Bilangan 24:24

24:24 Ships will come from the coast of Kittim, ¹ 

and will afflict Asshur, ²  and will afflict Eber,

and he will also perish forever.” ³ 

Bilangan 25:1

Israel’s Sin with the Moabite Women

25:1 ⁴ When ⁵  Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to commit sexual immorality ⁶  with the daughters of Moab.

Bilangan 26:23

Issachar

26:23 The Issacharites by their families: from Tola, the family of the Tolaites; from Puah, the family of the Puites;

Bilangan 26:48

Naphtali

26:48 The Naphtalites by their families: from Jahzeel, the family of the Jahzeelites; from Guni, the family of the Gunites;

Bilangan 33:1

Wanderings from Egypt to Sinai

33:1 ⁷ These are the journeys of the Israelites, who went out of the land of Egypt by their divisions under the authority ⁸  of Moses and Aaron.

[24:24]  ¹ tc The MT is difficult. The Kittim refers normally to Cyprus, or any maritime people to the west. W. F. Albright proposed emending the line to “islands will gather in the north, ships from the distant sea” (“The Oracles of Balaam,” JBL 63 [1944]: 222-23). Some commentators accept that reading as the original state of the text, since the present MT makes little sense.

[24:24]  ² tn Or perhaps “Assyria” (so NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[24:24]  ³ tn Or “it will end in utter destruction.”

[25:1]  ⁴ sn Chapter 25 tells of Israel’s sins on the steppes of Moab, and God’s punishment. In the overall plan of the book, here we have another possible threat to God’s program, although here it comes from within the camp (Balaam was the threat from without). If the Moabites could not defeat them one way, they would try another. The chapter has three parts: fornication (vv. 1-3), God’s punishment (vv. 4-9), and aftermath (vv. 10-18). See further G. E. Mendenhall, The Tenth Generation, 105-21; and S. C. Reif, “What Enraged Phinehas? A Study of Numbers 25:8,” JBL 90 (1971): 200-206.

[25:1]  ⁵ tn This first preterite is subordinated to the next as a temporal clause; it is not giving a parallel action, but the setting for the event.

[25:1]  ⁶ sn The account apparently means that the men were having sex with the Moabite women. Why the men submitted to such a temptation at this point is hard to say. It may be that as military heroes the men took liberties with the women of occupied territories.

[33:1]  ⁷ sn This material can be arranged into four sections: from Egypt to Sinai (vv. 1-15), the wilderness wanderings (vv. 16-36), from Kadesh to Moab (vv. 37-49), and final orders for Canaan (vv. 50-56).

[33:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “hand.”