the way of battles. Therefore Joshua cried out²⁹⁸Joshua 7:7. when about thirty and six men²⁹⁹Ibid., Verse 5. fell in [the battle of] Ai, for in His commandatory war not one hair of their heads should have fallen to the ground,³⁰⁰I Samuel 14:45. for the battle is the Eternal’s.³⁰¹Ibid., 17:47. Now the priest who serves G-d is to admonish [the warriors] to fear Him, and give them assurance [of His help]. The officers, however, speak in the customary way of the world, lest he die in the battle,³⁰²Verse 5. for in the normal course of events even some people of the group of the victors die. He commanded that these three categories [of people] return³⁰³Verses 5-7. because one’s heart is on his [new] house, vineyard, and wife and he will [be the first to] flee.

AND WHY DOTH THE ETERNAL BRING US UNTO THIS LAND, TO FALL BY THE SWORD? OUR WIVES AND OUR LITTLE ONES WILL BE A PREY. They did not mention the false report [of the spies] about the Land, saying that the Land miscarrieth⁷³II Kings 2:19. and is bad, because the people hid this statement [of the spies] from Moses, since the delegates themselves had not said so when they brought back word to him and to all the congregation,⁸⁶Above, 13:26. for Moses and Aaron would have testified against them that they spoke falsely. The spies themselves hid this from Moses, fully realizing that he knew the nature of the Land from Egypt and Midian which are near to it, as I have explained.⁸⁷At the beginning of this Seder. Therefore the spies [only] told the people this evil report in their tents, in a secretive manner.
Now Moses said in the Book of Deuteronomy: And they brought us back word, and said: ‘Good is the Land which the Eternal our G-d giveth unto us.’ Yet ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Eternal your G-d.⁸⁸Deuteronomy 1:25-26. The meaning thereof is that the spies did [indeed] tell Moses and Aaron and all the congregation that the Land is good,⁸⁸Deuteronomy 1:25-26. and surely it floweth with milk and honey,⁸⁹Above, 13:27. and the people rebelled against the commandment of the Eternal in not wanting to go up because of the statement [of the spies] that the people that dwell in the Land are fierce⁹⁰Ibid., Verse 28. — for G-d hath power to help, and to cast down,⁹¹II Chronicles 25:8. as is stated clearly there, The Eternal your G-d Who goeth before you, He shall fight for you.⁹²Deuteronomy 1:30. Therefore, since there was nothing to deter them [in the Land itself] except for the strength of the people, they should have trusted in the Name of G-d, for the battle is the Eternal’s.⁹³I Samuel 17:47. And we do not have to say [as does Rashi] that Moses said this [And ‘they’ brought us back word, and said, ‘Good is the Land etc.’] only about Joshua and Caleb, for why should the people listen to two [spies] and not believe [the report of] the ten!⁹⁴But according to Ramban, even the ten spies only spread an evil report about the Land in the people’s tents, secretly, but in the presence of Moses they all spoke well about it. Hence the word they in the verse, and ‘they’ brought us back word, and said: ‘Good is the Land etc.’ (Deuteronomy 1:25) refers to all the spies. Moreover it says there [in Deuteronomy 1: 23]: and I took twelve men of you, and it is with reference to [all twelve of] them that he [Moses] said, and they brought us back word.⁹⁵Ibid.