Deuteronomy 23:9 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Ver. 9. When the host goeth forth against thine enemies, &c.— As the Israelites were to commence a war against the Canaanites, the success of which depended immediately upon the miraculous assistance of God, Moses ordains, that, in so delicate and dangerous a conjuncture, they should be especially careful to avoid all that excess which is but too common in armies. The rule, however, is to be observed at all times. Grotius quotes from Agathias a sentence very like this: "Injustice, and neglect of God's service, are ever to be avoided as most pernicious, but especially in a time of war, and when men are about to give battle;" which the same historian proves by the examples of Darius, Xerxes, and the Athenians in Sicily. See Prolegom. ad Hist. de Jure B. & P.