אלשיך — ויקרבו אל משה הפקדים / שאו את ראש אנשי המלחמה אשר בידנו ולא נפקד ממנו איש

Q — After the battle against Midyan, the officers report back: 'נשאו את ראש אנשי המלחמה אשר בידנו ולא נפקד ממנו איש.' The Alshich asks: why the seemingly extraneous phrase 'אשר בידנו'? And why was Moshe so angry with them in the first place about leaving the women alive?

A — The officers' words are a defense against Moshe's implicit accusation that they kept the women out of desire. They invoke two distinct wars: the war against human enemies (which is in Hashem's hands — 'לה' התשועה') and the war against the yetzer hara (which is in human hands, 'הכל בידי שמים חוץ מיראת שמים'). 'אשר בידנו' specifies the second. Their claim: 'we are called אנשי המלחמה in the *internal* war, the one that is *bayadenu* — and in that war, "ולא נפקד ממנו איש," not one of us has ceased to be a 'איש' (= tzaddik, as Chazal read it). We didn't even look at the women's faces.' The deliberate ambiguity of 'איש' is the heart of their defense.