Deuteronomy 1:15

1:15 So I chose ¹  as your tribal leaders wise and well-known men, placing them over you as administrators of groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and also as other tribal officials.

Deuteronomy 16:18

Provision for Justice

16:18 You must appoint judges and civil servants ²  for each tribe in all your villages ³  that the Lord your God is giving you, and they must judge the people fairly. ⁴ 

Numbers 31:14

The Death of the Midianite Women

31:14 But Moses was furious with the officers of the army, the commanders over thousands and commanders over hundreds, who had come from service in the war.

Numbers 31:48

31:48 Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders over thousands and the commanders over hundreds, approached Moses

Numbers 31:1

The Midianite War

31:1 ⁵ The Lord spoke to Moses:

Numbers 17:1

The Budding of Aaron’s Staff

17:1 ⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses:

¹ tn Or “selected”; Heb “took.”

² tn The Hebrew term וְשֹׁטְרִים (vÿshoterim), usually translated “officers” (KJV, NCV) or “officials” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), derives from the verb שֹׁטֵר (shoter, “to write”). The noun became generic for all types of public officials. Here, however, it may be appositionally epexegetical to “judges,” thus resulting in the phrase, “judges, that is, civil officers,” etc. Whoever the שֹׁטְרִים are, their task here consists of rendering judgments and administering justice.

³ tn Heb “gates.”

⁴ tn Heb “with judgment of righteousness”; ASV, NASB “with righteous judgment.”

⁵ sn This lengthy chapter records the mobilization of the troops (vv. 1-5), the war itself (vv. 6-13), the death of the captive women (vv. 14-18), the purification of the nations (vv. 19-24), and the distribution of the spoils (vv. 25-54). For more detail, see G. W. Coats, “Moses in Midian,” JBL 92 (1973): 3-10; and W. J. Dumbrell, “Midian – a Land or a League?” VT 25 (1975): 323-37.

⁶ sn Num 17:1 in the English Bible is 17:16 in the Hebrew text (BHS). See also the note on 16:36.