Numbers 1:18

1:18 and they assembled ¹  the entire community together on the first day of the second month. ²  Then the people recorded their ancestry ³  by their clans and families, and the men who were twenty years old or older were listed ⁴  by name individually,

Numbers 1:20

1:20 And they were as follows:

The descendants of Reuben, the firstborn son of Israel: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name individually.

Numbers 1:22

1:22 From the descendants of Simeon: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males numbered of them ⁵  twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name individually.

Numbers 2:34

2:34 So the Israelites did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses; that is the way ⁶  they camped under their standards, and that is the way they traveled, each with his clan and family.

Numbers 17:6

17:6 So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff, one for each leader, ⁷  according to their tribes ⁸  – twelve staffs; the staff of Aaron was among their staffs.

Numbers 17:8

17:8 On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony – and ⁹  the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted, and brought forth buds, and produced blossoms, and yielded almonds! ¹⁰ 

Numbers 18:1

Responsibilities of the Priests

18:1 ¹¹ The Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your tribe ¹²  with you must bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, ¹³  and you and your sons with you must bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

Numbers 18:7

18:7 But you and your sons with you are responsible for your priestly duties, for everything at the altar and within the curtain. And you must serve. I give you the priesthood as a gift for service; but the unauthorized person who approaches must be put to death.”

Numbers 18:11

18:11 “And this is yours: the raised offering of their gift, along with all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual ordinance. Everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it.

Numbers 22:18

22:18 Balaam replied ¹⁴  to the servants of Balak, “Even if Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I could not transgress the commandment ¹⁵  of the Lord my God ¹⁶  to do less or more.

Numbers 24:13

24:13 ‘If Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond ¹⁷  the commandment ¹⁸  of the Lord to do either good or evil of my own will, ¹⁹  but whatever the Lord tells me I must speak’?

[1:18]  ¹ tn The verb is the Hiphil of the root קָהַל (qahal), meaning “to call, assemble”; the related noun is an “assembly.”

[1:18]  ² tc The LXX adds “of the second year.”

[1:18]  ³ tn The verb is the Hitpael preterite form וַיִּתְיַלְדוּ (vayyityaldu). The cognate noun תּוֹלְדוֹת (tolÿdot) is the word that means “genealogies, family records, records of ancestry.” The root is יָלַד (yalad, “to bear, give birth to”). Here they were recording their family connections, and not, of course, producing children. The verbal stem seems to be both declarative and reflexive.

[1:18]  ⁴ tn The verb is supplied. The Hebrew text simply has “in/with the number of names of those who are twenty years old and higher according to their skulls.”

[1:22]  ⁵ tc Some witnesses have omitted “those that were numbered of them,” to preserve the literary pattern of the text. The omission is supported by the absence of the expression in the Greek as well as in some MT mss. Most modern commentators follow this.

[2:34]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew word is כֵּן (ken, “thus, so”).

[17:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “a rod for one leader, a rod for one leader.”

[17:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the house of their fathers.”

[17:8]  ¹⁷ tn Here too the deictic particle (“and behold”) is added to draw attention to the sight in a vivid way.

[17:8]  ¹⁸ sn There is no clear answer why the tribe of Levi had used an almond staff. The almond tree is one of the first to bud in the spring, and its white blossoms are a beautiful sign that winter is over. Its name became a name for “watcher”; Jeremiah plays on this name for God’s watching over his people (1:11-12).

[18:1]  ²¹ sn This chapter and the next may have been inserted here to explain how the priests are to function because in the preceding chapter Aaron’s position was affirmed. The chapter seems to fall into four units: responsibilities of priests (vv. 1-7), their portions (vv. 8-19), responsibilities of Levites (vv. 20-24), and instructions for Levites (vv. 25-32).

[18:1]  ²² tn Heb “your father’s house.”

[18:1]  ²³ sn The responsibility for the sanctuary included obligations relating to any violation of the sanctuary. This was stated to forestall any further violations of the sanctuary. The priests were to pay for any ritual errors, primarily if any came too near. Since the priests and Levites come near all the time, they risk violating ritual laws more than any. So, with the great privileges come great responsibilities. The bottom line is that they were responsible for the sanctuary.

[22:18]  ²⁵ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[22:18]  ²⁶ tn Heb “mouth.”

[22:18]  ²⁷ sn In the light of subsequent events one should not take too seriously that Balaam referred to Yahweh as his God. He is referring properly to the deity for which he is acting as the agent.

[24:13]  ²⁹ tn Heb “I am not able to go beyond.”

[24:13]  ³⁰ tn Heb “mouth.”

[24:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “from my heart.”