Numbers 11:28

11:28 Joshua son of Nun, the servant ¹  of Moses, one of his choice young men, ²  said, ³  “My lord Moses, stop them!” ⁴ 

Numbers 6:3

6:3 he must separate ⁵  himself from wine and strong drink, he must drink neither vinegar ⁶  made from wine nor vinegar made from strong drink, nor may he drink any juice ⁷  of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins. ⁸ 

¹ 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.

² 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.”

³ tn Heb “answered and said.”

⁴ 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.

⁵ tn The operative verb now will be the Hiphil of נָזַר (nazar); the consecration to the Lord meant separation from certain things in the world. The first will be wine and strong drink – barley beer (from Akkadian sikaru, a fermented beer). But the second word may be somewhat wider in its application than beer. The Nazirite, then, was to avoid all intoxicants as a sign of his commitment to the Lord. The restriction may have proved a hardship in the daily diet of the one taking the vow, but it spoke a protest to the corrupt religious and social world that used alcohol to excess.

⁶ tn The “vinegar” (חֹמֶץ, homets) is some kind of drink preparation that has been allowed to go sour.

⁷ tn This word occurs only here. It may come from the word “to water, to be moist,” and so refer to juice.

⁸ tn Heb “dried” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).