Text -- Numbers 10:31 (NET)

10:31 Moses said, “Do not leave us, because you know places for us to camp in the wilderness, and you could be our guide.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Num 10:31

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn The form with אַל־נָא (’al-na’) is a jussive; negated it stresses a more immediate request, as if Hobab is starting to leave, or at least determined to leave.

³ tn In the Hebrew text the expression is more graphic: “you will be for us for eyes.” Hobab was familiar with the entire Sinai region, and he could certainly direct the people where they were to go. The text does not record Hobab’s response. But the fact that Kenites were in Canaan as allies of Judah (Judg 1:16) would indicate that he gave in and came with Moses. The first refusal may simply be the polite Semitic practice of declining first so that the appeal might be made more urgently.