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 13:26

The Spies’ Reports

13:26 They came back ³  to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. ⁴  They reported ⁵  to the whole community and showed the fruit of the land.

Numbers 16:46

16:46 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take the censer, put burning coals from the altar in it, place incense on it, and go quickly into the assembly and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the Lord – the plague has begun!”

Numbers 20:12

The Lord’s Judgment

20:12 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough ⁶  to show me as holy ⁷  before ⁸  the Israelites, therefore you will not bring this community into the land I have given them.” ⁹ 

Numbers 20:24

20:24 “Aaron will be gathered to his ancestors, ¹⁰  for he will not enter into the land I have given to the Israelites because both of you ¹¹  rebelled against my word ¹²  at the waters of Meribah.

Numbers 21:7

21:7 Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he would take away ¹³  the snakes from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

Numbers 21:34

21:34 And the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand. You will do to him what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.

Numbers 24:10

24:10 Then Balak became very angry at Balaam, and he struck his hands together. ¹⁴  Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and look, you have done nothing but bless ¹⁵  them these three times!

Numbers 25:8

25:8 and went after the Israelite man into the tent ¹⁶  and thrust through the Israelite man and into the woman’s abdomen. ¹⁷  So the plague was stopped from the Israelites. ¹⁸ 

[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.

[13:26]  ³ tn The construction literally has “and they went and they entered,” which may be smoothed out as a verbal hendiadys, the one verb modifying the other.

[13:26]  ⁴ sn Kadesh is Ain Qadeis, about 50 miles (83 km) south of Beer Sheba. It is called Kadesh-barnea in Num 32:8.

[13:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “They brought back word”; the verb is the Hiphil preterite of שׁוּב (shuv).

[20:12]  ⁵ tn Or “to sanctify me.”

[20:12]  ⁶ sn Using the basic meaning of the word קָדַשׁ (qadash, “to be separate, distinct, set apart”), we can understand better what Moses failed to do. He was supposed to have acted in a way that would have shown God to be distinct, different, holy. Instead, he gave the impression that God was capricious and hostile – very human. The leader has to be aware of what image he is conveying to the people.

[20:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[20:12]  ⁸ tn There is debate as to exactly what the sin of Moses was. Some interpreters think that the real sin might have been that he refused to do this at first, but that fact has been suppressed from the text. Some think the text was deliberately vague to explain why they could not enter the land without demeaning them. Others simply, and more likely, note that in Moses there was unbelief, pride, anger, impatience – disobedience.

[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.”

[21:7]  ⁹ tn The verb is the Hiphil jussive with a vav (ו) consecutive from the verb סוּר (sur); after the imperative this form may be subordinated to become a purpose clause.

[24:10]  ¹¹ sn This is apparently a sign of contempt or derision (see Job 27:23; and Lam 2:15).

[24:10]  ¹² tn The construction is emphatic, using the infinitive absolute with the perfect tense for “bless.”

[25:8]  ¹³ tn The word קֻבָּה (qubbah) seems to refer to the innermost part of the family tent. Some suggest it was in the tabernacle area, but that is unlikely. S. C. Reif argues for a private tent shrine (“What Enraged Phinehas? A Study of Numbers 25:8,” JBL 90 [1971]: 200-206).

[25:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and he thrust the two of them the Israelite man and the woman to her belly [lower abdomen].” Reif notes the similarity of the word with the previous “inner tent,” and suggests that it means Phinehas stabbed her in her shrine tent, where she was being set up as some sort of priestess or cult leader. Phinehas put a quick end to their sexual immorality while they were in the act.

[25:8]  ¹⁵ sn Phinehas saw all this as part of the pagan sexual ritual that was defiling the camp. He had seen that the Lord himself had had the guilty put to death. And there was already some plague breaking out in the camp that had to be stopped. And so in his zeal he dramatically put an end to this incident, that served to stop the rest and end the plague.