Then the officers shall speak further to the people and say, 'Who is the man that is afraid and fainthearted? Let him depart and return to his house, so that he might not make his brothers' hearts melt like his heart.'This is actually a very interesting instruction, and I believe its purpose is two-fold. First, thinning the army this way makes it that much more unlikely that they could prevail themselves. With a reduced army, God must give them the victory.
Second, fear is much like enthusiasm. The two emotions seep into those around them, and cause them to do things they otherwise would not. The war cry and gallant charge of war movies can actually work, because it causes the soldiers to push harder than they would otherwise. By the inverse, a fearful man will at the least distract those around him, and quite likely demoralize them, so that they break sooner than they would. By removing the fear from your army, you make it stronger.
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