37 those very men who brought the evil report about the land, adied by the plague before the Lord.
38aBut Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive, of the men who went to spy out the land.
A Futile Invasion Attempt
39 Then Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, aand the people mourned greatly.
40 And they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, a“Here we are, and we will go up to the place which the Lord has promised, for we have sinned!”
41 And Moses said, “Now why do you1 transgress the command of the Lord? For this will not succeed.
42aDo not go up, lest you be defeated by your enemies, for the Lordis not among you.
43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword; abecause you have turned away from the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.”
44aBut they presumed to go up to the mountaintop. Nevertheless, neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed from the camp.
45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt in that mountain came down and attacked them, and drove them back as far as aHormah.
It almost sounds as if they are trying to be contrite. They are putting on a facade of being repentant. They are trying to make up for what they did wrong on the previous day, when they refused to go into the Land. But there are some times when you just cannot go back, and this is one of those times.
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