In Beshalach, Shmot 13:18 we read: “God led the people
round-about by the way of the
B’nai Yisrael went up “chamushim” from the
According to Rashi, the word chamushim means armed. Because
God took them on the round-about route in the desert, He caused them to go up
armed. For had He taken them by the way of settled areas they would not have
armed themselves with all of their needs, but rather as one traveling from
place to place, whose intention it was to obtain what he needs there. But when
one sets out into the wilderness, one must prepare for all his needs. This
pasuk was necessary so that later during the wars of Amalek, Sichon, Og and Midian
nobody would wonder where B’nai Yisrael obtained the weapons that enabled them
to defeat their enemies by the sword.
In Yehoshua 1:14 the word chamushim is also used” “…You
shall pass before your brothers armed (chamushim), all the mighty men of valor
and help them.”
According to Eben Ezra, chumashim refers to the belted
swords that they were wearing. This shows that they did not leave
We learn from here that even though God didn’t want B’nai
Yisrael to encounter the battle field right away and therefore He didn’t take
them straight through the land of the Philistines (where the
be battles that would need to be fought. We already see at the end of Parsha
Beshalach that the nation of Amalek attacked them.
B’nai Yisrael miraculously won the war with Amalek which was
fought spiritually by God and Moshe as well as physically “by the edge of the
sword”.
In
we constantly see soldiers and civilians who are “chamushim” with a gun in
their pocket or slung over their soldier. We know that on the one hand God is
watching over us, but on the other hand we must be prepared to protect
ourselves if necessary.
May God watch over and protect our soldiers who watch over
and protect the residents of
