When you go forth to battle against your enemies, and see horses, chariots, and a people more than you, you shall not be afraid of them; for Hashem your G-d is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
The Ohr Hachaim explains that this possuk is hinting at the war a person has with his own evil inclination. Every person is in a state of constant war with his evil inclination, who wishes to entrap him into sin and push him into permanent purgatory. This is the greatest war possible, as the Chovos Halevavos teaches us in Shaar Yichud Hamaaseh (Chap. 5) ‘Man! You should know that the great archenemy you have in this world is your own yetzer (evil inclination). He is interwoven in the forces of your soul and intertwined in the organization of your spirit. He associates with you in the guidance of your physical and spiritual senses. He rules over the secrets of your soul and of what is hidden in your breast. He is your advisor in all of your movements, whether visible or invisible, that you wish to do. He lies in wait, watching your steps to lead you astray. You are asleep to him, but he is awake to you. You look away from him, but he does not look away from you. He masks himself as your friend, and pretends to show love, he enters your inner circle of close friends and advisors. From his gestures and signs, it appears he is running to do your will but in fact he is shooting deadly arrows at you to kill and uproot you from the land of the living, as the possuk (Mishlei 26:18) speaks of one like this כְׁמִתְׁלַהְׁלֵּהַ הַיֹּרֶה זִקִים חִצִים וָמָוֶת .כֵּן אִיש רִ מָה אֶת רֵּעֵּהוּ וְׁאָמַר הֲלֹּא מְׁשַחֵּק אָנִי - like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death; so is a man who deceives his friend and says, 'Am I not joking?'.’
This war, explains the Ohr Hachaim, is a wearying, never-ending one. This is the greatest war possible, and a person cannot be distracted from it. There are two reasons that a human has the lower hand in this war. First, humans have less experience in this war than their adversaries. The evil inclination has been enticing humans since the beginning of time; a human has a short life before meeting this evil inclination. Second, the human condition enjoys much of what the evil inclination has to offer. The evil inclination wishes for a person to steal, murder, thieve, eat, and follow all kinds of lusts. A person is not conditioned to hate any of these things. After succumbing once or twice to his evil inclination, it gets even harder for him to refuse.
The Torah warns us now how to deal with this problem. כִי תֵּצֵּא לַמִלְׁחָמָה עַל אֹּיְׁבֶךָ - when you shall go out and wage war against your enemy – i.e. the evil inclination. וְׁרָאִיתָ סוּס וָרֶכֶב – and you shall see a horse and rider. The horse refers to the tools of war that have been created for this purpose. The enemy is like a horse, it is prepared for war from the day of its birth. The enemy is also like a רֶכֶב – a combination inside a person, connected to his very being. If a person sees himself in this kind of situation, and he sees that the powers of evil are greater than him - עַם רַב מִמְׁךָ – due to the many aveiros that the person has committed already. This person is exhorted לֹּא תִירָא מֵּהֶם - do not be afraid of them.
The reason that a person need not fear them is because כִי ה' א לוקיךָ עִמָךְ - Hashem your g-d is with you. You are not fighting the Yetzer Hara on your own, and its greater powers are only in comparison to your own. Seeing as Hashem Himself is with you, you have the ability to win the war. When a person wishes to purify himself and keep himself close to Hashem, Hashem accepts him and helps him fight the evil inclination.
A person can prove this to himself from the rest of the possuk הַמַעַלְׁךָ מֵּאֶרֶץ מִצְׁרָיִם - who uplifted you from Mitzrayim. We were stuck in Mitzrayim, under the powers of the evil forces, with no way of releasing ourselves. Their powers were greater than ours, we had no way of fighting back. Yet Hashem removed us from the problem, and saved us from their clutches. We rose to the heights of Matan Torah, and were not encumbered by the powers of evil. We can use that as a lesson for our future, whenever the evil inclination attacks us. We must know that we can win this war if we really wish to. Hashem will help us like He helped us in the past.
