Bilangan 16:36--17:13
Konteks16:36 (17:1) 1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 16:37 “Tell 2 Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to pick up 3 the censers out of the flame, for they are holy, and then scatter the coals of fire 4 at a distance. 16:38 As for the censers of these men who sinned at the cost of their lives, 5 they must be made 6 into hammered sheets for covering the altar, because they presented them before the Lord and sanctified them. They will become a sign to the Israelites.” 16:39 So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers presented by those who had been burned up, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar. 16:40 It was a memorial for the Israelites, that no outsider who is not a descendant of 7 Aaron should approach to burn incense before the Lord, that he might not become like Korah and his company – just as the Lord had spoken by the authority 8 of Moses. 16:41 But on the next day the whole community of Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people!” 9 16:42 When the community assembled 10 against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting – and 11 the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared. 16:43 Then Moses and Aaron stood before the tent of meeting.
16:44 The Lord spoke to Moses: 16:45 “Get away from this community, so that I can consume them in an instant!” But they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground. 12 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 13 as Moses commanded 14 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. 16:48 He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. 16:49 Now 14,700 people died in the plague, in addition to those who died in the event with Korah. 16:50 Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and the plague was stopped.
17:1 15 The Lord spoke to Moses: 17:2 “Speak to the Israelites, and receive from them a staff from each tribe, 16 one from every tribal leader, 17 twelve staffs; you must write each man’s name on his staff. 17:3 You must write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi; for one staff is for the head of every tribe. 18 17:4 You must place them 19 in the tent of meeting before the ark of the covenant 20 where I meet with you. 17:5 And the staff of the man whom I choose will blossom; so I will rid myself of the complaints of the Israelites, which they murmur against you.”
17:6 So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff, one for each leader, 21 according to their tribes 22 – twelve staffs; the staff of Aaron was among their staffs. 17:7 Then Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the testimony. 23
17:8 On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony – and 24 the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted, and brought forth buds, and produced blossoms, and yielded almonds! 25 17:9 So Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the Israelites. They looked at them, 26 and each man took his staff.
17:10 The Lord said to Moses, “Bring Aaron’s staff back before the testimony to be preserved for a sign to the rebels, so that you may bring their murmurings to an end 27 before me, that they will not die.” 28 17:11 So Moses did as the Lord commanded him – this is what he did.
17:12 The Israelites said to Moses, “We are bound to die! 29 We perish, we all perish! 17:13 (17:28) 30 Anyone who even comes close to the tabernacle of the Lord will die! Are we all to die?” 31
[16:36] 1 sn Beginning with 16:36, the verse numbers through 17:13 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 16:36 ET = 17:1 HT, 16:37 ET = 17:2 HT, 17:1 ET = 17:16 HT, etc., through 17:13 ET = 17:28 HT. With 18:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same. But in the English chap. 17 there are two parts: Aaron’s rod budding (1-9), and the rod preserved as a memorial (10-13). Both sections begin with the same formula.
[16:37] 3 tn The verb is the jussive with a vav (ו) coming after the imperative; it may be subordinated to form a purpose clause (“that he may pick up”) or the object of the imperative.
[16:37] 4 tn The Hebrew text just has “fire,” but it would be hard to conceive of this action apart from the idea of coals of fire.
[16:38] 5 tn The expression is “in/by/against their life.” That they sinned against their life means that they brought ruin to themselves.
[16:38] 6 tn The form is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. But there is no expressed subject for “and they shall make them,” and so it may be treated as a passive (“they shall [must] be made”).
[16:40] 7 tn Heb “from the seed of.”
[16:41] 9 sn The whole congregation here is trying to project its guilt on Moses and Aaron. It was they and their rebellion that brought about the deaths, not Moses and Aaron. The
[16:42] 10 tn The temporal clause is constructed with the temporal indicator (“and it was”) followed by the Niphal infinitive construct and preposition.
[16:42] 11 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!
[16:45] 12 tn Heb “they fell on their faces.”
[16:47] 14 tn Or “had spoken” (NASB); NRSV “had ordered.”
[17:1] 15 sn Num 17:1 in the English Bible is 17:16 in the Hebrew text (BHS). See also the note on 16:36.
[17:2] 16 tn Heb “receive from them a rod, a rod from the house of a father.”
[17:2] 17 tn Heb “from every leader of them according to their fathers’ house.”
[17:3] 18 tn Heb “one rod for the head of their fathers’ house.”
[17:4] 19 tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect of נוּחַ (nuakh, “to rest”), and so “to set at rest, lay, place, put.” The form with the vav (ו) consecutive continues the instruction of the previous verse.
[17:4] 20 tn The Hebrew text simply reads “the covenant” or “the testimony.”
[17:6] 21 tn Heb “a rod for one leader, a rod for one leader.”
[17:6] 22 tn Heb “the house of their fathers.”
[17:7] 23 tn The name of the tent now attests to the centrality of the ark of the covenant. Instead of the “tent of meeting” (מוֹעֵד, mo’ed) we now find the “the tent of the testimony” (הָעֵדֻת, ha’edut).
[17:8] 24 tn Here too the deictic particle (“and behold”) is added to draw attention to the sight in a vivid way.
[17:8] 25 sn There is no clear answer why the tribe of Levi had used an almond staff. The almond tree is one of the first to bud in the spring, and its white blossoms are a beautiful sign that winter is over. Its name became a name for “watcher”; Jeremiah plays on this name for God’s watching over his people (1:11-12).
[17:9] 26 tn The words “at them” are not in the Hebrew text, but they have been added in the translation for clarity.
[17:10] 27 tn The verb means “to finish; to complete” and here “to bring to an end.” It is the imperfect following the imperative, and so introduces a purpose clause (as a final imperfect).
[17:10] 28 tn This is another final imperfect in a purpose clause.
[17:12] 29 tn The use of הֵן (hen) and the perfect tense in the nuance of a prophetic perfect expresses their conviction that they were bound to die – it was certain (see GKC 312-13 §106.n).
[17:13] 30 sn Num 17:13 in the English Bible is 17:28 in the Hebrew text (BHS). See also the note on 16:36.
[17:13] 31 tn The verse stresses the completeness of their death: “will we be consumed by dying” (הַאִם תַּמְנוּ לִגְוֹעַ, ha’im tamnu ligvoa’).
