Bilangan 25:1

Israel’s Sin with the Moabite Women

25:1 ¹ When ²  Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to commit sexual immorality ³  with the daughters of Moab.

Yosua 3:1

Israel Crosses the Jordan

3:1 Bright and early the next morning Joshua and the Israelites left Shittim and came to the Jordan. ⁴  They camped there before crossing the river. ⁵ 

Yoel 3:18

3:18 On that day ⁶  the mountains will drip with sweet wine, ⁷ 

and the hills will flow with milk. ⁸ 

All the dry stream beds ⁹  of Judah will flow with water.

A spring will flow out from the temple ¹⁰  of the Lord,

watering the Valley of Acacia Trees. ¹¹ 

[25:1]  ¹ sn Chapter 25 tells of Israel’s sins on the steppes of Moab, and God’s punishment. In the overall plan of the book, here we have another possible threat to God’s program, although here it comes from within the camp (Balaam was the threat from without). If the Moabites could not defeat them one way, they would try another. The chapter has three parts: fornication (vv. 1-3), God’s punishment (vv. 4-9), and aftermath (vv. 10-18). See further G. E. Mendenhall, The Tenth Generation, 105-21; and S. C. Reif, “What Enraged Phinehas? A Study of Numbers 25:8,” JBL 90 (1971): 200-206.

[25:1]  ² tn This first preterite is subordinated to the next as a temporal clause; it is not giving a parallel action, but the setting for the event.

[25:1]  ³ sn The account apparently means that the men were having sex with the Moabite women. Why the men submitted to such a temptation at this point is hard to say. It may be that as military heroes the men took liberties with the women of occupied territories.

[3:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “And Joshua arose early in the morning and he and the Israelites left Shittim and came to the Jordan.”

[3:1]  ⁵ tn The words “the river,” though not in the Hebrew text, have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[3:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “and it will come about in that day.”

[3:18]  ⁷ tn Many English translations read “new wine” or “sweet wine,” meaning unfermented wine, i.e., grape juice.

[3:18]  ⁸ sn The language used here is a hyperbolic way of describing both a bountiful grape harvest (“the mountains will drip with juice”) and an abundance of cattle (“the hills will flow with milk”). In addition to being hyperbolic, the language is also metonymical (effect for cause).

[3:18]  ⁹ tn Or “seasonal streams.”

[3:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “house.”

[3:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “valley of Shittim.” The exact location of the Valley of Acacia Trees is uncertain. The Hebrew word שִׁטִּים (shittim) refers to a place where the acacia trees grow, which would be a very arid and dry place. The acacia tree can survive in such locations, whereas most other trees require more advantageous conditions. Joel’s point is that the stream that has been mentioned will proceed to the most dry and barren of locations in the vicinity of Jerusalem.