Bilangan 13:25-26
Konteks13:25 They returned from investigating the land after forty days.
13:26 They came back 1 to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. 2 They reported 3 to the whole community and showed the fruit of the land.
Bilangan 13:32--14:5
Konteks13:32 Then they presented the Israelites with a discouraging 4 report of the land they had investigated, saying, “The land that we passed through 5 to investigate is a land that devours 6 its inhabitants. 7 All the people we saw there 8 are of great stature. 13:33 We even saw the Nephilim 9 there (the descendants of Anak came from the Nephilim), and we seemed liked grasshoppers both to ourselves 10 and to them.” 11
14:1 12 Then all the community raised a loud cry, 13 and the people wept 14 that night. 14:2 And all the Israelites murmured 15 against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died 16 in the land of Egypt, or if only we had perished 17 in this wilderness! 14:3 Why has the Lord brought us into this land only to be killed by the sword, that our wives and our children should become plunder? Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?” 14:4 So they said to one another, 18 “Let’s appoint 19 a leader 20 and return 21 to Egypt.”
14:5 Then Moses and Aaron fell down with their faces to the ground 22 before the whole assembled community 23 of the Israelites.
Bilangan 14:5-10
Konteks14:5 Then Moses and Aaron fell down with their faces to the ground 24 before the whole assembled community 25 of the Israelites. 14:6 And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, two of those who had investigated the land, tore their garments. 14:7 They said to the whole community of the Israelites, “The land we passed through to investigate is an exceedingly 26 good land. 14:8 If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us – a land that is flowing with milk and honey. 27 14:9 Only do not rebel against the Lord, and do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. 28 Their protection 29 has turned aside from them, but the Lord is with us. Do not fear them!”
14:10 However, the whole community threatened to stone them. 30 But 31 the glory 32 of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the tent 33 of meeting.
[13:26] 1 tn The construction literally has “and they went and they entered,” which may be smoothed out as a verbal hendiadys, the one verb modifying the other.
[13:26] 2 sn Kadesh is Ain Qadeis, about 50 miles (83 km) south of Beer Sheba. It is called Kadesh-barnea in Num 32:8.
[13:26] 3 tn Heb “They brought back word”; the verb is the Hiphil preterite of שׁוּב (shuv).
[13:32] 4 tn Or “an evil report,” i.e., one that was a defamation of the grace of God.
[13:32] 5 tn Heb “which we passed over in it”; the pronoun on the preposition serves as a resumptive pronoun for the relative, and need not be translated literally.
[13:32] 6 tn The verb is the feminine singular participle from אָכַל (’akhal); it modifies the land as a “devouring land,” a bold figure for the difficulty of living in the place.
[13:32] 7 sn The expression has been interpreted in a number of ways by commentators, such as that the land was infertile, that the Canaanites were cannibals, that it was a land filled with warlike dissensions, or that it denotes a land geared for battle. It may be that they intended the land to seem infertile and insecure.
[13:32] 8 tn Heb “in its midst.”
[13:33] 9 tc The Greek version uses gigantes (“giants”) to translate “the Nephilim,” but it does not retain the clause “the sons of Anak are from the Nephilim.”
[13:33] sn The Nephilim are the legendary giants of antiquity. They are first discussed in Gen 6:4. This forms part of the pessimism of the spies’ report.
[13:33] 10 tn Heb “in our eyes.”
[13:33] 11 tn Heb “in their eyes.”
[14:1] 12 sn This chapter forms part of the story already begun. There are three major sections here: dissatisfaction with the reports (vv. 1-10), the threat of divine punishment (vv. 11-38), and the defeat of the Israelites (vv. 39-45). See K. D. Sakenfeld, “The Problem of Divine Forgiveness in Num 14,” CBQ 37 (1975): 317-30; also J. R. Bartlett, “The Use of the Word רֹאשׁ as a Title in the Old Testament,” VT 19 (1969): 1-10.
[14:1] 13 tn The two verbs “lifted up their voice and cried” form a hendiadys; the idiom of raising the voice means that they cried aloud.
[14:1] 14 tn There are a number of things that the verb “to weep” or “wail” can connote. It could reflect joy, grief, lamentation, or repentance, but here it reflects fear, hopelessness, or vexation at the thought of coming all this way and being defeated by the Canaanite armies. See Judg 20:23, 26.
[14:2] 15 tn The Hebrew verb “to murmur” is לוּן (lun). It is a strong word, signifying far more than complaining or grumbling, as some of the modern translations have it. The word is most often connected to the wilderness experience. It is paralleled in the literature with the word “to rebel.” The murmuring is like a parliamentary vote of no confidence, for they no longer trusted their leaders and wished to choose a new leader and return. This “return to Egypt” becomes a symbol of their lack of faith in the
[14:2] 16 tn The optative is expressed by לוּ (lu) and then the verb, here the perfect tense מַתְנוּ (matnu) – “O that we had died….” Had they wanted to die in Egypt they should not have cried out to the
[14:4] 18 tn Heb “a man to his brother.”
[14:4] 19 tn The verb is נָתַן (natan, “to give”), but this verb has quite a wide range of meanings in the Bible. Here it must mean “to make,” “to choose,” “to designate” or the like.
[14:4] 20 tn The word “head” (רֹאשׁ, ro’sh) probably refers to a tribal chief who was capable to judge and to lead to war (see J. R. Bartlett, “The Use of the Word רֹאשׁ as a Title in the Old Testament,” VT 19 [1969]: 1-10).
[14:4] 21 tn The form is a cohortative with a vav (ו) prefixed. After the preceding cohortative this could also be interpreted as a purpose or result clause – in order that we may return.
[14:5] 22 sn This action of Moses and Aaron is typical of them in the wilderness with the Israelites. The act shows self-abasement and deference before the sovereign
[14:5] 23 tn Heb “before all the assembly of the congregation.”
[14:5] 24 sn This action of Moses and Aaron is typical of them in the wilderness with the Israelites. The act shows self-abasement and deference before the sovereign
[14:5] 25 tn Heb “before all the assembly of the congregation.”
[14:7] 26 tn The repetition of the adverb מְאֹד (mÿ’od) is used to express this: “very, very [good].”
[14:8] 27 tn The subjective genitives “milk and honey” are symbols of the wealth of the land, second only to bread. Milk was a sign of such abundance (Gen 49:12; Isa 7:21,22). Because of the climate the milk would thicken quickly and become curds, eaten with bread or turned into butter. The honey mentioned here is the wild honey (see Deut 32:13; Judg 14:8-9). It signified sweetness, or the finer things of life (Ezek 3:3).
[14:9] 28 sn The expression must indicate that they could destroy the enemies as easily as they could eat bread.
[14:9] 29 tn Heb “their shade.” The figure compares the shade from the sun with the protection from the enemy. It is also possible that the text is alluding to their deities here.
[14:10] 30 tn Heb “said to stone them with stones.” The verb and the object are not from the same root, but the combination nonetheless forms an emphasis equal to the cognate accusative.
[14:10] 31 tn The vav (ו) on the noun “glory” indicates a strong contrast, one that interrupts their threatened attack.
[14:10] 32 sn The glory of the
[14:10] 33 tc The Greek, Syriac, and Tg. Ps.-J. have “in the cloud over the tent.”
