Numbers 11:2

11:2 When the people cried to Moses, he ¹  prayed to the Lord, and the fire died out. ² 

Numbers 11:28

11:28 Joshua son of Nun, the servant ³  of Moses, one of his choice young men, ⁴  said, ⁵  “My lord Moses, stop them!” ⁶ 

Numbers 31:31

31:31 So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.

¹ tn Heb “Moses.”

² sn Here is the pattern that will become in the wilderness experience so common – the complaining turns to a cry to Moses, which is then interpreted as a prayer to the Lord, and there is healing. The sequence presents a symbolic lesson, an illustration of the intercession of the Holy Spirit. The NT will say that in times of suffering Christians do not know how to pray, but the Spirit intercedes for them, changing their cries into the proper prayers (Rom 8).

³ tn The form is the Piel participle מְשָׁרֵת (mÿsharet), meaning “minister, servant, assistant.” The word has a loftier meaning than the ordinary word for slave.

⁴ tn The verb is בָּחַר (bakhar, “to choose”); here the form is the masculine plural participle with a suffix, serving as the object of the preposition מִן (min). It would therefore mean “[one of] his chosen men,” or “[one of] his choice men.”

⁵ tn Heb “answered and said.”

⁶ sn The effort of Joshua is to protect Moses’ prerogative as leader by stopping these men in the camp from prophesying. Joshua did not understand the significance in the Lord’s plan to let other share the burden of leadership.