14:11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise 7 me, and how long will they not believe 8 in me, in spite of the signs that I have done among them? 14:12 I will strike them with the pestilence, 9 and I will disinherit them; I will make you into a nation that is greater and mightier than they!”
16:20 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: 16:21 “Separate yourselves 11 from among this community, 12 that I may consume them in an instant.”
106:23 He threatened 15 to destroy them,
but 16 Moses, his chosen one, interceded with him 17
and turned back his destructive anger. 18
1 tn Heb “each one, the detestable things of their eyes did not throw away.”
2 tn Heb “and I said/thought to pour out.”
3 tn Heb “sons.”
4 tn Or “carries them out.”
5 tn Heb “and I said/thought to pour out.”
5 tn The imperative, from the word “to rest” (נוּחַ, nuakh), has the sense of “leave me alone, let me be.” It is a directive for Moses not to intercede for the people. B. S. Childs (Exodus [OTL], 567) reflects the Jewish interpretation that there is a profound paradox in God’s words. He vows the severest punishment but then suddenly conditions it on Moses’ agreement. “Let me alone that I may consume them” is the statement, but the effect is that he has left the door open for intercession. He allows himself to be persuaded – that is what a mediator is for. God could have slammed the door (as when Moses wanted to go into the promised land). Moreover, by alluding to the promise to Abraham God gave Moses the strongest reason to intercede.
7 tn The verb נָאַץ (na’ats) means “to condemn, spurn” (BDB 610 s.v.). Coats suggests that in some contexts the word means actual rejection or renunciation (Rebellion in the Wilderness, 146, 7). This would include the idea of distaste.
8 tn The verb “to believe” (root אָמַן, ’aman) has the basic idea of support, dependability for the root. The Hiphil has a declarative sense, namely, to consider something reliable or dependable and to act on it. The people did not trust what the
9 tc The Greek version has “death.”
11 tn Or “your corpses” (also in vv. 32, 33).
13 tn The verb is הִבָּדְלוּ (hibbadÿlu), the Niphal imperative of בָּדַל (badal). This is the same word that was just used when Moses reminded the Levites that they had been separated from the community to serve the
14 sn The group of people siding with Korah is meant, and not the entire community of the people of Israel. They are an assembly of rebels, their “community” consisting in their common plot.
15 tn Heb “they fell on their faces.”
17 sn The Issacharites increased from 54,400 to 64,300.
19 tn Heb “and he said.”
20 tn Heb “if not,” that is, “[and would have] if [Moses] had not.”
21 tn Heb “stood in the gap before him.”
22 tn Heb “to turn back his anger from destroying.”