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 16:3

16:3 And they assembled against Moses and Aaron, saying to them, “You take too much upon yourselves, ⁵  seeing that the whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the community of the Lord?”

Numbers 20:8

20:8 “Take the staff and assemble the community, you and Aaron your brother, and then speak ⁶  to the rock before their eyes. It will pour forth ⁷  its water, and you will bring water out of the rock for them, and so you will give the community and their beasts water to drink.”

Numbers 20:10

20:10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the community together in front of the rock, and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels, ⁸  must we bring ⁹  water out of this rock for you?”

[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.”

[16:3]  ⁵ tn The meaning of רַב־לָכֶם (rab-lakhem) is something like “you have assumed far too much authority.” It simply means “much to you,” perhaps “you have gone to far,” or “you are overreaching yourselves” (M. Noth, Numbers [OTL], 123). He is objecting to the exclusiveness of the system that Moses has been introducing.

[20:8]  ⁹ tn The verb is the Piel perfect with vav (ו) consecutive, following the two imperatives in the verse. Here is the focus of the instruction for Moses.

[20:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “give.” The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive, as are the next two in the verse. These are not now equal to the imperatives, but imperfects, showing the results of speaking to the rock: “speak…and it will…and so you will….”

[20:10]  ¹³ tn The word is הַמֹּרִים (hammorim, “the rebels”), but here as a vocative: “you rebels.” It was a harsh address, although well-earned.

[20:10]  ¹⁴ tn The word order and the emphasis of the tense are important to this passage. The word order is “from this rock must we bring out to you water?” The emphasis is clearly on “from this rock!” The verb is the imperfect tense; it has one of the modal nuances here, probably obligatory – “must we do this?”