In Devarim 2:14, Moshe says that by the time Bnei Yisrael crossed Nachal Zered into the land of Moav, all of the generation of adults from the time of the spies had perished, whether naturally or due to Hashem’s hand. Moshe uses a strange name to describe this generation: “Anshei Hamilchamah,” “the men of war.” This title normally refers to prominent soldiers, but here it refers to the generation that left Egypt. Why?
Devarim Perek 2 is one of only two places in Tanach that this name appears referring to this generation. The other place is in Yehoshua Perek 5, where the Torah explains that while the Anshei Hamilchamah that left Mitzrayim were circumcised, they had died after sinning to Hashem in the episode of the spies, while the people born in the desert were uncircumcised. Why is the appellation “men of war” used to describe this generation, and why only in these two places?
Rashbam explains that “Anshei Hamilchamah” specifically refers to the men of age twenty and above from the generation of the spies. They were called “Anshei Hamilchamah” because they were of the right age to fight in wars at the time. This is a fine explanation, but why is this term found only here? Men of age twenty and up is the same criterion used for several censuses in Parshiot Ki Tisa, Pekudei, Bamidbar, and Pinchas. It is also absent in the retelling of the story of the spies in Parshat Shelach and the first Perek of our Parshah of Devarim. Why is it only in the second Perek of Devarim and Yehoshua?
The Abarbanel uses a different explanation. His preferred explanation is that “Anshei Hamilchamah” refers to those who waged war against Hashem in the rebellion of the spies. This explains why Moshe would use that term to describe the people who died in the desert. But it does not explain what its relevance to Sefer Yehoshua, or why it does not appear in either episode of the spies.
We suggest that “Anshei Hamilchamah” is used not to describe the generation while it sinned, but instead, in retrospect, seeing its legacy. In Parashat Devarim, “Anshei Hamilchamah” is used not when the generation sins, nor when death is decreed upon it, but instead 38 years later, when Bnei Yisrael are crossing into Moav, on their way to the promised land at last. Only now does the impact of the nation’s sin become clear. All those people who left Mitzrayim all those years ago, having been told that they would inherit the land, died far outside the land. A travesty.
Yehoshua Perek 5 uses the term because it too furthers the legacy of the “Anshei Hamilchamah.” If that generation had gone into the land, they would have all been circumcised. There would have been no need for a mass circumcision. But because they sinned, and as a result, died, and were replaced with children born in the desert, now there was a need for mass circumcision. Yet another disastrous result that need not have happened.
We can learn from here the disastrous results of fighting against Hashem. The immediate results of the spies’ actions were clearly bad. But so many more consequences would only become visible decades later, far into the future.