Moussar sur Le Deutéronome 21:7

"Against You alone have I sinned, and done what is evil in Your eyes; so that, etc." (Psalms 51:6). It is well-known that confession is a positive commandment which is in the Torah, as it is stated (Numbers 5:6-7), "When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the Lord [...]. They shall confess the sins which they committed." And the content of confession is that they confess and say to the Holy One, blessed be He, "I have sinned before you." And the Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, expounded, "Once a person has confessed and said, 'I have sinned,' no angel is allowed anymore to touch him, as it is stated (Numbers 22:34), 'And Bilaam said to the angel of the Lord, "I have sinned because I did not know that you were standing in the way before me."'" And likewise do we find with the Jewish people that when they sinned by expressing evil speech against the manna, they confessed and said (Deuteronomy 21:7), "We sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you"; so the Holy One, blessed be He, forgave them immediately. And Moshe [too] prayed for them, as it is stated, "Moshe prayed on behalf of the people." And even with the wicked, confession atones. So once they have accepted their punishment and confession, they merit life in the world to come. For thus have we found with Aakhan, that he confessed and said (Joshua 7:20), "Indeed I have sinned against the Lord, God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done." And immediately after he confessed, Joshua said to him (Joshua 7:25), "What calamity you have brought upon us; the Lord will bring calamity upon you this day." And [the Rabbis], may their memory be blessed, expounded, "This day are you visited by calamity; but you are not visited by calamity for life in the world to come." And it is not necessary to say this about the Jewish people, for confession even atones for the [other] nations of the world. For this is what have we found [concerning] Adoni-bezek, a great king among the kings of the Canaanites; and there were seventy kings of Canaan with severed thumbs and big toes collecting scraps under his table. [Even so,] once he confessed and mentioned God, it was atoned for him. And that is that which is written at the beginning of Judges [Judges 1:5-7), "At Bezek, they encountered Adoni-bezek, engaged him in battle, and defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. Adoni-bezek fled, but they pursued him and captured him; and they cut off his thumbs and his big toes. And Adoni-bezek said, 'Seventy kings, with thumbs and big toes cut off, used to pick up scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has requited me.' They brought him to Jerusalem and he died there." What is of interest [here], that the verse mentioned his death in Jerusalem? Rather, it is to teach you that once he confessed and mentioned God, may He be blessed, in his confession, his death was atonement, since he accepted his punishment as being measure for measure.