Discovery BoxNumbers 2:2
Context2:2 “Every one 1 of the Israelites must camp 2 under his standard with the emblems of his family; 3 they must camp at some distance 4 around the tent of meeting. 5
Numbers 14:11
Context14:11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise 6 me, and how long will they not believe 7 in me, in spite of the signs that I have done among them?
Numbers 14:22
Context14:22 For all the people have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have tempted 8 me now these ten times, 9 and have not obeyed me, 10
Numbers 16:38
Context16:38 As for the censers of these men who sinned at the cost of their lives, 11 they must be made 12 into hammered sheets for covering the altar, because they presented them before the Lord and sanctified them. They will become a sign to the Israelites.”
Numbers 17:10
Context17:10 The Lord said to Moses, “Bring Aaron’s staff back before the testimony to be preserved for a sign to the rebels, so that you may bring their murmurings to an end 13 before me, that they will not die.” 14
[2:2] 1 tn Heb “a man by his own standard.”
[2:2] 2 tn The imperfect tense is to be taken in the nuance of instruction.
[2:2] 3 tn Heb “of/for the house of their fathers.”
[2:2] 4 tn The Hebrew expression מִנֶּגֶד (minneged) means “from before” or “opposite; facing” and “at some distance” or “away from the front of” (see BDB 617 s.v. נֶגֶד 2.c.a; DCH 5:603-4 s.v. 3.b).
[2:2] 5 sn The Israelites were camping as a military camp, each tribe with the standards and emblems of the family. The standard was the symbol fastened to the end of a pole and carried to battle. It served to rally the tribe to the battle. The Bible nowhere describes these, although the serpent emblem of Numbers 21:8-9 may give a clue. But they probably did not have shapes of animals in view of the prohibition in the Decalogue. The standards may have been smaller for the families than the ones for the tribes. See further K. A. Kitchen, “Some Egyptian Background to the Old Testament,” TynBul 5 (1960): 11; and T. W. Mann, Divine Presence and Guidance in Israelite Tradition, 169-73.
[14:11] 6 tn The verb נָאַץ (na’ats) means “to condemn, spurn” (BDB 610 s.v.). Coats suggests that in some contexts the word means actual rejection or renunciation (Rebellion in the Wilderness, 146, 7). This would include the idea of distaste.
[14:11] 7 tn The verb “to believe” (root אָמַן, ’aman) has the basic idea of support, dependability for the root. The Hiphil has a declarative sense, namely, to consider something reliable or dependable and to act on it. The people did not trust what the
[14:22] 11 tn The verb נָסָה (nasah) means “to test, to tempt, to prove.” It can be used to indicate things are tried or proven, or for testing in a good sense, or tempting in the bad sense, i.e., putting God to the test. In all uses there is uncertainty or doubt about the outcome. Some uses of the verb are positive: If God tests Abraham in Genesis 22:1, it is because there is uncertainty whether he fears the
[14:22] 12 tn “Ten” is here a round figure, emphasizing the complete testing. But see F. V. Winnett, The Mosaic Tradition, 121-54.
[14:22] 13 tn Heb “listened to my voice.”
[16:38] 16 tn The expression is “in/by/against their life.” That they sinned against their life means that they brought ruin to themselves.
[16:38] 17 tn The form is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. But there is no expressed subject for “and they shall make them,” and so it may be treated as a passive (“they shall [must] be made”).
[17:10] 21 tn The verb means “to finish; to complete” and here “to bring to an end.” It is the imperfect following the imperative, and so introduces a purpose clause (as a final imperfect).
[17:10] 22 tn This is another final imperfect in a purpose clause.
