Bilangan 7:2

7:2 Then the leaders of Israel, the heads of their clans, ¹  made an offering. They were the leaders of the tribes; they were the ones who had been supervising ²  the numbering.

Bilangan 25:14

25:14 Now the name of the Israelite who was stabbed – the one who was stabbed with the Midianite woman – was Zimri son of Salu, a leader of a clan ³  of the Simeonites.

Bilangan 31:17

31:17 Now therefore kill every boy, ⁴  and kill every woman who has had sexual intercourse with a man. ⁵ 

[7:2]  ¹ tn Heb “the house of their fathers.”

[7:2]  ² tn The form is the Qal active participle from the verb “to stand” (עָמַד, ’amad). The form describes these leaders as “the ones standing over [the ones numbered].” The expression, along with the clear indication of the first census in chapter 1, shows that this was a supervisory capacity.

[25:14]  ³ tn Heb “a father’s house.” So also in v. 15.

[31:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “every male among the little ones.”

[31:17]  sn The command in holy war to kill women and children seems in modern times a terrible thing to do (and it was), and something they ought not to have done. But this criticism fails to understand the situation in the ancient world. The entire life of the ancient world was tribal warfare. God’s judgment is poured out on whole groups of people who act with moral abandonment and in sinful pursuits. See E. J. Young, My Servants, the Prophets, 24; and J. W. Wenham, The Enigma of Evil.

[31:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “every woman who has known [a] man by lying with a man.”