Numbers 16:14

16:14 Moreover, ¹  you have not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey, nor given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you think you can blind ²  these men? We will not come up.”

Numbers 22:22

God Opposes Balaam

22:22 Then God’s anger was kindled ³  because he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose ⁴  him. Now he was riding on his donkey and his two servants were with him.

Numbers 24:10

24:10 Then Balak became very angry at Balaam, and he struck his hands together. ⁵  Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and look, you have done nothing but bless ⁶  them these three times!

Numbers 25:4

God’s Punishment

25:4 The Lord said to Moses, “Arrest all the leaders ⁷  of the people, and hang them up ⁸  before the Lord in broad daylight, ⁹  so that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel.”

[16:14]  ¹ tn Here אַף (’af) has the sense of “in addition.” It is not a common use.

[16:14]  ² tn Heb “will you bore out the eyes of these men?” The question is “Will you continue to mislead them?” (or “hoodwink” them). In Deut 16:19 it is used for taking a bribe; something like that kind of deception is intended here. They are simply stating that Moses is a deceiver who is misleading the people with false promises.

[22:22]  ³ sn God’s anger now seems to contradict the permission he gave Balaam just before this. Some commentators argue that God’s anger is a response to Balaam’s character in setting out – which the Bible does not explain. God saw in him greed and pleasure for the riches, which is why he was so willing to go.

[22:22]  ⁴ tn The word is שָׂטָן (satan, “to be an adversary, to oppose”).

[24:10]  ⁵ sn This is apparently a sign of contempt or derision (see Job 27:23; and Lam 2:15).

[24:10]  ⁶ tn The construction is emphatic, using the infinitive absolute with the perfect tense for “bless.”

[25:4]  ⁷ sn The meaning must be the leaders behind the apostasy, for they would now be arrested. They were responsible for the tribes’ conformity to the Law, but here they had not only failed in their duty, but had participated. The leaders were executed; the rest of the guilty died by the plague.

[25:4]  ⁸ sn The leaders who were guilty were commanded by God to be publicly exposed by hanging, probably a reference to impaling, but possibly some other form of harsh punishment. The point was that the swaying of their executed bodies would be a startling warning for any who so blatantly set the Law aside and indulged in apostasy through pagan sexual orgies.

[25:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “in the sun.” This means in broad daylight.