Komentarz do Powtórzonego Prawa 2:14

והימים אשר הלכנו מקדש ברנע, from the place from which the spies had been sent out, 38 years had elapsed, seeing that the spies had been sent out in the second year after the Exodus.

V. 14. אנשי המלחמה, diejenigen, welche zur Zeit der Kundschaftersendung das kriegsfähige Alter hatten, die demzufolge bei der damals bereits beabsichtigten Besitznahme des Landes hätten tätig sein sollen, aus gottvergessenem Kleinmut jedoch vor dieser Aufgabe zurückgeschreckt waren.

והימים אשר הלכנו מקדש ברנע, “and the number o years it took us to walk from Kadesh barnea to the river Zered were 38 years.” Not all of these years were spent walking, of course, but the total period including the encampments was 38 years, until the last of the men of military ages at the time of the Exodus had died. The reason why the river Zered is named here is that it was the first of several rivers the Israelites crossed on their march north.

אנשי המלחמה, the over 20 year old males who were called to do army service when the occasion arose. [There is a note in some manuscript of the author explaining that the letter ה at the beginning of the word המלחמה refers only to the men who had ignored Moses’ warning after the debacle with the spies and had attempted to invade the land of Canaan without Divine support, suffering casualties as detailed in Numbers 14,44. When the general male population over 20 is referred to, the Torah calls them אנשי מלחמה. Ed.]