Numbers 4:19

4:19 but in order that they will live ¹  and not die when they approach the most holy things, do this for them: Aaron and his sons will go in and appoint ²  each man ³  to his service and his responsibility.

Numbers 10:9

10:9 If you go to war in your land against an adversary who opposes ⁴  you, then you must sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved ⁵  from your enemies.

Numbers 14:40

14:40 And early ⁶  in the morning they went up to the crest of the hill country, ⁷  saying, “Here we are, and we will go up to the place that the Lord commanded, ⁸  for we have sinned.” ⁹ 

Numbers 20:19

20:19 Then the Israelites said to him, “We will go along the highway, and if we ¹⁰  or our cattle drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We will only pass through on our feet, without doing anything else.”

Numbers 21:22

21:22 “Let us ¹¹  pass through your land; ¹²  we will not turn aside into the fields or into the vineyards, nor will we drink water from any well, but we will go along the King’s Highway until we pass your borders.”

Numbers 22:20

22:20 God came to Balaam that night, and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, get up and go with them; but the word that I will say to you, that you must do.”

Numbers 22:35

22:35 But the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but you may only speak ¹³  the word that I will speak to you.” ¹⁴  So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.

Numbers 23:3

23:3 Balaam said to Balak, “Station yourself ¹⁵  by your burnt offering, and I will go off; perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever he reveals to me ¹⁶  I will tell you.” ¹⁷  Then he went to a deserted height. ¹⁸ 

¹ tn The word order is different in the Hebrew text: Do this…and they will live. Consequently, the verb “and they will live” is a perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive to express the future consequence of “doing this” for them.

² tn The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive continues the instruction for Aaron.

³ tn The distributive sense is obtained by the repetition, “a man” and “a man.”

⁴ tn Both the “adversary” and “opposes” come from the same root: צָרַר (tsarar), “to hem in, oppress, harass,” or basically, “be an adversary.”

⁵ tn The Niphal perfect in this passage has the passive nuance and not a reflexive idea – the Israelites would be spared because God remembered them.

⁷ tn The verb וַיַּשְׁכִּמוּ (vayyashkimu) is often found in a verbal hendiadys construction: “They rose early…and they went up” means “they went up early.”

⁸ tn The Hebrew text says literally “the top of the hill,” but judging from the location and the terrain it probably means the heights of the hill country.

⁹ tn The verb is simply “said,” but it means the place that the Lord said to go up to in order to fight.

¹⁰ sn Their sin was unbelief. They could have gone and conquered the area if they had trusted the Lord for their victory. They did not, and so they were condemned to perish in the wilderness. Now, thinking that by going they can undo all that, they plan to go. But this is also disobedience, for the Lord said they would not now take the land, and yet they think they can. Here is their second sin, presumption.

¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text uses singular pronouns, “I” and “my,” but it is the people of Israel that are intended, and so it may be rendered in the plural. Similarly, Edom speaks in the first person, probably from the king. But it too could be rendered “we.”

¹³ tn The Hebrew text uses the singular in these verses to match the reference to “Israel.”

¹⁴ tc Smr has “by the King’s way I will go. I will not turn aside to the right or the left.”

¹⁶ tn The imperfect tense here can be given the nuance of permission.

¹⁷ tn The Hebrew word order is a little more emphatic than this: “but only the word which I speak to you, it you shall speak.”

¹⁹ tn The verb הִתְיַצֵּב (hityatsev) means “to take a stand, station oneself.” It is more intentional than simply standing by something. He was to position himself by the sacrifice as Balaam withdrew to seek the oracle.

²⁰ tn Heb “and the word of what he shows me.” The noun is in construct, and so the clause that follows functions as a noun clause in the genitive. The point is that the word will consist of divine revelation.

²¹ tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. This clause is dependent on the clause that precedes it.

²² sn He went up to a bald spot, to a barren height. The statement underscores the general belief that such tops were the closest things to the gods. On such heights people built their shrines and temples.