Numbers 11:16

The Response of God

11:16 ¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know are elders of the people and officials ²  over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting; let them take their position there with you.

Deuteronomy 16:18-19

Provision for Justice

16:18 You must appoint judges and civil servants ³  for each tribe in all your villages ⁴  that the Lord your God is giving you, and they must judge the people fairly. ⁵  16:19 You must not pervert justice or show favor. Do not take a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and distort ⁶  the words of the righteous. ⁷ 

Deuteronomy 21:1-9

Laws Concerning Unsolved Murder

21:1 If a homicide victim ⁸  should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you, ⁹  and no one knows who killed ¹⁰  him, 21:2 your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse. ¹¹  21:3 Then the elders of the city nearest to the corpse ¹²  must take from the herd a heifer that has not been worked – that has never pulled with the yoke – 21:4 and bring the heifer down to a wadi with flowing water, ¹³  to a valley that is neither plowed nor sown. ¹⁴  There at the wadi they are to break the heifer’s neck. 21:5 Then the Levitical priests ¹⁵  will approach (for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name, ¹⁶  and to decide ¹⁷  every judicial verdict ¹⁸ ) 21:6 and all the elders of that city nearest the corpse ¹⁹  must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. ²⁰  21:7 Then they must proclaim, “Our hands have not spilled this blood, nor have we ²¹  witnessed the crime. ²²  21:8 Do not blame ²³  your people Israel whom you redeemed, O Lord, and do not hold them accountable for the bloodshed of an innocent person.” ²⁴  Then atonement will be made for the bloodshed. 21:9 In this manner you will purge out the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right before ²⁵  the Lord.

[11:16]  ¹ sn The Lord provides Spirit-empowered assistance for Moses. Here is another variation on the theme of Moses’ faith. Just as he refused to lead alone and was given Aaron to share the work, so here he protests the burden and will share it with seventy elders. If God’s servant will not trust wholeheartedly, that individual will not be used by God as he or she might have been. Others will share in the power and the work. Probably one could say that it was God’s will for others to share this leadership – but not to receive it through these circumstances.

[11:16]  ² tn The “officials” (שֹׁטְּרִים, shottÿrim) were a group of the elders who seem to have had some administrative capacities. The LXX used the word “scribes.” For further discussion, see R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 69-70.

[16:18]  ³ tn The Hebrew term וְשֹׁטְרִים (vÿshoterim), usually translated “officers” (KJV, NCV) or “officials” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), derives from the verb שֹׁטֵר (shoter, “to write”). The noun became generic for all types of public officials. Here, however, it may be appositionally epexegetical to “judges,” thus resulting in the phrase, “judges, that is, civil officers,” etc. Whoever the שֹׁטְרִים are, their task here consists of rendering judgments and administering justice.

[16:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “gates.”

[16:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “with judgment of righteousness”; ASV, NASB “with righteous judgment.”

[16:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “twist, overturn”; NRSV “subverts the cause.”

[16:19]  ⁷ tn Or “innocent”; NRSV “those who are in the right”; NLT “the godly.”

[21:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “slain [one].” The term חָלָל (khalal) suggests something other than a natural death (cf. Num 19:16; 23:24; Jer 51:52; Ezek 26:15; 30:24; 31:17-18).

[21:1]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[21:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “struck,” but in context a fatal blow is meant; cf. NLT “who committed the murder.”

[21:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “surrounding the slain [one].”

[21:3]  ¹² tn Heb “slain [one].”

[21:4]  ¹³ tn The combination “a wadi with flowing water” is necessary because a wadi (נַחַל, nakhal) was ordinarily a dry stream or riverbed. For this ritual, however, a perennial stream must be chosen so that there would be fresh, rushing water.

[21:4]  ¹⁴ sn The unworked heifer, fresh stream, and uncultivated valley speak of ritual purity – of freedom from human contamination.

[21:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the priests, the sons of Levi.”

[21:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in the name of the Lord.” See note on Deut 10:8. The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[21:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “by their mouth.”

[21:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “every controversy and every blow.”

[21:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “slain [one].”

[21:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “wadi,” a seasonal watercourse through a valley.

[21:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “our eyes.” This is a figure of speech known as synecdoche in which the part (the eyes) is put for the whole (the entire person).

[21:7]  ²² tn Heb “seen”; the implied object (the crime committed) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:8]  ²³ tn Heb “Atone for.”

[21:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and do not place innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel.”

[21:9]  ²⁵ tn Heb “in the eyes of” (so ASV, NASB, NIV).