Bilangan 5:15
Konteks5:15 then 1 the man must bring his wife to the priest, and he must bring the offering required for her, one tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he must not pour olive oil on it or put frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of suspicion, 2 a grain offering for remembering, 3 for bringing 4 iniquity to remembrance.
Bilangan 22:34
Konteks22:34 Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood against me in the road. 5 So now, if it is evil in your sight, 6 I will go back home.” 7
[5:15] 1 tn All the conditions have been laid down now for the instruction to begin – if all this happened, then this is the procedure to follow.
[5:15] 2 tn The Hebrew word is “jealousy,” which also would be an acceptable translation here. But since the connotation is that suspicion has been raised about the other person, “suspicion” seems to be a better rendering in this context.
[5:15] 3 tn The word “remembering” is זִכָּרוֹן (zikkaron); the meaning of the word here is not so much “memorial,” which would not communicate much, but the idea of bearing witness before God concerning the charges. The truth would come to light through this ritual, and so the attestation would stand. This memorial would bring the truth to light. It was a somber occasion, and so no sweet smelling additives were placed on the altar.
[5:15] 4 tn The final verbal form, מַזְכֶּרֶת (mazkeret), explains what the memorial was all about – it was causing iniquity to be remembered.
[22:34] 5 sn Balaam is not here making a general confession of sin. What he is admitting to is a procedural mistake. The basic meaning of the word is “to miss the mark.” He now knows he took the wrong way, i.e., in coming to curse Israel.
[22:34] 6 sn The reference is to Balaam’s way. He is saying that if what he is doing is so perverse, so evil, he will turn around and go home. Of course, it did not appear that he had much of a chance of going forward.
[22:34] 7 tn The verb is the cohortative from “return”: I will return [me].
