Discovery BoxNumbers 10:31
Context10:31 Moses 1 said, “Do not leave us, 2 because you know places for us to camp in the wilderness, and you could be our guide. 3
Numbers 14:3
Context14:3 Why has the Lord brought us into this land only to be killed by the sword, that our wives and our children should become plunder? Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?”
Numbers 14:8
Context14:8 If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us – a land that is flowing with milk and honey. 4
Numbers 20:5
Context20:5 Why 5 have you brought us up from Egypt only to bring us to 6 this dreadful place? It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink!”
[10:31] 1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[10:31] 2 tn The form with אַל־נָא (’al-na’) is a jussive; negated it stresses a more immediate request, as if Hobab is starting to leave, or at least determined to leave.
[10:31] 3 tn In the Hebrew text the expression is more graphic: “you will be for us for eyes.” Hobab was familiar with the entire Sinai region, and he could certainly direct the people where they were to go. The text does not record Hobab’s response. But the fact that Kenites were in Canaan as allies of Judah (Judg 1:16) would indicate that he gave in and came with Moses. The first refusal may simply be the polite Semitic practice of declining first so that the appeal might be made more urgently.
[14:8] 4 tn The subjective genitives “milk and honey” are symbols of the wealth of the land, second only to bread. Milk was a sign of such abundance (Gen 49:12; Isa 7:21,22). Because of the climate the milk would thicken quickly and become curds, eaten with bread or turned into butter. The honey mentioned here is the wild honey (see Deut 32:13; Judg 14:8-9). It signified sweetness, or the finer things of life (Ezek 3:3).
[20:5] 8 tn Here also the infinitive construct (Hiphil) forms the subordinate clause of the preceding interrogative clause.
