Numbers 11:16

The Response of God

11:16 ¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know are elders of the people and officials ²  over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting; let them take their position there with you.

Numbers 12:14

12:14 The Lord said to Moses, “If her father had only spit ³  in her face, would she not have been disgraced for seven days? Shut her out from the camp seven days, and afterward she can be brought back in again.”

Numbers 19:9

19:9 “‘Then a man who is ceremonially clean must gather up the ashes of the red heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They must be kept ⁴  for the community of the Israelites for use in the water of purification ⁵  – it is a purification for sin. ⁶ 

Numbers 20:24

20:24 “Aaron will be gathered to his ancestors, ⁷  for he will not enter into the land I have given to the Israelites because both of you ⁸  rebelled against my word ⁹  at the waters of Meribah.

Numbers 21:23

21:23 But Sihon did not permit Israel to pass through his border; he ¹⁰  gathered all his forces ¹¹  together and went out against Israel into the wilderness. When ¹²  he came to Jahaz, he fought against Israel.

[11:16]  ¹ sn The Lord provides Spirit-empowered assistance for Moses. Here is another variation on the theme of Moses’ faith. Just as he refused to lead alone and was given Aaron to share the work, so here he protests the burden and will share it with seventy elders. If God’s servant will not trust wholeheartedly, that individual will not be used by God as he or she might have been. Others will share in the power and the work. Probably one could say that it was God’s will for others to share this leadership – but not to receive it through these circumstances.

[11:16]  ² tn The “officials” (שֹׁטְּרִים, shottÿrim) were a group of the elders who seem to have had some administrative capacities. The LXX used the word “scribes.” For further discussion, see R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 69-70.

[12:14]  ³ tn The form is intensified by the infinitive absolute, but here the infinitive strengthens not simply the verbal idea but the conditional cause construction as well.

[19:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “it will be.”

[19:9]  ⁶ tn The expression לְמֵי נִדָּה (lÿme niddah) is “for waters of impurity.” The genitive must designate the purpose of the waters – they are for cases of impurity, and so serve for cleansing or purifying, thus “water of purification.” The word “impurity” can also mean “abhorrent” because it refers to so many kinds of impurities. It is also called a purification offering; Milgrom notes that this is fitting because the sacrificial ritual involved transfers impurity from the purified to the purifier (pp. 62-72).

[19:9]  ⁷ sn The ashes were to be stored somewhere outside the camp to be used in a water portion for cleansing someone who was defiled. This is a ritual that was enacted in the wilderness; it is something of a restoring rite for people alienated from community.

[20:24]  ⁷ sn This is the standard poetic expression for death. The bones would be buried, often with the bones of relatives in the same tomb, giving rise to the expression.

[20:24]  ⁸ tn The verb is in the second person plural form, and so it is Moses and Aaron who rebelled, and so now because of that Aaron first and then Moses would die without going into the land.

[20:24]  ⁹ tn Heb “mouth.”

[21:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “Sihon.”

[21:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “people.”

[21:23]  ¹¹ tn The clause begins with a preterite with vav (ו) consecutive, but may be subordinated to the next preterite as a temporal clause.