Numbers 10:33

10:33 So they traveled from the mountain of the Lord three days’ journey; ¹  and the ark of the covenant of the Lord was traveling before them during the three days’ journey, to find a resting place for them.

Numbers 14:25

14:25 (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites were living in the valleys.) ²  Tomorrow, turn and journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.”

Numbers 21:1

Victory at Hormah

21:1 ³ When the Canaanite king of Arad ⁴  who lived in the Negev ⁵  heard that Israel was approaching along the road to Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoner.

Numbers 21:4

Fiery Serpents

21:4 Then they traveled from Mount Hor by the road to the Red Sea, ⁶  to go around the land of Edom, but the people ⁷  became impatient along the way.

Numbers 21:33

21:33 Then they turned and went up by the road to Bashan. And King Og of Bashan and all his forces ⁸  marched out against them to do battle at Edrei.

Numbers 22:26

22:26 Then the angel of the Lord went farther, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left.

Numbers 33:8

33:8 They traveled from Pi-hahiroth, ⁹  and passed through the middle of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and camped in Marah.

Numbers 20:17

20:17 Please let us pass through ¹⁰  your country. We will not pass through the fields or through the vineyards, nor will we drink water from any well. We will go by the King’s Highway; ¹¹  we will not turn to the right or the left until we have passed through your region.’” ¹² 

Numbers 24:17

24:17 ‘I see him, but not now;

I behold him, but not close at hand. ¹³ 

A star ¹⁴  will march forth ¹⁵  out of Jacob,

and a scepter ¹⁶  will rise out of Israel.

He will crush the skulls ¹⁷  of Moab,

and the heads ¹⁸  of all the sons of Sheth. ¹⁹ 

[10:33]  ¹ tn The phrase “a journey of three days” is made up of the adverbial accusative qualified with the genitives.

[14:25]  ² sn The judgment on Israel is that they turn back to the desert and not attack the tribes in the land. So a parenthetical clause is inserted to state who was living there. They would surely block the entrance to the land from the south – unless God removed them. And he is not going to do that for Israel.

[21:1]  ³ sn This chapter has several events in it: the victory over Arad (vv. 1-3), the plague of serpents (vv. 4-9), the approach to Moab (vv. 10-20), and the victory over Sihon and Og (vv. 21-35). For information, see D. M. Gunn, “The ‘Battle Report’: Oral or Scribal Convention.” JBL 93 (1974): 513-18; and of the extensive literature on the archaeological site, see EAEHL 1:74-89.

[21:1]  ⁴ sn The name Arad probably refers to a place a number of miles away from Tel Arad in southern Israel. The name could also refer to the whole region (like Edom).

[21:1]  ⁵ tn Or “the south”; “Negev” has become a technical name for the southern desert region and is still in use in modern times.

[21:4]  ⁴ tn The “Red Sea” is the general designation for the bodies of water on either side of the Sinai peninsula, even though they are technically gulfs from the Red Sea.

[21:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “the soul of the people,” expressing the innermost being of the people as they became frustrated.

[21:33]  ⁵ tn Heb “people.”

[33:8]  ⁶ tc So many medieval Hebrew manuscripts, Smr, Syriac, and Latin Vulgate. Other witnesses have “from before Hahiroth.”

[20:17]  ⁷ tn The request is expressed by the use of the cohortative, “let us pass through.” It is the proper way to seek permission.

[20:17]  ⁸ sn This a main highway running from Damascus in the north to the Gulf of Aqaba, along the ridge of the land. Some scholars suggest that the name may have been given by the later Assyrians (see B. Obed, “Observations on Methods of Assyrian Rule in Transjordan after the Palestinian Campaign of Tiglathpileser III,” JNES 29 [1970]: 177-86). Bronze Age fortresses have been discovered along this highway, attesting to its existence in the time of Moses. The original name came from the king who developed the highway, probably as a trading road (see S. Cohen, IDB 3:35-36).

[20:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “borders.”

[24:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “near.”

[24:17]  ⁹ sn This is a figure for a king (see also Isa 14:12) not only in the Bible but in the ancient Near Eastern literature as a whole. The immediate reference of the prophecy seems to be to David, but the eschatological theme goes beyond him. There is to be a connection made between this passage and the sighting of a star in its ascendancy by the magi, who then traveled to Bethlehem to see the one born King of the Jews (Matt 2:2). The expression “son of a star” (Aram Bar Kochba) became a title for a later claimant to kingship, but he was doomed by the Romans in a.d. 135.

[24:17]  ¹⁰ tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it is equal to the imperfect expressing the future. The verb דָּרַךְ (darakh), related to the noun “way, road,” seems to mean something like tread on, walk, march.”

[24:17]  ¹¹ sn The “scepter” is metonymical for a king who will rise to power. NEB strangely rendered this as “comet” to make a parallel with “star.”

[24:17]  ¹² tn The word is literally “corners,” but may refer to the corners of the head, and so “skull.”

[24:17]  ¹³ tc The MT reads “shatter, devastate.” Smr reads קֹדְקֹד (qodqod, “head; crown; pate”). Smr follows Jer 48:45 which appears to reflect Num 24:17.

[24:17]  ¹⁴ sn The prophecy begins to be fulfilled when David defeated Moab and Edom and established an empire including them. But the Messianic promise extends far beyond that to the end of the age and the inclusion of these defeated people in the program of the coming King.