Numbers 11:1

The Israelites Complain

11:1 ¹ When the people complained, ²  it displeased ³  the Lord. When the Lord heard ⁴  it, his anger burned, ⁵  and so ⁶  the fire of the Lord ⁷  burned among them and consumed some of the outer parts of the camp.

Numbers 11:10

Moses’ Complaint to the Lord

11:10 ⁸ Moses heard the people weeping ⁹  throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent; and when the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly, Moses was also displeased. ¹⁰ 

Numbers 12:6

12:6 The Lord ¹¹  said, “Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, ¹²  I the Lord ¹³  will make myself known to him in a vision; I will speak with him in a dream.

Numbers 14:13

14:13 Moses said to the Lord, “When the Egyptians hear ¹⁴  it – for you brought up this people by your power from among them –

Numbers 14:15

14:15 If you kill ¹⁵  this entire people at once, ¹⁶  then the nations that have heard of your fame will say,

Numbers 14:27

14:27 “How long must I bear ¹⁷  with this evil congregation ¹⁸  that murmurs against me? I have heard the complaints of the Israelites that they murmured against me.

Numbers 20:16

20:16 So when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice and sent a messenger, ¹⁹  and has brought us up out of Egypt. Now ²⁰  we are here in Kadesh, a town on the edge of your country. ²¹ 

Numbers 21:1

Victory at Hormah

21:1 ²² When the Canaanite king of Arad ²³  who lived in the Negev ²⁴  heard that Israel was approaching along the road to Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoner.

Numbers 21:3

21:3 The Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, ²⁵  and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of the place was called ²⁶  Hormah.

Numbers 22:36

Balaam Meets Balak

22:36 When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at a city of Moab which was on the border of the Arnon at the boundary of his territory.

Numbers 24:16

24:16 the oracle of the one who hears the words of God,

and who knows the knowledge of the Most High,

who sees a vision from the Almighty,

although falling flat on the ground with eyes open:

Numbers 30:11

30:11 and her husband heard about it, but remained silent about her, and did not overrule her, then all her vows will stand, and every obligation which she pledged for herself will stand.

[11:1]  ¹ sn The chapter includes the initial general complaints (vv. 1-3), the complaints about food (vv. 4-9), Moses’ own complaint to the Lord (vv. 10-15), God’s response to Moses (vv. 16-25), Eldad and Medad (vv. 26-29), and the quail (vv. 30-35). The first part records the burning of the camp, named Taberah. Here is one of the several naming narratives in the wilderness experience. The occasion for divine judgment is the complaining of the people. The passages serve to warn believers of all ages not to murmur as the Israelites did, for such complaining reveals a lack of faith in the power and goodness of God. For additional literature, see W. Brueggemann, “From Hurt to Joy, from Death to Life,” Int 28 (1974): 3-19; B. S. Childs, “The Etiological Tale Re-examined,” VT 24 (1974): 387-97; G. W. Coats, Rebellion in the Wilderness; and A. C. Tunyogi, “The Rebellions of Israel,” JBL 81 (1962): 385-90.

[11:1]  ² tn The temporal clause uses the Hitpoel infinitive construct from אָנַן (’anan). It is a rare word, occurring in Lam 3:39. With this blunt introduction the constant emphasis of obedience to the word of the Lord found throughout the first ten chapters suddenly comes to an end. It is probable that the people were tired of moving for several days, the excitement of the new beginning died out quickly in the “great and terrible wilderness.” Resentment, frustration, discomfort – whatever it all involved – led to complaining and not gratitude.

[11:1]  ³ tn Heb “it was evil in the ears of the Lord.” The word רַע (ra’) is a much stronger word than “displeased” would suggest. The bold anthropomorphism shows that what the Lord heard was painful to him.

[11:1]  ⁴ tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the next verb as a temporal clause.

[11:1]  ⁵ tn The common Hebrew expression uses the verb חָרָה (harah, “to be hot, to burn, to be kindled”). The subject is אַפּוֹ (’appo), “his anger” or more literally, his nose, which in this anthropomorphic expression flares in rage. The emphasis is superlative – “his anger raged.”

[11:1]  ⁶ tn The vav (ו) consecutive does not simply show sequence in the verbs, but here expresses the result of the anger of the Lord for their complaining. With such a response to the complaining, one must conclude that it was unreasonable. There had been no long deprivation or endured suffering; the complaining was early and showed a rebellious spirit.

[11:1]  ⁷ sn The “fire of the Lord” is supernatural, for it is said to come from the Lord and not from a natural source. God gave them something to complain about – something to fear. The other significant place where this “fire of the Lord” destroyed was in the case of Nadab and Abihu who brought strange fire to the altar (Lev 10:2).

[11:10]  ⁸ sn Moses begins to feel the burden of caring for this people, a stubborn and rebellious people. His complaint shows how contagious their complaining has been. It is one thing to cry out to God about the load of ministry, but it is quite another to do it in such a way as to reflect a lack of faith in God’s provision. God has to remind the leader Moses that he, the Lord, can do anything. This is a variation on the theme from Exodus – “who am I that I should lead….”

[11:10]  ⁹ tn The participle “weeping” is functioning here as the noun in the accusative case, an adverbial accusative of state. It is explicative of the object.

[11:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “it was evil in the eyes of Moses.”

[12:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he.”

[12:6]  ¹⁶ tn The form of this construction is rare: נְבִיאֲכֶם (nÿvi’akhem) would normally be rendered “your prophet.” The singular noun is suffixed with a plural pronominal suffix. Some commentators think the MT has condensed “a prophet” with “to you.”

[12:6]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew syntax is difficult here. “The Lord” is separated from the verb by two intervening prepositional phrases. Some scholars conclude that this word belongs with the verb at the beginning of v. 6 (“And the Lord spoke”).

[14:13]  ²² tn The construction is unusual in that we have here a perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive with no verb before it to establish the time sequence. The context requires that this be taken as a vav (ו) consecutive. It actually forms the protasis for the next verse, and would best be rendered “when…then they will say.”

[14:15]  ²⁹ tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect of מוּת (mut), וְהֵמַתָּה (vÿhemattah). The vav (ו) consecutive makes this also a future time sequence verb, but again in a conditional clause.

[14:15]  ³⁰ tn Heb “as one man.”

[14:27]  ³⁶ tn The figure is aposiopesis, or sudden silence. The main verb is deleted from the line, “how long…this evil community.” The intensity of the emotion is the reason for the ellipsis.

[14:27]  ³⁷ sn It is worth mentioning in passing that this is one of the Rabbinic proof texts for having at least ten men to form a congregation and have prayer. If God called ten men (the bad spies) a “congregation,” then a congregation must have ten men. But here the word “community/congregation” refers in this context to the people of Israel as a whole, not just to the ten spies.

[20:16]  ⁴³ tn The word could be rendered “angel” or “messenger.” Some ambiguity may be intended in this report.

[20:16]  ⁴⁴ tn The Hebrew text uses הִנֵּה (hinneh) to emphasize the “here and now” aspect of the report to Edom.

[20:16]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “your border.”

[21:1]  ⁵⁰ 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]  ⁵¹ 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]  ⁵² tn Or “the south”; “Negev” has become a technical name for the southern desert region and is still in use in modern times.

[21:3]  ⁵⁷ tc Smr, Greek, and Syriac add “into his hand.”

[21:3]  ⁵⁸ tn In the Hebrew text the verb has no expressed subject, and so here too is made passive. The name “Hormah” is etymologically connected to the verb “utterly destroy,” forming the popular etymology (or paronomasia, a phonetic wordplay capturing the significance of the event).