Bilangan 6:18

6:18 “‘Then the Nazirite must shave his consecrated head ¹  at the entrance to the tent of meeting and must take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire ²  where the peace offering is burning. ³ 

Bilangan 12:8

12:8 With him I will speak face to face, ⁴  openly, ⁵  and not in riddles; and he will see the form ⁶  of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

Bilangan 16:18

16:18 So everyone took his censer, put fire in it, and set incense on it, and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting, with Moses and Aaron.

Bilangan 16:42

16:42 When the community assembled ⁷  against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting – and ⁸  the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared.

Bilangan 21:18

21:18 The well which the princes ⁹  dug,

which the leaders of the people opened

with their scepters and their staffs.”

And from the wilderness they traveled to Mattanah;

Bilangan 22:7-8

22:7 So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fee for divination in their hand. They came to Balaam and reported ¹⁰  to him the words of Balak. 22:8 He replied to them, “Stay ¹¹  here tonight, and I will bring back to you whatever word the Lord may speak to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.

Bilangan 22:35

22:35 But the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but you may only speak ¹²  the word that I will speak to you.” ¹³  So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.

Bilangan 25:6

25:6 Just then ¹⁴  one of the Israelites came and brought to his brothers ¹⁵  a Midianite woman in the plain view of Moses and of ¹⁶  the whole community of the Israelites, while they ¹⁷  were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

[6:18]  ¹ tn Some versions simply interpret this to say that he shaves his hair, for it is the hair that is the sign of the consecration to God. But the text says he shaves his consecrated head. The whole person is obviously consecrated to God – not just the head. But the symbolic act of cutting the hair shows that the vow has been completed (see Acts 21:23-24). The understanding of the importance of the hair in the ancient world has been the subject of considerable study over the years (see R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 436; and J. A. Thompson, “Numbers,” New Bible Commentary: Revised, 177).

[6:18]  ² sn Some commentators see this burning of the hair as an offering (McNeile, Numbers, 35; G. B. Gray, Numbers [ICC], 68). But others probably with more foundation see it as destroying something that has served a purpose, something that if left alone might be venerated (see R. de Vaux, Israel, 436).

[6:18]  ³ tn Heb “which is under the peace offering.” The verse does not mean that the hair had to be put under that sacrifice and directly on the fire.

[12:8]  ⁴ tn The emphasis of the line is clear enough – it begins literally “mouth to mouth” I will speak with him. In human communication this would mean equality of rank, but Moses is certainly not equal in rank with the Lord. And yet God is here stating that Moses has an immediacy and directness with communication with God. It goes beyond the idea of friendship, almost to that of a king’s confidant.

[12:8]  ⁵ tn The word מַרְאֶה (mar’eh) refers to what is seen, a vision, an appearance. Here it would have the idea of that which is clearly visible, open, obvious.

[12:8]  ⁶ tn The word “form” (תְּמוּנָה, tÿmunah) means “shape, image, form.” The Greek text took it metaphorically and rendered it “the glory of the Lord.” This line expresses even more the uniqueness of Moses. The elders saw God on one special occasion (Exod 24:10), and the people never (Deut 4:12, 15), but Moses has direct and familiar contact with God.

[16:42]  ⁷ tn The temporal clause is constructed with the temporal indicator (“and it was”) followed by the Niphal infinitive construct and preposition.

[16:42]  ⁸ tn The verse uses וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, “and behold”). This is the deictic particle – it is used to point things out, suddenly calling attention to them, as if the reader were there. The people turned to look toward the tent – and there is the cloud!

[21:18]  ⁹ sn The brief song is supposed to be an old workers’ song, and so the mention of leaders and princes is unusual. Some think they are given credit because they directed where the workers were to dig. The scepter and staff might have served some symbolic or divining custom.

[22:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “spoke.”

[22:8]  ¹¹ tn The verb לִין (lin) means “to lodge, spend the night.” The related noun is “a lodge” – a hotel of sorts. Balaam needed to consider the offer. And after darkness was considered the best time for diviners to consult with their deities. Balaam apparently knows of the Lord; he testifies to this effect in 22:18.

[22:35]  ¹² tn The imperfect tense here can be given the nuance of permission.

[22:35]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew word order is a little more emphatic than this: “but only the word which I speak to you, it you shall speak.”

[25:6]  ¹⁴ tn The verse begins with the deictic particle וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh), pointing out the action that was taking place. It stresses the immediacy of the action to the reader.

[25:6]  ¹⁵ tn Or “to his family”; or “to his clan.”

[25:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “before the eyes of Moses and before the eyes of.”

[25:6]  ¹⁷ tn The vav (ו) at the beginning of the clause is a disjunctive because it is prefixed to the nonverbal form. In this context it is best interpreted as a circumstantial clause, stressing that this happened “while” people were weeping over the sin.