Bilangan 1:51

1:51 Whenever the tabernacle is to move, ¹  the Levites must take it down, and whenever the tabernacle is to be reassembled, ²  the Levites must set it up. ³  Any unauthorized person ⁴  who approaches it must be killed.

Bilangan 3:10

3:10 So you are to appoint Aaron and his sons, and they will be responsible for their priesthood; ⁵  but the unauthorized person ⁶  who comes near must be put to death.”

Bilangan 3:1

The Sons of Aaron

3:1 ⁷ Now these are the records ⁸  of Aaron and Moses when ⁹  the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai.

1 Samuel 6:19

6:19 But the Lord ¹⁰  struck down some of the people of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord; he struck down 50,070 ¹¹  of the men. The people grieved because the Lord had struck the people with a hard blow.

1 Samuel 6:2

6:2 the Philistines called the priests and the omen readers, saying, “What should we do with the ark of the Lord? Advise us as to how we should send it back to its place.”

1 Samuel 6:6-7

6:6 Why harden your hearts like the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? ¹²  When God ¹³  treated them harshly, didn’t the Egyptians send the Israelites on their way? ¹⁴  6:7 So now go and make a new cart. Get two cows that have calves and that have never had a yoke placed on them. Harness the cows to the cart and take their calves from them back to their stalls.

[1:51]  ¹ tn The construction uses the infinitive construct with the temporal preposition; the “tabernacle” is then the following genitive. Literally it is “and in the moving of the tabernacle,” meaning, “when the tabernacle is supposed to be moved,” i.e., when people are supposed to move it. The verb נָסָע (nasa’) means “pull up the tent pegs and move,” or more simply, “journey.”

[1:51]  ² tn Here we have the parallel construction using the infinitive construct in a temporal adverbial clause.

[1:51]  ³ tn Heb “raise it up.”

[1:51]  ⁴ tn The word used here is זָר (zar), normally translated “stranger” or “outsider.” It is most often used for a foreigner, an outsider, who does not belong in Israel, or who, although allowed in the land, may be viewed with suspicion. But here it seems to include even Israelites other than the tribe of Levi.

[3:10]  ⁵ tc The LXX includes the following words here: “and all things pertaining to the altar and within the veil.” Cf. Num 18:7.

[3:10]  ⁶ tn The word is זָר (zar), usually rendered “stranger, foreigner, pagan.” But in this context it simply refers to anyone who is not a Levite or a priest, an unauthorized person or intruder in the tabernacle. That person would be put to death.

[3:1]  ⁷ sn For significant literature for this chapter, see M. Aberbach and L. Smolar, “Aaron, Jeroboam, and their Golden Calves,” JBL 86 (1967): 129-40; G. Brin, “The First-born in Israel in the Biblical Period” (Ph.D. diss., University of Tel Aviv, 1971); S. H. Hooke, “Theory and Practice of Substitution,” VT 2 (1952): 2-17; and J. Morgenstern, “A Chapter in the History of the High Priesthood,” AJSL 55 (1938): 1-24.

[3:1]  ⁸ tn The construction is וְאֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת (vÿ’elleh tolÿdot), which was traditionally translated “now these are the generations,” much as it was translated throughout the book of Genesis. The noun can refer to records, stories, genealogies, names, and accounts of people. Here it is the recorded genealogical list with assigned posts included. Like Genesis, it is a heading of a section, and not a colophon as some have suggested. It is here similar to Exodus: “these are the names of.” R. K. Harrison, Numbers (WEC), 62, insists that it is a colophon and should end chapter 2, but if that is followed in the Pentateuch, it creates difficulty throughout the narratives. See the discussion by A. P. Ross, Creation and Blessing, 69-74.

[3:1]  ⁹ tn The expression in the Hebrew text (“in the day of”) is idiomatic for “when.”

[6:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:19]  ¹¹ tc The number 50,070 is surprisingly large, although it finds almost unanimous textual support in the MT and in the ancient versions. Only a few medieval Hebrew mss lack “50,000,” reading simply “70” instead. However, there does not seem to be sufficient external evidence to warrant reading 70 rather than 50,070, although that is done by a number of recent translations (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). The present translation (reluctantly) follows the MT and the ancient versions here.

[6:6]  ¹² tn Heb “like Egypt and Pharaoh hardened their heart.”

[6:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and they sent them away and they went.”