Bilangan 7:3

7:3 They brought ¹  their offering before the Lord, six covered carts ²  and twelve oxen – one cart for every two of the leaders, and an ox for each one; and they presented them in front of the tabernacle.

Bilangan 17:10

The Memorial

17:10 The Lord said to Moses, “Bring Aaron’s staff back before the testimony to be preserved for a sign to the rebels, so that you may bring their murmurings to an end ³  before me, that they will not die.” ⁴ 

Bilangan 24:17

24:17 ‘I see him, but not now;

I behold him, but not close at hand. ⁵ 

A star ⁶  will march forth ⁷  out of Jacob,

and a scepter ⁸  will rise out of Israel.

He will crush the skulls ⁹  of Moab,

and the heads ¹⁰  of all the sons of Sheth. ¹¹ 

Bilangan 27:14

27:14 For ¹²  in the wilderness of Zin when the community rebelled against me, you ¹³  rebelled against my command ¹⁴  to show me as holy ¹⁵  before their eyes over the water – the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.”

Bilangan 27:21

27:21 And he will stand before Eleazar the priest, who ¹⁶  will seek counsel ¹⁷  for him before the Lord by the decision of the Urim. ¹⁸  At his command ¹⁹  they will go out, and at his command they will come in, he and all the Israelites with him, the whole community.”

Bilangan 33:3

33:3 They departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day ²⁰  after the Passover the Israelites went out defiantly ²¹  in plain sight ²²  of all the Egyptians.

Bilangan 36:1

Women and Land Inheritance

36:1 Then the heads of the family groups ²³  of the Gileadites, the descendant of Machir, the descendant of Manasseh, who were from the Josephite families, approached and spoke before Moses ²⁴  and the leaders who were the heads of the Israelite families. ²⁵ 

[7:3]  ¹ tn Heb “and they brought.”

[7:3]  ² sn For a discussion and drawings, see W. S. McCullough, IDB 1:540. But see also D. J. Wiseman, IBD 1:254.

[17:10]  ³ tn The verb means “to finish; to complete” and here “to bring to an end.” It is the imperfect following the imperative, and so introduces a purpose clause (as a final imperfect).

[17:10]  ⁴ tn This is another final imperfect in a purpose clause.

[24:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “near.”

[24:17]  ⁶ sn This is a figure for a king (see also Isa 14:12) not only in the Bible but in the ancient Near Eastern literature as a whole. The immediate reference of the prophecy seems to be to David, but the eschatological theme goes beyond him. There is to be a connection made between this passage and the sighting of a star in its ascendancy by the magi, who then traveled to Bethlehem to see the one born King of the Jews (Matt 2:2). The expression “son of a star” (Aram Bar Kochba) became a title for a later claimant to kingship, but he was doomed by the Romans in a.d. 135.

[24:17]  ⁷ tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it is equal to the imperfect expressing the future. The verb דָּרַךְ (darakh), related to the noun “way, road,” seems to mean something like tread on, walk, march.”

[24:17]  ⁸ sn The “scepter” is metonymical for a king who will rise to power. NEB strangely rendered this as “comet” to make a parallel with “star.”

[24:17]  ⁹ tn The word is literally “corners,” but may refer to the corners of the head, and so “skull.”

[24:17]  ¹⁰ tc The MT reads “shatter, devastate.” Smr reads קֹדְקֹד (qodqod, “head; crown; pate”). Smr follows Jer 48:45 which appears to reflect Num 24:17.

[24:17]  ¹¹ sn The prophecy begins to be fulfilled when David defeated Moab and Edom and established an empire including them. But the Messianic promise extends far beyond that to the end of the age and the inclusion of these defeated people in the program of the coming King.

[27:14]  ¹² tn The preposition on the relative pronoun has the force of “because of the fact that.”

[27:14]  ¹³ tn The verb is the second masculine plural form.

[27:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “mouth.”

[27:14]  ¹⁵ sn Using the basic meaning of the word קָדַשׁ (qadash, “to be separate, distinct, set apart”), we can understand better what Moses failed to do. He was supposed to have acted in a way that would have shown God to be distinct, different, holy. Instead, he gave the impression that God was capricious and hostile – very human. The leader has to be aware of what image he is conveying to the people.

[27:21]  ¹⁶ tn The passage simply has “and he will ask,” but Eleazar is clearly the subject now.

[27:21]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “ask.”

[27:21]  ¹⁸ sn The new leader would not have the privilege that Moses had in speaking to God face to face. Rather, he would have to inquire of the Lord through the priest, and the priest would seek a decision by means of the Urim. The Urim and the Thummim were the sacred lots that the priest had in his pouch, the “breastplate” as it has traditionally been called. Since the Law had now been fully established, there would be fewer cases that the leader would need further rulings. Now it would simply be seeking the Lord’s word for matters such as whether to advance or not. The size, shape or substance of these objects is uncertain. See further C. Van Dam, The Urim and Thummim.

[27:21]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “mouth,” meaning what he will say.

[33:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “morrow.”

[33:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “with a high hand”; the expression means “defiantly; boldly” or “with confidence.” The phrase is usually used for arrogant sin and pride, the defiant fist, as it were. The image of the high hand can also mean the hand raised to deliver the blow (Job 38:15).

[33:3]  ²² tn Heb “in the eyes.”

[36:1]  ²³ tn The expression is “the heads of the fathers by the family of the Gileadites.”

[36:1]  ²⁴ tn The Greek and the Syriac add “and before Eleazar the priest.”

[36:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “heads of the fathers.”