Numbers 27:18-23

27:18 The Lord replied ¹  to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is such a spirit, ²  and lay your hand on him; ³  27:19 set him ⁴  before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community, and commission ⁵  him publicly. ⁶  27:20 Then you must delegate ⁷  some of your authority ⁸  to him, so that the whole community of the Israelites will be obedient. ⁹  27:21 And he will stand before Eleazar the priest, who ¹⁰  will seek counsel ¹¹  for him before the Lord by the decision of the Urim. ¹²  At his command ¹³  they will go out, and at his command they will come in, he and all the Israelites with him, the whole community.”

27:22 So Moses did as the Lord commanded him; he took Joshua and set ¹⁴  him before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community. 27:23 He laid his hands on him and commissioned him, just as the Lord commanded, ¹⁵  by the authority ¹⁶  of Moses.

Acts 6:6

6:6 They stood these men before the apostles, who prayed ¹⁷  and placed ¹⁸  their hands on them.

Acts 8:17-19

8:17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on the Samaritans, ¹⁹  and they received the Holy Spirit. ²⁰ 

8:18 Now Simon, when he saw that the Spirit ²¹  was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, offered them money, 8:19 saying, “Give me this power ²²  too, so that everyone I place my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 8:1

8:1 And Saul agreed completely with killing ²³  him.

Saul Begins to Persecute the Church

Now on that day a great ²⁴  persecution began ²⁵  against the church in Jerusalem, ²⁶  and all ²⁷  except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions ²⁸  of Judea and Samaria.

Acts 4:14

4:14 And because they saw the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say against this. ²⁹ 

Acts 5:22

5:22 But the officers ³⁰  who came for them ³¹  did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, ³² 

[27:18]  ¹ tn Or “said.”

[27:18]  ² sn The word “spirit” probably refers to the Holy Spirit, in which case it would be rendered “in whom is the Spirit.” This would likely be a permanent endowment for Joshua. But it is also possible to take it to refer to a proper spirit to do all the things required of such a leader (which ultimately is a gift from the Spirit of God). The Hebrew text simply says “in whom is a spirit.”

[27:18]  ³ sn This symbolic act would indicate the transfer of leadership to Joshua.

[27:19]  ⁴ tn This could be translated “position him,” or “have him stand,” since it is the causative stem of the verb “to stand.”

[27:19]  ⁵ tn The verb is the Piel perfect of צִוָּה (tsivvah, literally “to command”). The verb has a wide range of meanings, and so here in this context the idea of instructing gives way to a more general sense of commissioning for duty. The verb in sequence is equal to the imperfect of instruction.

[27:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “in their eyes.”

[27:20]  ⁷ tn The verb is simply “give,” but in this context giving some of Moses’ honor to Joshua in the presence of the people is essentially passing the leadership to him, or delegating the authority to him with the result that people would follow him.

[27:20]  ⁸ tc The Greek, Syriac, and Vulgate read “glory” for this form that occurs only here in the Pentateuch. Elsewhere it is rendered “majesty, splendor” (see Ps 96:6). It could even be “vitality” here. The authority being transferred here is both spiritual and civil.

[27:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “hear.”

[27:21]  ¹⁰ tn The passage simply has “and he will ask,” but Eleazar is clearly the subject now.

[27:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “ask.”

[27:21]  ¹² sn The new leader would not have the privilege that Moses had in speaking to God face to face. Rather, he would have to inquire of the Lord through the priest, and the priest would seek a decision by means of the Urim. The Urim and the Thummim were the sacred lots that the priest had in his pouch, the “breastplate” as it has traditionally been called. Since the Law had now been fully established, there would be fewer cases that the leader would need further rulings. Now it would simply be seeking the Lord’s word for matters such as whether to advance or not. The size, shape or substance of these objects is uncertain. See further C. Van Dam, The Urim and Thummim.

[27:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “mouth,” meaning what he will say.

[27:22]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “stood.”

[27:23]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “spoke.”

[27:23]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “hand.”

[6:6]  ¹⁷ tn Literally this is a participle in the Greek text (προσευξάμενοι, proseuxamenoi). It could be translated as a finite verb (“and they prayed and placed their hands on them”) but much smoother English results if the entire coordinate clause is converted to a relative clause that refers back to the apostles.

[6:6]  ¹⁸ tn Or “laid.”

[8:17]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “on them”; the referent (the Samaritans) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:17]  ²⁰ sn They received the Holy Spirit. It is likely this special distribution of the Spirit took place because a key ethnic boundary was being crossed. Here are some of “those far off” of Acts 2:38-40.

[8:18]  ²¹ tc Most witnesses (Ì^45,74 A* C D E Ψ 33 1739 Ï latt sy bo) here read “the Holy Spirit” (τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, to pneuma to {agion), while a few key mss have simply τὸ πνεῦμα (א A^c B sa mae). Although it is possible that some scribes omitted τὸ ἅγιον because of its perceived superfluity (note vv. 15, 17, 19), it is far more likely that others added the adjective out of pious motives.

[8:19]  ²² tn Or “ability”; Grk “authority.”

[8:1]  ²³ tn The term ἀναίρεσις (anairesi") can refer to murder (BDAG 64 s.v.; 2 Macc 5:13; Josephus, Ant. 5.2.12 [5.165]).

[8:1]  ²⁴ tn Or “severe.”

[8:1]  ²⁵ tn Grk “Now there happened on that day a great persecution.” It is less awkward to say in English “Now on that day a great persecution began.”

[8:1]  ²⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[8:1]  ²⁷ sn All. Given that the Jerusalem church is still active after this and that the Hellenists are the focus of Acts 6-8, it is possible to argue that only the Hellenistic Christians were forced to scatter.

[8:1]  ²⁸ tn Or “countryside.”

[4:14]  ²⁹ tn Or “nothing to say in opposition.”

[5:22]  ³⁰ tn The Greek term ὑπηρέτης (Juphreth") generally means “servant,” but in the NT is used for many different types of servants, like attendants to a king, the officers of the Sanhedrin (as here), assistants to magistrates, and (especially in the Gospel of John) Jewish guards in the Jerusalem temple (see L&N 35.20).

[5:22]  ³¹ tn The words “for them” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

[5:22]  ³² tn Grk “reported, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in English and has not been translated.