Bilangan 4:27

4:27 “All the service of the Gershonites, whether ¹  carrying loads ²  or for any of their work, will be at the direction of ³  Aaron and his sons. You will assign them all their tasks ⁴  as their responsibility.

Bilangan 8:20

8:20 So Moses and Aaron and the entire community of the Israelites did this with the Levites. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, this is what the Israelites did with them.

Bilangan 12:1

Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses

12:1 ⁵ Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against ⁶  Moses because of the Cushite ⁷  woman he had married ⁸  (for he had married an Ethiopian woman).

Bilangan 14:31

14:31 But I will bring in your little ones, whom you said would become victims of war, ⁹  and they will enjoy ¹⁰  the land that you have despised.

Bilangan 15:26

15:26 And the whole community ¹¹  of the Israelites and the resident foreigner who lives among them will be forgiven, since all the people were involved in the unintentional offense.

Bilangan 21:16

21:16 And from there they traveled ¹²  to Beer; ¹³  that is the well where the Lord spoke to Moses, “Gather the people and I will give them water.”

Bilangan 23:23

23:23 For there is no spell against ¹⁴  Jacob,

nor is there any divination against Israel.

At this time ¹⁵  it must be said ¹⁶  of Jacob

and of Israel, ‘Look at ¹⁷  what God has done!’

Bilangan 26:65

26:65 For the Lord had said of them, “They will surely die in the wilderness.” And there was not left a single man of them, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

Bilangan 30:14

30:14 But if her husband remains completely silent ¹⁸  about her from day to day, he thus confirms all her vows or all her obligations which she is under; he confirms them because he remained silent about when he heard them.

Bilangan 36:6

36:6 This is what ¹⁹  the Lord has commanded for Zelophehad’s daughters: ‘Let them marry ²⁰  whomever they think best, ²¹  only they must marry within the family of their father’s tribe.

[4:27]  ¹ tn The term “whether” is supplied to introduce the enumerated parts of the explanatory phrase.

[4:27]  ² tn Here again is the use of the noun “burden” in the sense of the loads they were to carry (see the use of carts in Num 7:7).

[4:27]  ³ tn The expression is literally “upon/at the mouth of” (עַל־פִּי, ’al-pi); it means that the work of these men would be under the direct orders of Aaron and his sons.

[4:27]  ⁴ tn Or “burden.”

[12:1]  ⁵ sn In this short chapter we find a prime example of jealousy among leaders and how God dealt with it. Miriam and Aaron are envious of Moses’ leadership, but they use an occasion – his marriage – to criticize him. Often the immediate criticism is simply a surface issue for a deeper matter. God indicates very clearly he will speak through many people, including them, but Moses is different. Moses is the mediator of the covenant. The chapter is a lesson of what not to do. They should have fulfilled their duties before God and not tried to compete or challenge the leader in this way. There is a touch of divine irony here, for Miriam is turned white with leprosy. The chapter falls easily into the sections of the story: the accusation (vv. 1-3), the Lord’s response (vv. 4-10), the intercession of Moses (vv. 11-16). For further information, see J. S. Kselman, “A Note on Numbers 12:6-8,” VT 26 (1976): 500-504.

[12:1]  ⁶ tn The preposition bet (בְּ) has the adversative sense here, “[speak] against” (see also its use for hostile speech in 21:5, 7). Speaking against is equal to the murmuring throughout the wilderness period. The verb of the sentence is וַתְּדַבֵּר (vattÿdabber), the feminine form of the verb. This indicates that Miriam was the main speaker for the two, the verb agreeing with the first of the compound subject.

[12:1]  sn It may be that Miriam was envious of the Cushite woman Moses married. And, in view of the previous chapter’s content about others being given a portion of the Spirit to share in the leadership role, she may have seen this as her chance finally to become just as important in the nation as her younger brother. After all, she safeguarded his birth and early years (Exod 2). But there are two issues here – the reason she gives (“does the Lord only speak through Moses?”), and the reason the text gives (the Cushite woman).

[12:1]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew text has הַכֻּשִׁית (hakkushit, “the Cushite”) as the modifier of “woman.” The Greek text interpreted this correctly as “Ethiopian.” The word Cush in the Bible can describe the Cassites, east of Babylon of the later period (Gen 10:18), or Ethiopia (Isa 20:3; Nah 3:5; et al). Another suggestion is that it would refer to Cushan of Hab 3:7, perhaps close to Midian, and so the area Moses had been. This would suggest it could be Zipporah – but the Bible does not identify the Cushite as Zipporah. The most natural understanding would be that it refers to an Egyptian/Ethiopian woman. The text does not say when Moses married this woman, or what Miriam’s problem with her was. It is clear that it was a racial issue, by virtue of the use of “Cushite.” Whether she was of darker skin than the Hebrews would be hard to say, since the Bible gives no further detail. Neither does it say if this is a second wife, or a woman Moses married since Zipporah went home (Exod 18:2). These do not seem to be the issues the text wishes to elaborate on; it is simply stating that this woman was the occasion for a deeper challenge.

[12:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “taken.”

[14:31]  ⁹ tn Or “plunder.”

[14:31]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “know.”

[15:26]  ¹¹ tn Again, rather than translate literally “and it shall be forgiven [to] them” (all the community), one could say, “they (all the community) will be forgiven.” The meaning is the same.

[21:16]  ¹² tn The words “they traveled” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied here because of English style. The same phrase is supplied at the end of v. 18.

[21:16]  ¹³ sn Isa 15:8 mentions a Moabite Beerelim, which Simons suggests is Wadi Ettemed.

[23:23]  ¹⁴ tn Or “in Jacob.” But given the context the meaning “against” is preferable. The words describe two techniques of consulting God; the first has to do with observing omens in general (“enchantments”), and the second with casting lots or arrows of the like (“divinations” [Ezek 21:26]). See N. H. Snaith, Leviticus and Numbers (NCB), 295-96.

[23:23]  ¹⁵ tn The form is the preposition “like, as” and the word for “time” – according to the time, about this time, now.

[23:23]  ¹⁶ tn The Niphal imperfect here carries the nuance of obligation – one has to say in amazement that God has done something marvelous or “it must be said.”

[23:23]  ¹⁷ tn The words “look at” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.

[30:14]  ¹⁸ tn The sentence uses the infinitive absolute to strengthen the idea.

[36:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the word that.”

[36:6]  ²⁰ tn The idiom again is “let them be for wives for….”

[36:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “to the one who is good in their eyes.”