Numbers 2:17

The Tribe in the Center

2:17 “Then the tent of meeting with the camp of the Levites will travel in the middle of the camps. They will travel in the same order as they camped, each in his own place ¹  under his standard.

Numbers 3:51

3:51 Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and his sons, according to the word of the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Numbers 5:4

5:4 So the Israelites did so, and expelled them outside the camp. As the Lord had spoken ²  to Moses, so the Israelites did.

Numbers 8:3

8:3 And Aaron did so; he set up the lamps to face toward the front of the lampstand, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Numbers 14:28

14:28 Say to them, ‘As I live, ³  says ⁴  the Lord, I will surely do to you just what you have spoken in my hearing. ⁵ 

Numbers 15:14

15:14 If a resident foreigner is living ⁶  with you – or whoever is among you ⁷  in future generations ⁸  – and prepares an offering made by fire as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, he must do it the same way you are to do it. ⁹ 

Numbers 15:36

15:36 So the whole community took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, ¹⁰  just as the Lord commanded Moses.

Numbers 22:8

22:8 He replied to them, “Stay ¹¹  here tonight, and I will bring back to you whatever word the Lord may speak to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.

Numbers 26:4

26:4 “Number the people ¹²  from twenty years old and upward, just as the Lord commanded Moses and the Israelites who went out from the land of Egypt.”

Numbers 27:14

27:14 For ¹³  in the wilderness of Zin when the community rebelled against me, you ¹⁴  rebelled against my command ¹⁵  to show me as holy ¹⁶  before their eyes over the water – the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.”

Numbers 27:22

27:22 So Moses did as the Lord commanded him; he took Joshua and set ¹⁷  him before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community.

Numbers 31:41

31:41 So Moses gave the tribute, which was the Lord’s raised offering, to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Numbers 32:25

32:25 So the Gadites and the Reubenites replied to Moses, “Your servants will do as my lord commands.

¹ tn The Hebrew expression is עַל־יָדוֹ (’al-yado, “upon his hand”). This clearly refers to a specifically designated place for each man.

² tn The perfect tense is here given a past perfect nuance to stress that the word of the Lord preceded the obedience.

³ sn Here again is the oath that God swore in his wrath, an oath he swore by himself, that they would not enter the land. “As the Lord lives,” or “by the life of the Lord,” are ways to render it.

⁴ tn The word נְאֻם (nÿ’um) is an “oracle.” It is followed by the subjective genitive: “the oracle of the Lord” is equal to saying “the Lord says.”

⁵ tn Heb “in my ears.”

⁴ tn The word גּוּר (gur) was traditionally translated “to sojourn,” i.e., to live temporarily in a land. Here the two words are from the root: “if a sojourner sojourns.”

⁵ tn Heb “in your midst.”

⁶ tn The Hebrew text just has “to your generations,” but it means in the future.

⁷ tn The imperfect tenses must reflect the responsibility to comply with the law, and so the classifications of instruction or obligation may be applied.

⁵ tn Heb “stoned him with stones, and he died.”

⁶ tn The verb לִין (lin) means “to lodge, spend the night.” The related noun is “a lodge” – a hotel of sorts. Balaam needed to consider the offer. And after darkness was considered the best time for diviners to consult with their deities. Balaam apparently knows of the Lord; he testifies to this effect in 22:18.

⁷ tn “Number the people” is added here to the text for a smooth reading.

⁸ tn The preposition on the relative pronoun has the force of “because of the fact that.”

⁹ tn The verb is the second masculine plural form.

¹⁰ tn Heb “mouth.”

¹¹ sn Using the basic meaning of the word קָדַשׁ (qadash, “to be separate, distinct, set apart”), we can understand better what Moses failed to do. He was supposed to have acted in a way that would have shown God to be distinct, different, holy. Instead, he gave the impression that God was capricious and hostile – very human. The leader has to be aware of what image he is conveying to the people.

⁹ tn Heb “stood.”