Bilangan 5:6

5:6 “Tell the Israelites, ‘When ¹  a man or a woman commits any sin that people commit, ²  thereby breaking faith ³  with the Lord, and that person is found guilty, ⁴ 

Bilangan 10:32

10:32 And if you come with us, it is certain ⁵  that whatever good things the Lord will favor us with, we will share with you as well.”

Bilangan 29:35

29:35 “‘On the eighth day you are to have a holy assembly; you must do no ordinary work on it.

Bilangan 30:1

Vows Made by Men

30:1 ⁶ Moses told the leaders ⁷  of the tribes concerning the Israelites, “This is what ⁸  the Lord has commanded:

Bilangan 31:22

31:22 ‘Only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead,

[5:6]  ¹ sn This type of law is known as casuistic. The law is introduced with “when/if” and then the procedure to be adopted follows it. The type of law was common in the Law Code of Hammurabi.

[5:6]  ² tn The verse simply says “any sin of a man,” but the genitive could mean that it is any sin that a man would commit (subjective genitive), or one committed against a man (objective genitive). Because of the similarity with Lev 5:22, the subjective is better. The sin is essentially “missing the mark” which is the standard of the Law of the Lord. The sin is not in this case accidental or inadvertent. It means here simply failing to live up to the standard of the Lord. Since both men and women are mentioned in the preceding clause, the translation uses “people” here.

[5:6]  ³ tn The verb is מַעַל (ma’al), which means to “defraud, violate, trespass against,” or “to deal treacherously, do an act of treachery.” In doing any sin that people do, the guilty have been unfaithful to the Lord, and therefore must bring him a sacrifice.

[5:6]  ⁴ tn The word used here for this violation is אָשָׁם (’asham). It can be translated “guilt, to be guilty”; it can also be used for the reparation offering. The basic assumption here is that the individual is in a state of sin – is guilty. In that state he or she feels remorse for the sin and seeks forgiveness through repentance. See further P. P. Saydon, “Sin Offering and Trespass Offering,” CBQ 8 (1946): 393-98; H. C. Thompson, “The Significance of the Term ’Asham in the Old Testament,” TGUOS 14 (1953): 20-26.

[10:32]  ⁵ tn Heb “and it shall be.”

[30:1]  ⁶ sn Num 30 deals with vows that are different than the vows discussed in Lev 27 and Num 6. The material is placed here after all the rulings of the offerings, but it could have been revealed to Moses at any time, such as the Nazirite vows, or the question of the daughters’ inheritance. The logic of placing it here may be that a festival was the ideal place for discharging a vow. For additional material on vows, see R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 465-66.

[30:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “heads.”

[30:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “This is the word which.”