50:10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad 4 on the other side of the Jordan, they mourned there with very great and bitter sorrow. 5 There Joseph observed a seven day period of mourning for his father.
20:1 6 Then the entire community of Israel 7 entered the wilderness of Zin in the first month, 8 and the people stayed in Kadesh. 9 Miriam died and was buried there. 10
25:1 11 When 12 Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to commit sexual immorality 13 with the daughters of Moab.
57:1 The godly 14 perish,
but no one cares. 15
Honest people disappear, 16
when no one 17 minds 18
that the godly 19 disappear 20 because of 21 evil. 22
1 tn Heb “and forty days were fulfilled for him, for thus are fulfilled the days of embalming.”
2 tn Heb “wept.”
3 sn Seventy days. This probably refers to a time of national mourning.
4 sn The location of the threshing floor of Atad is not certain. The expression the other side of the Jordan could refer to the eastern or western bank, depending on one’s perspective. However, it is commonly used in the OT for Transjordan. This would suggest that the entourage came up the Jordan Valley and crossed into the land at Jericho, just as the Israelites would in the time of Joshua.
5 tn Heb “and they mourned there [with] very great and heavy mourning.” The cognate accusative, as well as the two adjectives and the adverb, emphasize the degree of their sorrow.
6 sn This chapter is the account of how Moses struck the rock in disobedience to the
7 tn The Hebrew text stresses this idea by use of apposition: “the Israelites entered, the entire community, the wilderness.”
8 sn The text does not indicate here what year this was, but from comparing the other passages about the itinerary, this is probably the end of the wanderings, the fortieth year, for Aaron died some forty years after the exodus. So in that year the people come through the wilderness of Zin and prepare for a journey through the Moabite plains.
9 sn The Israelites stayed in Kadesh for some time during the wandering; here the stop at Kadesh Barnea may have lasted several months. See the commentaries for the general itinerary.
10 sn The death of Miriam is recorded without any qualifications or epitaph. In her older age she had been self-willed and rebellious, and so no doubt humbled by the vivid rebuke from God. But she had made her contribution from the beginning.
11 sn Chapter 25 tells of Israel’s sins on the steppes of Moab, and God’s punishment. In the overall plan of the book, here we have another possible threat to God’s program, although here it comes from within the camp (Balaam was the threat from without). If the Moabites could not defeat them one way, they would try another. The chapter has three parts: fornication (vv. 1-3), God’s punishment (vv. 4-9), and aftermath (vv. 10-18). See further G. E. Mendenhall, The Tenth Generation, 105-21; and S. C. Reif, “What Enraged Phinehas? A Study of Numbers 25:8,” JBL 90 (1971): 200-206.
12 tn This first preterite is subordinated to the next as a temporal clause; it is not giving a parallel action, but the setting for the event.
13 sn The account apparently means that the men were having sex with the Moabite women. Why the men submitted to such a temptation at this point is hard to say. It may be that as military heroes the men took liberties with the women of occupied territories.
14 tn Or “righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “the just man”; TEV “Good people.”
15 tn Or perhaps, “understands.” Heb “and there is no man who sets [it] upon [his] heart.”
16 tn Heb “Men of loyalty are taken away.” The Niphal of אָסַף (’asaf) here means “to die.”
17 tn The Hebrew term בְּאֵין (bÿ’en) often has the nuance “when there is no.” See Prov 8:24; 11;14; 14:4; 15:22; 26:20; 29:18.
18 tn Or “realizes”; Heb “understands” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).
19 tn Or “righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “the just man.”
20 tn Heb “are taken away.” The Niphal of אָסַף (’asaf) here means “to die.”
21 tn The term מִפְּנֵי (mippÿne, “from the face of”) often has a causal nuance. It also appears with the Niphal of אָסַף (’asaph, “gather”) in 2 Chr 12:5: אֲשֶׁר־נֶאֶסְפוּ אֶל־יְרוּשָׁלַם מִפְּנֵי שִׁישָׁק (’asher-ne’esphu ’el-yÿrushalam mippÿney shishaq, “who had gathered at Jerusalem because of [i.e., due to fear of] Shishak”).
22 tn The translation assumes that this verse, in proverbial fashion, laments society’s apathy over the persecution of the godly. The second half of the verse observes that such apathy results in more widespread oppression. Since the next verse pictures the godly being taken to a place of rest, some interpret the second half of v. 1 in a more positive vein. According to proponents of this view, God removes the godly so that they might be spared suffering and calamity, a fact which the general populace fails to realize.
23 tn “Some” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.
24 sn Made loud lamentation. For someone who was stoned to death, lamentation was normally not allowed (m. Sanhedrin 6:6). The remark points to an unjust death.
25 tn Or “mourned greatly for him.”