Numbers 10:13

Judah Begins the Journey

10:13 This was the first time they set out on their journey according to the commandment ¹  of the Lord, by the authority ²  of Moses.

Numbers 28:16

Passover and Unleavened Bread

28:16 “‘On the fourteenth day of the first month is the Lord’s Passover.

Numbers 7:12

The Tribal Offerings

7:12 The one who presented his offering on the first day was Nahshon son of Amminadab, from the tribe of Judah. ³ 

Numbers 10:14

10:14 The standard ⁴  of the camp of the Judahites set out first according to their companies, and over his company was Nahshon son of Amminadab.

Numbers 28:18

28:18 And on the first day there is to be a holy assembly; you must do no ordinary work ⁵  on it.

Numbers 33:3

33:3 They departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day ⁶  after the Passover the Israelites went out defiantly ⁷  in plain sight ⁸  of all the Egyptians.

Numbers 2:9

2:9 All those numbered of the camp of Judah, according to their divisions, are 186,400. They will travel ⁹  at the front.

Numbers 6:12

6:12 He must rededicate ¹⁰  to the Lord the days of his separation and bring a male lamb in its first year as a reparation offering, ¹¹  but the former days will not be counted ¹²  because his separation ¹³  was defiled.

Numbers 9:1

Passover Regulations

9:1 ¹⁴ The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out ¹⁵  of the land of Egypt:

Numbers 20:1

The Israelites Complain Again

20:1 ¹⁶ Then the entire community of Israel ¹⁷  entered the wilderness of Zin in the first month, ¹⁸  and the people stayed in Kadesh. ¹⁹  Miriam died and was buried there. ²⁰ 

Numbers 9:5

9:5 And they observed the Passover ²¹  on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight in the wilderness of Sinai; in accordance with all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the Israelites did.

Numbers 21:26

21:26 For Heshbon was the city of King Sihon of the Amorites. Now he had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken all of his land from his control, ²²  as far as the Arnon.

[10:13]  ¹ tn Heb “mouth.”

[10:13]  ² tn Heb “hand.”

[7:12]  ³ sn The tribe of Judah is listed first. It seems that it had already achieved a place of prominence based on the patriarchal promise of the Messiahship in Judah (Gen 49:10).

[10:14]  ⁵ sn The “standard” (דֶּגֶל, degel) was apparently some kind of a symbol put up on a pole to signify the tribal hosts. R. de Vaux thought it simply referred to a pole or a mast, but that would not distinguish tribes (Ancient Israel, 226-27).

[28:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “any work [of] service”; this means any occupational work, that is, the ordinary service.

[33:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “morrow.”

[33:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “with a high hand”; the expression means “defiantly; boldly” or “with confidence.” The phrase is usually used for arrogant sin and pride, the defiant fist, as it were. The image of the high hand can also mean the hand raised to deliver the blow (Job 38:15).

[33:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in the eyes.”

[2:9]  ¹¹ tn The verb is נָסָע (nasa’): “to journey, travel, set out,” and here, “to move camp.” Judah will go first, or, literally, at the head of the nation, when they begin to travel.

[6:12]  ¹³ tn The same idea is to be found now in the use of the word נָזַר (nazar), which refers to a recommitment after the vow was interrupted.

[6:12]  ¹⁴ tn The necessity of bringing the reparation offering was due to the reinstatement into the vow that had been interrupted.

[6:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “will fall”; KJV “shall be lost”; ASV, NASB, NRSV “shall be void.”

[6:12]  ¹⁶ tc The similar expression in v. 9 includes the word “head” (i.e., “his consecrated head”). The LXX includes this word in v. 12 as well.

[9:1]  ¹⁵ sn The chapter has just the two sections, the observance of the Passover (vv. 1-14) and the cloud that led the Israelites in the wilderness (vv. 15-23). It must be remembered that the material in vv. 7-9 is chronologically earlier than vv. 1-6, as the notices in the text will make clear. The two main discussions here are the last major issues to be reiterated before dealing with the commencement of the journey.

[9:1]  ¹⁶ tn The temporal clause is formed with the infinitive construct of יָצָא (yatsa’, “to go out; to leave”). This verse indicates that a full year had passed since the exodus and the original Passover; now a second ruling on the Passover is included at the beginning of the second year. This would have occurred immediately after the consecration of the tabernacle, in the month before the census at Sinai.

[20:1]  ¹⁷ sn This chapter is the account of how Moses struck the rock in disobedience to the Lord, and thereby was prohibited from entering the land. For additional literature on this part, see E. Arden, “How Moses Failed God,” JBL 76 (1957): 50-52; J. Gray, “The Desert Sojourn of the Hebrews and the Sinai Horeb Tradition,” VT 4 (1954): 148-54; T. W. Mann, “Theological Reflections on the Denial of Moses,” JBL 98 (1979): 481-94; and J. R. Porter, “The Role of Kadesh-Barnea in the Narrative of the Exodus,” JTS 44 (1943): 130-43.

[20:1]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew text stresses this idea by use of apposition: “the Israelites entered, the entire community, the wilderness.”

[20:1]  ¹⁹ sn The text does not indicate here what year this was, but from comparing the other passages about the itinerary, this is probably the end of the wanderings, the fortieth year, for Aaron died some forty years after the exodus. So in that year the people come through the wilderness of Zin and prepare for a journey through the Moabite plains.

[20:1]  ²⁰ sn The Israelites stayed in Kadesh for some time during the wandering; here the stop at Kadesh Barnea may have lasted several months. See the commentaries for the general itinerary.

[20:1]  ²¹ sn The death of Miriam is recorded without any qualifications or epitaph. In her older age she had been self-willed and rebellious, and so no doubt humbled by the vivid rebuke from God. But she had made her contribution from the beginning.

[9:5]  ¹⁹ tc The LXX omits this first clause; it also omits “at twilight.”

[21:26]  ²¹ sn There is a justice, always, in the divine plan for the conquest of the land. Modern students of the Bible often think that the conquest passages are crude and unjust. But an understanding of the ancient Near East is critical here. This Sihon was not a part of the original population of the land. He himself invaded the territory and destroyed the population of Moab that was indigenous there and established his own kingdom. The ancient history is filled with such events; it is the way of life they chose – conquer or be conquered. For Israel to defeat them was in part a turning of their own devices back on their heads – “those that live by the sword will die by the sword.” Sihon knew this, and he did not wait, but took the war to Israel. Israel wanted to pass through, not fight. But now they would either fight or be pushed into the gorge. So God used Israel to defeat Sihon, who had no claim to the land, as part of divine judgment.