Numbers 14:25

14:25 (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites were living in the valleys.) ¹  Tomorrow, turn and journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.”

Numbers 17:3

17:3 You must write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi; for one staff is for the head of every tribe. ² 

¹ sn The judgment on Israel is that they turn back to the desert and not attack the tribes in the land. So a parenthetical clause is inserted to state who was living there. They would surely block the entrance to the land from the south – unless God removed them. And he is not going to do that for Israel.

² tn Heb “one rod for the head of their fathers’ house.”