Numbers 17:12-13

17:12 The Israelites said to Moses, “We are bound to die! ¹  We perish, we all perish! 17:13 (17:28) ²  Anyone who even comes close to the tabernacle of the Lord will die! Are we all to die?” ³ 

Numbers 17:1

The Budding of Aaron’s Staff

17:1 ⁴ The Lord spoke to Moses:

Numbers 5:10-11

5:10 Every man’s holy things ⁵  will be his; whatever any man gives the priest will be his.’”

The Jealousy Ordeal

5:11 ⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses:

Numbers 6:20

6:20 then the priest must wave them as a wave offering ⁷  before the Lord; it is a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the raised offering. ⁸  After this the Nazirite may drink ⁹  wine.’

Psalms 119:120

119:120 My body ¹⁰  trembles ¹¹  because I fear you; ¹² 

I am afraid of your judgments.

Isaiah 6:5

6:5 I said, “Too bad for me! I am destroyed, ¹³  for my lips are contaminated by sin, ¹⁴  and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. ¹⁵  My eyes have seen the king, the Lord who commands armies.” ¹⁶ 

Luke 5:8-9

5:8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, ¹⁷  for I am a sinful man!” ¹⁸  5:9 For ¹⁹  Peter ²⁰  and all who were with him were astonished ²¹  at the catch of fish that they had taken,

Luke 5:1

The Call of the Disciples

5:1 Now ²²  Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, ²³  and the crowd was pressing around him ²⁴  to hear the word of God.

Luke 3:6

3:6 and all humanity ²⁵  will see the salvation of God.’” ²⁶ 

¹ tn The use of הֵן (hen) and the perfect tense in the nuance of a prophetic perfect expresses their conviction that they were bound to die – it was certain (see GKC 312-13 §106.n).

² sn Num 17:13 in the English Bible is 17:28 in the Hebrew text (BHS). See also the note on 16:36.

³ tn The verse stresses the completeness of their death: “will we be consumed by dying” (הַאִם תַּמְנוּ לִגְוֹעַ, ha’im tamnu ligvoa’).

⁴ sn Num 17:1 in the English Bible is 17:16 in the Hebrew text (BHS). See also the note on 16:36.

⁵ sn The “holy gifts” are described with the root of קֹדֶשׁ (qodesh) to convey that they were separate. Such things had been taken out of the ordinary and normal activities of life.

⁶ sn There is a good bit of bibliography here. See, e.g., J. M. Sasson, “Numbers 5 and the Waters of Judgment,” BZ 16 (1972): 249-51; and M. Fishbane, “Accusation of Adultery: A Study of Law and Scribal Practice in Numbers 5:11-31,” HUCA 45 (1974): 25-46.

⁷ sn The ritual of lifting the hands filled with the offering and waving them in the presence of the Lord was designed to symbolize the transfer of the offering to God in the sight of all. This concludes the worshiper’s part; the offering now becomes the property of the priest – his priest’s due (or “raised/heave offering”).

⁸ sn The “wave offering” may be interpreted as a “special gift” to be transferred to the Lord, and the “heave offering” as a “special contribution” to God – the priest’s due. These two offerings have also inspired a good deal of study.

⁹ tn The imperfect tense here would then have the nuance of permission. It is not an instruction at this point; rather, the prohibition has been lifted and the person is free to drink wine.

¹⁰ tn Heb “my flesh.”

¹¹ tn The Hebrew verb סָמַר (samar, “to tremble”) occurs only here and in Job 4:15.

¹² tn Heb “from fear of you.” The pronominal suffix on the noun is an objective genitive.

¹³ tn Isaiah uses the suffixed (perfect) form of the verb for rhetorical purposes. In this way his destruction is described as occurring or as already completed. Rather than understanding the verb as derived from דָּמַה (damah, “be destroyed”), some take it from a proposed homonymic root דמה, which would mean “be silent.” In this case, one might translate, “I must be silent.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “a man unclean of lips am I.” Isaiah is not qualified to praise the king. His lips (the instruments of praise) are “unclean” because he has been contaminated by sin.

¹⁵ tn Heb “and among a nation unclean of lips I live.”

¹⁶ tn Perhaps in this context, the title has a less militaristic connotation and pictures the Lord as the ruler of the heavenly assembly. See the note at 1:9.

¹⁷ sn Lord is a term of high respect in this context. God’s presence in the work of Jesus makes Peter recognize his authority. This vocative is common in Luke (20 times), but does not yet have its full confessional force.

¹⁸ sn Peter was intimidated that someone who was obviously working with divine backing was in his presence (“Go away from me”). He feared his sinfulness might lead to judgment, but Jesus would show him otherwise.

¹⁹ sn An explanatory conjunction (For) makes it clear that Peter’s exclamation is the result of a surprising set of events. He speaks, but the others feel similarly.

²⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Peter) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²¹ sn In the Greek text, this term is in an emphatic position.

²² tn Grk “Now it happened that.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

²³ sn The Lake of Gennesaret is another name for the Sea of Galilee. Cf. the parallel in Matt 4:18.

²⁴ sn The image of the crowd pressing around him suggests the people leaning forward to catch Jesus’ every word.

²⁵ tn Grk “all flesh.”

²⁶ sn A quotation from Isa 40:3-5. Though all the synoptic gospels use this citation from Isaiah, only Luke cites the material of vv. 5-6. His goal may well be to get to the declaration of v. 6, where all humanity (i.e., all nations) see God’s salvation (see also Luke 24:47).