Exodus 18:21

18:21 But you choose ¹  from the people capable men, ²  God-fearing, ³  men of truth, ⁴  those who hate bribes, ⁵  and put them over the people ⁶  as rulers ⁷  of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

Numbers 16:2

16:2 and rebelled against Moses, along with some of the Israelites, 250 leaders ⁸  of the community, chosen from the assembly, ⁹  famous men. ¹⁰ 

Numbers 16:2

16:2 and rebelled against Moses, along with some of the Israelites, 250 leaders ¹¹  of the community, chosen from the assembly, ¹²  famous men. ¹³ 

Numbers 21:1-3

Victory at Hormah

21:1 ¹⁴ When the Canaanite king of Arad ¹⁵  who lived in the Negev ¹⁶  heard that Israel was approaching along the road to Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoner.

21:2 So Israel made a vow ¹⁷  to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed deliver ¹⁸  this people into our ¹⁹  hand, then we will utterly destroy ²⁰  their cities.” 21:3 The Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, ²¹  and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of the place was called ²²  Hormah.

Numbers 24:10-17

24:10 Then Balak became very angry at Balaam, and he struck his hands together. ²³  Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and look, you have done nothing but bless ²⁴  them these three times! 24:11 So now, go back where you came from! ²⁵  I said that I would greatly honor you; but now the Lord has stood in the way of your honor.”

24:12 Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not also tell your messengers whom you sent to me, 24:13 ‘If Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond ²⁶  the commandment ²⁷  of the Lord to do either good or evil of my own will, ²⁸  but whatever the Lord tells me I must speak’? 24:14 And now, I am about to go ²⁹  back to my own people. Come now, and I will advise you as to what this people will do to your people in the future.” ³⁰ 

Balaam Prophesies a Fourth Time

24:15 Then he uttered this oracle: ³¹ 

“The oracle of Balaam son of Beor;

the oracle of the man whose eyes are open;

24:16 the oracle of the one who hears the words of God,

and who knows the knowledge of the Most High,

who sees a vision from the Almighty,

although falling flat on the ground with eyes open:

24:17 ‘I see him, but not now;

I behold him, but not close at hand. ³² 

A star ³³  will march forth ³⁴  out of Jacob,

and a scepter ³⁵  will rise out of Israel.

He will crush the skulls ³⁶  of Moab,

and the heads ³⁷  of all the sons of Sheth. ³⁸ 

[18:21]  ¹ tn The construction uses the independent pronoun for emphasis, and then the imperfect tense “see” (חָזָה, khazah) – “and you will see from all….” Both in Hebrew and Ugaritic expressions of “seeing” are used in the sense of choosing (Gen 41:33). See U. Cassuto, Exodus, 220.

[18:21]  ² tn The expression is אַנְשֵׁי־חַיִל (’anshe khayil, “capable men”). The attributive genitive is the word used in expressions like “mighty man of valor.” The word describes these men as respected, influential, powerful people, those looked up to by the community as leaders, and those who will have the needs of the community in mind.

[18:21]  ³ tn The description “fearers of God” uses an objective genitive. It describes them as devout, worshipful, obedient servants of God.

[18:21]  ⁴ tn The expression “men of truth” (אַנְשֵׁי אֱמֶת, ’anshe ’emet) indicates that these men must be seekers of truth, who know that the task of a judge is to give true judgment (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 220). The word “truth” includes the ideas of faithfulness or reliability, as well as factuality itself. It could be understood to mean “truthful men,” men whose word is reliable and true.

[18:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “haters of bribes.” Here is another objective genitive, one that refers to unjust gain. To hate unjust gain is to reject and refuse it. Their decisions will not be swayed by greed.

[18:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “over them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:21]  ⁷ sn It is not clear how this structure would work in a judicial setting. The language of “captains of thousands,” etc., is used more for military ranks. There must have been more detailed instruction involved here, for each Israelite would have come under four leaders with this arrangement, and perhaps difficult cases would be sent to the next level. But since the task of these men would also involve instruction and guidance, the breakdown would be very useful. Deut 1:9, 13 suggest that the choice of these people was not simply Moses’ alone.

[16:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “princes” (so KJV, ASV).

[16:2]  ⁹ tn These men must have been counselors or judges of some kind.

[16:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “men of name,” or “men of renown.”

[16:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “princes” (so KJV, ASV).

[16:2]  ¹² tn These men must have been counselors or judges of some kind.

[16:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “men of name,” or “men of renown.”

[21:1]  ¹⁴ sn This chapter has several events in it: the victory over Arad (vv. 1-3), the plague of serpents (vv. 4-9), the approach to Moab (vv. 10-20), and the victory over Sihon and Og (vv. 21-35). For information, see D. M. Gunn, “The ‘Battle Report’: Oral or Scribal Convention.” JBL 93 (1974): 513-18; and of the extensive literature on the archaeological site, see EAEHL 1:74-89.

[21:1]  ¹⁵ sn The name Arad probably refers to a place a number of miles away from Tel Arad in southern Israel. The name could also refer to the whole region (like Edom).

[21:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “the south”; “Negev” has become a technical name for the southern desert region and is still in use in modern times.

[21:2]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew text uses a cognate accusative with the verb: They vowed a vow. The Israelites were therefore determined with God’s help to defeat Arad.

[21:2]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew text has the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense of נָתַן (natan) to stress the point – if you will surely/indeed give.”

[21:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “my.”

[21:2]  ²⁰ tn On the surface this does not sound like much of a vow. But the key is in the use of the verb for “utterly destroy” – חָרַם (kharam). Whatever was put to this “ban” or “devotion” belonged to God, either for his use, or for destruction. The oath was in fact saying that they would take nothing from this for themselves. It would simply be the removal of what was alien to the faith, or to God’s program.

[21:3]  ²¹ tc Smr, Greek, and Syriac add “into his hand.”

[21:3]  ²² tn In the Hebrew text the verb has no expressed subject, and so here too is made passive. The name “Hormah” is etymologically connected to the verb “utterly destroy,” forming the popular etymology (or paronomasia, a phonetic wordplay capturing the significance of the event).

[24:10]  ²³ sn This is apparently a sign of contempt or derision (see Job 27:23; and Lam 2:15).

[24:10]  ²⁴ tn The construction is emphatic, using the infinitive absolute with the perfect tense for “bless.”

[24:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “flee to your place.”

[24:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “I am not able to go beyond.”

[24:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “mouth.”

[24:13]  ²⁸ tn Heb “from my heart.”

[24:14]  ²⁹ tn The construction is the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) suffixed followed by the active participle. This is the futur instans use of the participle, to express something that is about to happen: “I am about to go.”

[24:14]  ³⁰ tn Heb “in the latter days.” For more on this expression, see E. Lipinski, “באחרית הימים dans les textes préexiliques,” VT 20 (1970): 445-50.

[24:15]  ³¹ tn Heb “and he took up his oracle and said.”

[24:17]  ³² tn Heb “near.”

[24:17]  ³³ sn This is a figure for a king (see also Isa 14:12) not only in the Bible but in the ancient Near Eastern literature as a whole. The immediate reference of the prophecy seems to be to David, but the eschatological theme goes beyond him. There is to be a connection made between this passage and the sighting of a star in its ascendancy by the magi, who then traveled to Bethlehem to see the one born King of the Jews (Matt 2:2). The expression “son of a star” (Aram Bar Kochba) became a title for a later claimant to kingship, but he was doomed by the Romans in a.d. 135.

[24:17]  ³⁴ tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it is equal to the imperfect expressing the future. The verb דָּרַךְ (darakh), related to the noun “way, road,” seems to mean something like tread on, walk, march.”

[24:17]  ³⁵ sn The “scepter” is metonymical for a king who will rise to power. NEB strangely rendered this as “comet” to make a parallel with “star.”

[24:17]  ³⁶ tn The word is literally “corners,” but may refer to the corners of the head, and so “skull.”

[24:17]  ³⁷ tc The MT reads “shatter, devastate.” Smr reads קֹדְקֹד (qodqod, “head; crown; pate”). Smr follows Jer 48:45 which appears to reflect Num 24:17.

[24:17]  ³⁸ sn The prophecy begins to be fulfilled when David defeated Moab and Edom and established an empire including them. But the Messianic promise extends far beyond that to the end of the age and the inclusion of these defeated people in the program of the coming King.