Deuteronomy 2:16
“So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people, That the LORD spake…” Deuteronomy 2:16-17
Here we see that the Lord reminds the people about the experience of the wilderness. Israel had the opportunity to enter the land of promise some forty years earlier. Israel failed to follow the direction of the Lord and thus the men of war (men who were old enough to go to war) died.