Surely, Lord Allah has helped you in many battlefields and on the day of ‘Hunain’ when you were proud of your huge numbers, but the numbers benefited you nothing; the earth with all its vastness was seemed as narrow upon you, then you turned back in retreat.
While verse 8: 19 addresses the disbelievers of Mecca, this verse addresses the followers in Medina at the time of Messenger. The Battle of Hunain happened in the 9th month of year Hijra 8th. There were about 12000 followers with the Messenger. Even though the enemies were small, the followers couldn’t stand firm. The earth was seemed as narrow to them with all its vastness as if they have no place to run away from the battlefield. Only Messenger and some believers stand firmly on the battlefield. By seeing this those who ran away re-joined with Messenger and defeated the enemies.
The moral of this verse is that the believer should have the True concept about the Three-Time-Knower Lord as submitted by Adhikr. By holding Adhikr—the Unbreakable Rope extended from Paradise to earth—he did holdfast Lord Allah and is guided into the Straightpath as explained in verses 3: 101-103. The believer is commanded to be the proud representative of the Lord through verse 3: 79. Today, the odd-believer is commanded to do Jihad against the hypocrites and Kuffar with Adhikr—the Safeguard and the Splendid Book. If the believer is calling mankind to Lord with Adhikr—the Best Book; the disbelievers, wrongdoers, and transgressors mentioned in verses 5: 44, 45, and 47 are dragging mankind into Hell—the house of Satan—as explained in verse 7: 202. See explanation 2: 152, 157; 3: 153 and 8: 41.