Bilangan 13:24

13:24 That place was called ¹  the Eshcol Valley, ²  because of the cluster ³  of grapes that the Israelites cut from there.

Bilangan 15:32-33

15:32 When the Israelites were ⁴  in the wilderness they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. ⁵  15:33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community.

[13:24]  ¹ tn The verb is rendered as a passive because there is no expressed subject.

[13:24]  ² tn Or “Wadi Eshcol.” The translation “brook” is too generous; the Hebrew term refers to a river bed, a ravine or valley through which torrents of rain would rush in the rainy season; at other times it might be completely dry.

[13:24]  ³ tn The word “Eshcol” is drawn from the Hebrew expression concerning the “cluster of grapes.” The word is probably retained in the name Burj Haskeh, two miles north of Damascus.

[15:32]  ⁴ tn The preterite of the verb “to be” is here subordinated to the next, parallel verb form, to form a temporal clause.

[15:32]  ⁵ sn For this brief passage, see A. Phillips, “The Case of the Woodgatherer Reconsidered,” VT 19 (1969): 125-28; J. Weingreen, “The Case of the Woodgatherer (Numbers XV 32-36),” VT 16 (1966): 361-64; and B. J. Bamberger, “Revelations of Torah after Sinai,” HUCA 16 (1941): 97-113. Weingreen argues that there is something of the Rabbinic method of setting a fence around the Law here; in other words, if this sin were not punished, the Law would have been violated in greater ways. Gathering of wood, although seemingly harmless, is done with intent to kindle fire, and so reveals a culpable intent.