Numbers 14:5

14:5 Then Moses and Aaron fell down with their faces to the ground ¹  before the whole assembled community ²  of the Israelites.

Numbers 20:4

20:4 Why ³  have you brought up the Lord’s community into this wilderness? So that ⁴  we and our cattle should die here?

Numbers 16:3

16:3 And they assembled against Moses and Aaron, saying to them, “You take too much upon yourselves, ⁵  seeing that the whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the community of the Lord?”

[14:5]  ¹ sn This action of Moses and Aaron is typical of them in the wilderness with the Israelites. The act shows self-abasement and deference before the sovereign Lord. They are not bowing before the people here, but in front of the people they bow before God. According to Num 17:6-15 this prostration is for the purpose of intercessory prayer. Here it prevents immediate wrath from God.

[14:5]  ² tn Heb “before all the assembly of the congregation.”

[20:4]  ³ tn Heb “and why….” The conjunction seems to be recording another thing that the people said in their complaint against Moses.

[20:4]  ⁴ tn The clause uses the infinitive construct with the lamed (ל) preposition. The clause would be a result clause in this sentence: “Why have you brought us here…with the result that we will all die?”

[16:3]  ⁵ tn The meaning of רַב־לָכֶם (rab-lakhem) is something like “you have assumed far too much authority.” It simply means “much to you,” perhaps “you have gone to far,” or “you are overreaching yourselves” (M. Noth, Numbers [OTL], 123). He is objecting to the exclusiveness of the system that Moses has been introducing.