Bilangan 6:9

Contingencies for Defilement

6:9 “‘If anyone dies very suddenly ¹  beside him and he defiles ²  his consecrated head, ³  then he must shave his head on the day of his purification – on the seventh day he must shave it.

Bilangan 8:17

8:17 For all the firstborn males among the Israelites are mine, both humans and animals; when I destroyed ⁴  all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I set them apart for myself.

Bilangan 8:19

8:19 I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, to do the work for the Israelites in the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the Israelites, so there will be no plague among the Israelites when the Israelites come near the sanctuary.” ⁵ 

Bilangan 11:31

Provision of Quail

11:31 Now a wind ⁶  went out ⁷  from the Lord and brought quail ⁸  from the sea, and let them fall ⁹  near the camp, about a day’s journey on this side, and about a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about three feet ¹⁰  high on the surface of the ground.

Bilangan 16:13

16:13 Is it a small thing ¹¹  that you have brought us up out of the land that flows with milk and honey, ¹²  to kill us in the wilderness? Now do you want to make yourself a prince ¹³  over us?

Bilangan 16:46-47

16:46 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take the censer, put burning coals from the altar in it, place incense on it, and go quickly into the assembly and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the Lord – the plague has begun!” 16:47 So Aaron did ¹⁴  as Moses commanded ¹⁵  and ran into the middle of the assembly, where the plague was just beginning among the people. So he placed incense on the coals and made atonement for the people.

Bilangan 22:4

22:4 So the Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “Now this mass of people ¹⁶  will lick up everything around us, as the bull devours the grass of the field. Now Balak son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at this time.

Bilangan 22:22

God Opposes Balaam

22:22 Then God’s anger was kindled ¹⁷  because he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose ¹⁸  him. Now he was riding on his donkey and his two servants were with him.

Bilangan 27:3

27:3 “Our father died in the wilderness, although ¹⁹  he was not part of ²⁰  the company of those that gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah; but he died for his own sin, ²¹  and he had no sons.

Bilangan 27:21

27:21 And he will stand before Eleazar the priest, who ²²  will seek counsel ²³  for him before the Lord by the decision of the Urim. ²⁴  At his command ²⁵  they will go out, and at his command they will come in, he and all the Israelites with him, the whole community.”

Bilangan 33:38

33:38 Aaron the priest ascended Mount Hor at the command ²⁶  of the Lord, and he died there in the fortieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt on the first day of the fifth month.

Bilangan 35:25

35:25 The community must deliver the slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the community must restore him to the town of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there ²⁷  until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the consecrated oil.

Bilangan 36:1

Women and Land Inheritance

36:1 Then the heads of the family groups ²⁸  of the Gileadites, the descendant of Machir, the descendant of Manasseh, who were from the Josephite families, approached and spoke before Moses ²⁹  and the leaders who were the heads of the Israelite families. ³⁰ 

[6:9]  ¹ tn The construction uses the imperfect tense followed by the infinitive absolute, יָמוּת מֵת (yamut met). Because the verb is in a conditional clause, the emphasis that is to be given through the infinitive must stress the contingency. The point is “if someone dies – unexpectedly.” The next words underscore the suddenness of this.

[6:9]  ² tn The verb is the Piel perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive; it continues the idea within the conditional clause.

[6:9]  ³ sn The expression is figurative for the vow that he took; the figure is the metonymy because the reference to the head is a reference to the long hair that symbolizes the oath.

[8:17]  ⁴ tn The idiomatic “on the day of” precedes the infinitive construct of נָכָה (nakhah) to form the temporal clause: “in the day of my striking…” becomes “when I struck.”

[8:19]  ⁵ sn The firstborn were those that were essentially redeemed from death in Egypt when the blood was put on the doors. So in the very real sense they belonged to God (Exod 13:2,12). The firstborn was one who stood in special relationship to the father, being the successive offspring. Here, the Levites would stand in for the firstborn in that special role and special relationship. God also made it clear that the nation of Israel was his firstborn son (Exod 4:22-23), and so they stood in that relationship before all the nations. The tribe of Reuben was to have been the firstborn tribe, but in view of the presumptuous attempt to take over the leadership through pagan methods (Gen 35:22; 49:3-4), was passed over. The tribes of Levi and Simeon were also put down for their ancestors’ activities, but sanctuary service was still given to Levi.

[11:31]  ⁶ sn The irony in this chapter is expressed in part by the use of the word רוּחַ (ruakh). In the last episode it clearly meant the Spirit of the Lord that empowered the men for their spiritual service. But here the word is “wind.” Both the spiritual service and the judgment come from God.

[11:31]  ⁷ tn The verb means “burst forth” or “sprang up.” See the ways it is used in Gen 33:12, Judg 16:3, 14; Isa 33:20.

[11:31]  ⁸ sn The “quail” ordinarily cross the Sinai at various times of the year, but what is described here is not the natural phenomenon. Biblical scholars looking for natural explanations usually note that these birds fly at a low height and can be swatted down easily. But the description here is more of a supernatural supply and provision. See J. Gray, “The Desert Sojourn of the Hebrews and the Sinai Horeb Tradition,” VT 4 (1954): 148-54.

[11:31]  ⁹ tn Or “left them fluttering.”

[11:31]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “two cubits.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about eighteen inches (45 cm) in length.

[16:13]  ¹¹ tn The question is rhetorical. It was not a small thing to them – it was a big thing.

[16:13]  ¹² tn The modern scholar who merely sees these words as belonging to an earlier tradition about going up to the land of Canaan that flows with milk and honey misses the irony here. What is happening is that the text is showing how twisted the thinking of the rebels is. They have turned things completely around. Egypt was the land flowing with milk and honey, not Canaan where they will die. The words of rebellion are seldom original, and always twisted.

[16:13]  ¹³ tn The verb הִשְׂתָּרֵר (histarer) is the Hitpael infinitive absolute that emphasizes the preceding תִשְׂתָּרֵר (tistarer), the Hitpael imperfect tense (both forms having metathesis). The verb means “to rule; to act like a prince; to make oneself a prince.” This is the only occurrence of the reflexive for this verb. The exact nuance is difficult to translate into English. But they are accusing Moses of seizing princely power for himself, perhaps making a sarcastic reference to his former status in Egypt. The rebels here are telling Moses that they had discerned his scheme, and so he could not “hoodwink” them (cf. NEB).

[16:47]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “took.”

[16:47]  ¹⁵ tn Or “had spoken” (NASB); NRSV “had ordered.”

[22:4]  ¹⁶ tn The word is simply “company,” but in the context he must mean a vast company – a horde of people.

[22:22]  ¹⁷ sn God’s anger now seems to contradict the permission he gave Balaam just before this. Some commentators argue that God’s anger is a response to Balaam’s character in setting out – which the Bible does not explain. God saw in him greed and pleasure for the riches, which is why he was so willing to go.

[22:22]  ¹⁸ tn The word is שָׂטָן (satan, “to be an adversary, to oppose”).

[27:3]  ¹⁹ tn This clause begins with a vav (ו) on a pronoun, marking it out as a disjunctive vav. In this context it fits best to take it as a circumstantial clause introducing concession.

[27:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “in the midst of.”

[27:3]  ²¹ tn The word order is emphatic: “but in/on account of his own sins he died.”

[27:21]  ²² tn The passage simply has “and he will ask,” but Eleazar is clearly the subject now.

[27:21]  ²³ tn Heb “ask.”

[27:21]  ²⁴ sn The new leader would not have the privilege that Moses had in speaking to God face to face. Rather, he would have to inquire of the Lord through the priest, and the priest would seek a decision by means of the Urim. The Urim and the Thummim were the sacred lots that the priest had in his pouch, the “breastplate” as it has traditionally been called. Since the Law had now been fully established, there would be fewer cases that the leader would need further rulings. Now it would simply be seeking the Lord’s word for matters such as whether to advance or not. The size, shape or substance of these objects is uncertain. See further C. Van Dam, The Urim and Thummim.

[27:21]  ²⁵ tn Heb “mouth,” meaning what he will say.

[33:38]  ²⁶ tn Heb “mouth.”

[35:25]  ²⁷ tn Heb “in it.”

[36:1]  ²⁸ tn The expression is “the heads of the fathers by the family of the Gileadites.”

[36:1]  ²⁹ tn The Greek and the Syriac add “and before Eleazar the priest.”

[36:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “heads of the fathers.”