20:32–38 The desire to be like the surrounding nations (v. 32) reflects 1 Sam. 8:20; the people had rejected God (1 Sam. 8:7, 8). But just as God would not abandon earlier generations of His chosen people, so now He promises a new exodus and a return to the wilderness experience (vv. 33–35). Just as only the faithful and obedient from those in the wilderness generation crossed into the land (Num. 14:30, 38), so too God would again purge the nation to bring a faithful people into the land (vv. 36–38).