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 14:40

14:40 And early ²  in the morning they went up to the crest of the hill country, ³  saying, “Here we are, and we will go up to the place that the Lord commanded, ⁴  for we have sinned.” ⁵ 

Numbers 32:1

The Petition of the Reubenites and Gadites

32:1 ⁶ Now the Reubenites and the Gadites possessed a very large number of cattle. When they saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were ideal for cattle, ⁷ 

Numbers 32:17

32:17 but we will maintain ourselves in armed readiness ⁸  and go before the Israelites until whenever we have brought them to their place. Our descendants will be living in fortified towns as a protection against ⁹  the inhabitants of the land.

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

[14:40]  ² tn The verb וַיַּשְׁכִּמוּ (vayyashkimu) is often found in a verbal hendiadys construction: “They rose early…and they went up” means “they went up early.”

[14:40]  ³ tn The Hebrew text says literally “the top of the hill,” but judging from the location and the terrain it probably means the heights of the hill country.

[14:40]  ⁴ tn The verb is simply “said,” but it means the place that the Lord said to go up to in order to fight.

[14:40]  ⁵ sn Their sin was unbelief. They could have gone and conquered the area if they had trusted the Lord for their victory. They did not, and so they were condemned to perish in the wilderness. Now, thinking that by going they can undo all that, they plan to go. But this is also disobedience, for the Lord said they would not now take the land, and yet they think they can. Here is their second sin, presumption.

[32:1]  ³ sn While the tribes are on the other side of Jordan, the matter of which tribes would settle there has to be discussed. This chapter begins the settlement of Israel into the tribal territories, something to be continued in Joshua. The chapter has the petitions (vv. 1-5), the response by Moses (vv. 6-15), the proposal (vv. 16-27), and the conclusion of the matter (vv. 28-42). For literature on this subject, both critical and conservative, see S. E. Loewenstein, “The Relation of the Settlement of Gad and Reuben in Numbers 32:1-38, Its Background and Its Composition,” Tarbiz 42 (1972): 12-26; J. Mauchline, “Gilead and Gilgal, Some Reflections on the Israelite Occupation of Palestine,” VT 6 (1956): 19-33; and A. Bergmann, “The Israelite Tribe of Half-Manasseh,” JPOS 16 (1936): 224-54.

[32:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “the place was a place of/for cattle.”

[32:17]  ⁴ tn The MT has חֻשִׁים (khushim); the verbal root is חוּשׁ (khush, “to make haste” or “hurry”). But in light of the Greek and Latin Vulgate the Hebrew should probably be emended to חֲמֻשִׁים (hamushim), a qal passive participle meaning “in battle array.” See further BDB 301 s.v. I חוּשׁ, BDB 332 s.v. חֲמֻשִׁים; HALOT 300 s.v. I חושׁ, חישׁ; HALOT 331 s.v. I חמשׁ.

[32:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “from before.”