Numbers 20:12

The Lord’s Judgment

20:12 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough ¹  to show me as holy ²  before ³  the Israelites, therefore you will not bring this community into the land I have given them.” ⁴ 

Numbers 25:6

25:6 Just then ⁵  one of the Israelites came and brought to his brothers ⁶  a Midianite woman in the plain view of Moses and of ⁷  the whole community of the Israelites, while they ⁸  were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

Numbers 33:3

33:3 They departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day ⁹  after the Passover the Israelites went out defiantly ¹⁰  in plain sight ¹¹  of all the Egyptians.

[20:12]  ¹ tn Or “to sanctify me.”

[20:12]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[20:12]  ⁴ 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.

[25:6]  ⁵ tn The verse begins with the deictic particle וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh), pointing out the action that was taking place. It stresses the immediacy of the action to the reader.

[25:6]  ⁶ tn Or “to his family”; or “to his clan.”

[25:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “before the eyes of Moses and before the eyes of.”

[25:6]  ⁸ tn The vav (ו) at the beginning of the clause is a disjunctive because it is prefixed to the nonverbal form. In this context it is best interpreted as a circumstantial clause, stressing that this happened “while” people were weeping over the sin.

[33:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “morrow.”

[33:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “with a high hand”; the expression means “defiantly; boldly” or “with confidence.” The phrase is usually used for arrogant sin and pride, the defiant fist, as it were. The image of the high hand can also mean the hand raised to deliver the blow (Job 38:15).

[33:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in the eyes.”