Numbers 20:18

20:18 But Edom said to him, “You will not pass through me, ¹  or I will come out against ²  you with the sword.”

Numbers 12:11

The Intercession of Moses

12:11 So Aaron said to Moses, “O my lord, ³  please do not hold this sin against us, in which we have acted foolishly and have sinned!

Numbers 22:29

22:29 And Balaam said to the donkey, “You have made me look stupid; I wish ⁴  there were a sword in my hand, for I would kill you right now.”

Numbers 14:11

The Punishment from God

14:11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise ⁵  me, and how long will they not believe ⁶  in me, in spite of the signs that I have done among them?

Numbers 20:12

The Lord’s Judgment

20:12 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough ⁷  to show me as holy ⁸  before ⁹  the Israelites, therefore you will not bring this community into the land I have given them.” ¹⁰ 

[20:18]  ¹ tn The imperfect tense here has the nuance of prohibition.

[20:18]  ² tn Heb “to meet.”

[12:11]  ³ tn The expression בִּי אֲדֹנִי (bi ’adoni, “O my lord”) shows a good deal of respect for Moses by Aaron. The expression is often used in addressing God.

[22:29]  ⁵ tn The optative clause is introduced with the particle לוּ (lu).

[14:11]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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 Lord said.

[20:12]  ⁹ tn Or “to sanctify me.”

[20:12]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[20:12]  ¹² 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.