Bilangan 27:12-23
Konteks27:12 1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go up this mountain of the Abarim range, 2 and see 3 the land I have given 4 to the Israelites. 27:13 When you have seen it, you will be gathered 5 to your ancestors, 6 as Aaron your brother was gathered to his ancestors. 7 27:14 For 8 in the wilderness of Zin when the community rebelled against me, you 9 rebelled against my command 10 to show me as holy 11 before their eyes over the water – the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.”
27:15 Then Moses spoke to the Lord: 27:16 “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all humankind, 12 appoint 13 a man over the community, 27:17 who will go out before them, and who will come in before them, 14 and who will lead them out, and who will bring them in, so that 15 the community of the Lord may not be like sheep that have no shepherd.”
27:18 The Lord replied 16 to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is such a spirit, 17 and lay your hand on him; 18 27:19 set him 19 before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community, and commission 20 him publicly. 21 27:20 Then you must delegate 22 some of your authority 23 to him, so that the whole community of the Israelites will be obedient. 24 27:21 And he will stand before Eleazar the priest, who 25 will seek counsel 26 for him before the Lord by the decision of the Urim. 27 At his command 28 they will go out, and at his command they will come in, he and all the Israelites with him, the whole community.”
27:22 So Moses did as the Lord commanded him; he took Joshua and set 29 him before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community. 27:23 He laid his hands on him and commissioned him, just as the Lord commanded, 30 by the authority 31 of Moses.
Bilangan 35:1-28
Konteks35:1 32 Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the Moabite plains by the Jordan near Jericho. 33 He said: 35:2 “Instruct the Israelites to give 34 the Levites towns to live in from the inheritance the Israelites 35 will possess. You must also give the Levites grazing land around the towns. 35:3 Thus they will have towns in which to live, and their grazing lands will be for their cattle, for their possessions, and for all their animals. 35:4 The grazing lands around the towns that you will give to the Levites must extend to a distance of 500 yards 36 from the town wall.
35:5 “You must measure 37 from outside the wall of the town on the east 1,000 yards, 38 and on the south side 1,000 yards, and on the west side 1,000 yards, and on the north side 1,000 yards, with the town in the middle. 39 This territory must belong to them as grazing land for the towns. 35:6 Now from these towns that you will give to the Levites you must select six towns of refuge to which a person who has killed someone may flee. 40 And you must give them forty-two other towns.
35:7 “So the total of the towns you will give the Levites is forty-eight. You must give these together with their grazing lands. 35:8 The towns you will give must be from the possession of the Israelites. From the larger tribes you must give more; and from the smaller tribes fewer. Each must contribute some of its own towns to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance allocated to each.
35:9 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 35:10 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you cross over the Jordan River 41 into the land of Canaan, 35:11 you must then designate some towns as towns of refuge for you, to which a person who has killed someone unintentionally may flee. 35:12 And they must stand as your towns of refuge from the avenger in order that the killer may not die until he has stood trial before the community. 35:13 These towns that you must give shall be your six towns for refuge.
35:14 “You must give three towns on this side of the Jordan, and you must give three towns in the land of Canaan; they must be towns of refuge. 35:15 These six towns will be places of refuge for the Israelites, and for the foreigner, and for the settler among them, so that anyone who kills any person accidentally may flee there.
35:16 “But if he hits someone with an iron tool so that he dies, 42 he is a murderer. The murderer must surely be put to death. 35:17 If he strikes him by throwing a stone large enough that he could die, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must surely be put to death. 35:18 Or if he strikes him with a wooden hand weapon so that he could die, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must surely be put to death. 35:19 The avenger 43 of blood himself must kill the murderer; when he meets him, he must kill him.
35:20 “But if he strikes him out of hatred or throws something at him intentionally 44 so that he dies, 35:21 or with enmity he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must surely be put to death, for he is a murderer. The avenger of blood must kill the murderer when he meets him.
35:22 “But if he strikes him suddenly, without enmity, or throws anything at him unintentionally, 35:23 or with any stone large enough that a man could die, without seeing him, and throws it at him, and he dies, even though he was not his enemy nor sought his harm, 35:24 then the community must judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these decisions. 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 45 until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the consecrated oil. 35:26 But if the slayer at any time goes outside the boundary of the town to which he had fled, 35:27 and the avenger of blood finds him outside the borders of the town of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the slayer, he will not be guilty of blood, 35:28 because the slayer 46 should have stayed in his town of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer may return to the land of his possessions.
[27:12] 1 sn See further J. Lindblom, “Lot Casting in the Old Testament,” VT 12 (1962): 164-78; E. Lipinski, “Urim and Thummim,” VT 20 (1970): 495-96; and S. E. Loewenstamm, “The Death of Moses,” Tarbiz 27 (1957/58): 142-57.
[27:12] 2 tc The Greek version adds “which is Mount Nebo.” This is a typical scribal change to harmonize two passages.
[27:12] sn The area is in the mountains of Moab; Deut 34:1 more precisely identifies it as Mount Nebo.
[27:12] 3 tn The imperative could be subordinated to the first to provide a purpose clause, although a second instruction fits well enough.
[27:12] 4 tn This perfect tense would best be classified as a perfect of resolve: “which I have decided to give.” God had not yet given the land to them, but it was certain he would.
[27:13] 5 tn The first verb is a perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive, and the second verb is also. In such parallel clauses, the first may be subordinated, here as a temporal clause.
[27:13] 7 tn Heb “was gathered.” The phrase “to his ancestors” is elided in the Hebrew text, but is an implied repetition from the beginning of the verse, and has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[27:14] 8 tn The preposition on the relative pronoun has the force of “because of the fact that.”
[27:14] 9 tn The verb is the second masculine plural form.
[27:14] 11 sn Using the basic meaning of the word קָדַשׁ (qadash, “to be separate, distinct, set apart”), we can understand better what Moses failed to do. He was supposed to have acted in a way that would have shown God to be distinct, different, holy. Instead, he gave the impression that God was capricious and hostile – very human. The leader has to be aware of what image he is conveying to the people.
[27:16] 12 tn Heb “flesh”; cf. NAB, NIV “all mankind”; NCV “all people”; NLT “all living things.”
[27:16] 13 tn This is the same verb פָּקַד (paqad) that is used throughout the book for the aspect of “numbering” the people.
[27:17] 14 sn This is probably technical terminology for a military leader (Josh 14:11; 1 Sam 18:13-16; 1 Kgs 3:7; 2 Kgs 11:9). The image of a shepherd can also be military in nature (1 Kgs 22:17).
[27:17] 15 tn The Hebrew text has the conjunction with the negated imperfect tense, “and it will not be.” This clause should be subordinated to the preceding to form a result clause, and the imperfect then function as a final imperfect.
[27:18] 17 sn The word “spirit” probably refers to the Holy Spirit, in which case it would be rendered “in whom is the Spirit.” This would likely be a permanent endowment for Joshua. But it is also possible to take it to refer to a proper spirit to do all the things required of such a leader (which ultimately is a gift from the Spirit of God). The Hebrew text simply says “in whom is a spirit.”
[27:18] 18 sn This symbolic act would indicate the transfer of leadership to Joshua.
[27:19] 19 tn This could be translated “position him,” or “have him stand,” since it is the causative stem of the verb “to stand.”
[27:19] 20 tn The verb is the Piel perfect of צִוָּה (tsivvah, literally “to command”). The verb has a wide range of meanings, and so here in this context the idea of instructing gives way to a more general sense of commissioning for duty. The verb in sequence is equal to the imperfect of instruction.
[27:19] 21 tn Heb “in their eyes.”
[27:20] 22 tn The verb is simply “give,” but in this context giving some of Moses’ honor to Joshua in the presence of the people is essentially passing the leadership to him, or delegating the authority to him with the result that people would follow him.
[27:20] 23 tc The Greek, Syriac, and Vulgate read “glory” for this form that occurs only here in the Pentateuch. Elsewhere it is rendered “majesty, splendor” (see Ps 96:6). It could even be “vitality” here. The authority being transferred here is both spiritual and civil.
[27:21] 25 tn The passage simply has “and he will ask,” but Eleazar is clearly the subject now.
[27:21] 27 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
[27:21] 28 tn Heb “mouth,” meaning what he will say.
[35:1] 32 sn This section has two main parts, the Levitical cities (vv. 1-8) and the Cities of Refuge (vv. 9-34).
[35:1] 33 map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.
[35:2] 34 tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive: “command…and they will give,” or “that they give.”
[35:2] 35 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[35:4] 36 tn Heb “one thousand cubits.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about eighteen inches (45 cm) in length, so this would be a distance of 1,500 feet or 500 yards (675 meters).
[35:5] 37 tn The verb is the Qal perfect of מָדַד (madad, “to measure”). With its vav (ו) consecutive it carries the same instructional force as the imperfect.
[35:5] 38 tn Heb “two thousand cubits” (also three more times in this verse). This would be a distance of 3,000 feet or 1,000 yards (1,350 meters).
[35:5] 39 sn The precise nature of the layout described here is not altogether clear. V. 4 speaks of the distance from the wall as being 500 yards; v. 5, however, describes measurements of 1,000 yards. Various proposals have been made in order to harmonize vv. 4 and 5. P. J. Budd, Numbers (WBC), 376, makes the following suggestion: “It may be best to assume that the cubits of the Levitical pasture lands are cubit frontages of land – in other words on each side of the city there was a block of land with a frontage of two thousand cubits (v 5), and a depth of 1000 cubits (v 4).”
[35:6] 40 tn The “manslayer” is the verb “to kill” in a participial form, providing the subject of the clause. The verb means “to kill”; it can mean accidental killing, premeditated killing, or capital punishment. The clause uses the infinitive to express purpose or result: “to flee there the manslayer,” means “so that the manslayer may flee there.”
[35:10] 41 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[35:16] 42 tn the verb is the preterite of “die.” The sentence has :“if…he strikes him and he dies.” The vav (ו) consecutive is showing the natural result of the blow.
[35:19] 43 tn The participle גֹּאֵל (go’el) is the one who protects the family by seeking vengeance for a crime. This is the same verb used for levirate marriages and other related customs.
[35:20] 44 tn The Hebrew text is more vivid: “by lying in wait.”
