Bilangan 4:5

4:5 When it is time for the camp to journey, ¹  Aaron and his sons must come and take down the screening curtain and cover the ark of the testimony with it.

Bilangan 9:12

9:12 They must not leave any of it until morning, nor break any of its bones; they must observe it in accordance with every statute of the Passover.

Bilangan 9:15

The Leading of the Lord

9:15 ² On ³  the day that the tabernacle was set up, ⁴  the cloud ⁵  covered the tabernacle – the tent of the testimony ⁶  – and from evening until morning there was ⁷  a fiery appearance ⁸  over the tabernacle.

Bilangan 10:11

The Journey From Sinai to Kadesh

10:11 ⁹ On the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle of the testimony. ¹⁰ 

Bilangan 15:23

15:23 all that the Lord has commanded you by the authority ¹¹  of Moses, from the day that the Lord commanded Moses and continuing through your future generations –

Bilangan 15:30

Deliberate Sin

15:30 “‘But the person ¹²  who acts defiantly, ¹³  whether native-born or a resident foreigner, insults ¹⁴  the Lord. ¹⁵  That person ¹⁶  must be cut off ¹⁷  from among his people.

Bilangan 16:37

16:37 “Tell ¹⁸  Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to pick up ¹⁹  the censers out of the flame, for they are holy, and then scatter the coals of fire ²⁰  at a distance.

Bilangan 17:8

17:8 On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony – and ²¹  the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted, and brought forth buds, and produced blossoms, and yielded almonds! ²² 

Bilangan 18:2

18:2 “Bring with you your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, so that they may join ²³  with you and minister to you while ²⁴  you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.

Bilangan 19:21

19:21 “‘So this will be a perpetual ordinance for them: The one who sprinkles ²⁵  the water of purification must wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water of purification will be unclean until evening. ²⁶ 

Bilangan 25:4

God’s Punishment

25:4 The Lord said to Moses, “Arrest all the leaders ²⁷  of the people, and hang them up ²⁸  before the Lord in broad daylight, ²⁹  so that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel.”

Bilangan 31:3

31:3 So Moses spoke to the people: “Arm ³⁰  men from among you for the war, to attack the Midianites and to execute ³¹  the Lord’s vengeance on Midian.

[4:5]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive construct in an adverbial clause of time; literally it says “in the journeying of the camp.” The genitive in such constructions is usually the subject. Here the implication is that people would be preparing to transport the camp and its equipment.

[9:15]  ² sn This section (Num 9:15-23) recapitulates the account in Exod 40:34 but also contains some additional detail about the cloud that signaled Israel’s journeys. Here again material from the book of Exodus is used to explain more of the laws for the camp in motion.

[9:15]  ³ tn Heb “and/now on the day.”

[9:15]  ⁴ tn The construction uses the temporal expression with the Hiphil infinitive construct followed by the object, the tabernacle. “On the day of the setting up of the tabernacle” leaves the subject unstated, and so the entire clause may be expressed in the passive voice.

[9:15]  ⁵ sn The explanation and identification of this cloud has been a subject of much debate. Some commentators have concluded that it was identical with the cloud that led the Israelites away from Egypt and through the sea, but others have made a more compelling case that this is a different phenomenon (see ZPEB 4:796). A number of modern scholars see the description as a retrojection from later, perhaps Solomonic times (see G. H. Davies, IDB 3:817). Others have tried to connect it with Ugaritic terminology, but unconvincingly (see T. W. Mann, “The Pillar of Cloud in the Reed Sea Narrative,” JBL 90 [1971]: 15-30; G. E. Mendenhall, The Tenth Generation, 32-66, 209-13; and R. Good, “Cloud Messengers?” UF 10 [1978]: 436-37).

[9:15]  ⁶ sn The cloud apparently was centered over the tent, over the spot of the ark of the covenant in the most holy place. It thereafter spread over the whole tabernacle.

[9:15]  ⁷ tn The imperfect tense in this and the next line should be classified as a customary imperfect, stressing incomplete action but in the past time – something that used to happen, or would happen.

[9:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “like the appearance of fire.”

[10:11]  ⁹ sn This section is somewhat mechanical: It begins with an introduction (vv. 11, 12), and then begins with Judah (vv. 13-17), followed by the rest of the tribes (vv. 18-27), and finally closes with a summary (v. 28). The last few verses (vv. 29-36) treat the departure of Hobab.

[10:11]  ¹⁰ tc Smr inserts a lengthy portion from Deut 1:6-8, expressing the command for Israel to take the land from the Amorites.

[10:11]  tn The expression is difficult; it is מִשְׁכַּן הָעֵדֻת (mishkan ha’edut). The reference is to the sacred shrine that covered the ark with the commandments inside. NEB renders the expression as “tabernacle of the Token”; NAB has “the dwelling of the commandments.”

[15:23]  ¹¹ tn Heb “hand.”

[15:30]  ¹² tn Heb “soul.”

[15:30]  ¹³ tn The sin is described literally as acting “with a high hand” – בְּיָד רָמָה (bÿyad ramah). The expression means that someone would do something with deliberate defiance, with an arrogance in spite of what the Lord said. It is as if the sinner was about to attack God, or at least lifting his hand against God. The implication of the expression is that it was done in full knowledge of the Law (especially since this contrasts throughout with the sins of ignorance). Blatant defiance of the word of the Lord is dealt with differently. For similar expressions, see Exod 14:8 and Num 33:3.

[15:30]  ¹⁴ tn The verb occurs only in the Piel; it means “to blaspheme,” “to revile.”

[15:30]  ¹⁵ tn The word order in the Hebrew text places “Yahweh” first for emphasis – it is the Lord such a person insults.

[15:30]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “soul.”

[15:30]  ¹⁷ tn The clause begins with “and” because the verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. As discussed with Num 9:13, to be cut off could mean excommunication from the community, death by the community, or death by divine intervention.

[16:37]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “say to.”

[16:37]  ¹⁹ tn The verb is the jussive with a vav (ו) coming after the imperative; it may be subordinated to form a purpose clause (“that he may pick up”) or the object of the imperative.

[16:37]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew text just has “fire,” but it would be hard to conceive of this action apart from the idea of coals of fire.

[17:8]  ²¹ tn Here too the deictic particle (“and behold”) is added to draw attention to the sight in a vivid way.

[17:8]  ²² sn There is no clear answer why the tribe of Levi had used an almond staff. The almond tree is one of the first to bud in the spring, and its white blossoms are a beautiful sign that winter is over. Its name became a name for “watcher”; Jeremiah plays on this name for God’s watching over his people (1:11-12).

[18:2]  ²³ sn The verb forms a wordplay on the name Levi, and makes an allusion to the naming of the tribe Levi by Leah in the book of Genesis. There Leah hoped that with the birth of Levi her husband would be attached to her. Here, with the selection of the tribe to serve in the sanctuary, there is the wordplay again showing that the Levites will be attached to Aaron and the priests. The verb is יִלָּווּ (yillavu), which forms a nice wordplay with Levi (לֵוִי). The tribe will now be attached to the sanctuary. The verb is the imperfect with a vav (ו) that shows volitive sequence after the imperative, here indicating a purpose clause.

[18:2]  ²⁴ tn The clause is a circumstantial clause because the disjunctive vav (ו) is on a nonverb to start the clause.

[19:21]  ²⁵ tn The form has the conjunction with it: וּמַזֵּה (umazzeh). The conjunction subordinates the following as the special law. It could literally be translated “and this shall be…that the one who sprinkles.”

[19:21]  ²⁶ sn This gives the indication of the weight of the matter, for “until the evening” is the shortest period of ritual uncleanness in the Law. The problem of contamination had to be taken seriously, but this was a relatively simple matter to deal with – if one were willing to obey the Law.

[25:4]  ²⁷ sn The meaning must be the leaders behind the apostasy, for they would now be arrested. They were responsible for the tribes’ conformity to the Law, but here they had not only failed in their duty, but had participated. The leaders were executed; the rest of the guilty died by the plague.

[25:4]  ²⁸ sn The leaders who were guilty were commanded by God to be publicly exposed by hanging, probably a reference to impaling, but possibly some other form of harsh punishment. The point was that the swaying of their executed bodies would be a startling warning for any who so blatantly set the Law aside and indulged in apostasy through pagan sexual orgies.

[25:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “in the sun.” This means in broad daylight.

[31:3]  ³⁰ tn The Niphal imperative, literally “arm yourselves,” is the call to mobilize the nation for war. It is followed by the jussive, “and they will be,” which would then be subordinated to say “that they may be.” The versions changed the verb to a Hiphil, but that is unnecessary: “arm some of yourselves.”

[31:3]  ³¹ tn Heb “give.”