Numbers 21:31

21:31 So the Israelites ¹  lived in the land of the Amorites.

Numbers 16:50

16:50 Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and the plague was stopped.

Numbers 23:6

23:6 So he returned to him, and he was still ²  standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab.

Numbers 24:25--25:1

24:25 Balaam got up and departed and returned to his home, ³  and Balak also went his way.

Israel’s Sin with the Moabite Women

25:1 ⁴ When ⁵  Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to commit sexual immorality ⁶  with the daughters of Moab.

Numbers 32:40

32:40 So Moses gave Gilead to Machir, son of Manasseh, and he lived there. ⁷ 

Numbers 20:1

The Israelites Complain Again

20:1 ⁸ Then the entire community of Israel ⁹  entered the wilderness of Zin in the first month, ¹⁰  and the people stayed in Kadesh. ¹¹  Miriam died and was buried there. ¹² 

Numbers 21:1

Victory at Hormah

21:1 ¹³ When the Canaanite king of Arad ¹⁴  who lived in the Negev ¹⁵  heard that Israel was approaching along the road to Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoner.

Numbers 21:25

21:25 So Israel took all these cities; and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages. ¹⁶ 

Numbers 33:7

33:7 They traveled from Etham, and turned again to Pi-hahiroth, which is before Baal-Zephon; and they camped before Migdal.

Numbers 25:4

God’s Punishment

25:4 The Lord said to Moses, “Arrest all the leaders ¹⁷  of the people, and hang them up ¹⁸  before the Lord in broad daylight, ¹⁹  so that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel.”

Numbers 32:17

32:17 but we will maintain ourselves in armed readiness ²⁰  and go before the Israelites until whenever we have brought them to their place. Our descendants will be living in fortified towns as a protection against ²¹  the inhabitants of the land.

Numbers 35:25

35:25 The community must deliver the slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the community must restore him to the town of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there ²²  until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the consecrated oil.

[21:31]  ¹ tn Heb “Israel.”

[23:6]  ² tn The Hebrew text draws the vividness of the scene with the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) – Balaam returned, and there he was, standing there.

[24:25]  ³ tn Heb “place.”

[25:1]  ⁴ sn Chapter 25 tells of Israel’s sins on the steppes of Moab, and God’s punishment. In the overall plan of the book, here we have another possible threat to God’s program, although here it comes from within the camp (Balaam was the threat from without). If the Moabites could not defeat them one way, they would try another. The chapter has three parts: fornication (vv. 1-3), God’s punishment (vv. 4-9), and aftermath (vv. 10-18). See further G. E. Mendenhall, The Tenth Generation, 105-21; and S. C. Reif, “What Enraged Phinehas? A Study of Numbers 25:8,” JBL 90 (1971): 200-206.

[25:1]  ⁵ tn This first preterite is subordinated to the next as a temporal clause; it is not giving a parallel action, but the setting for the event.

[25:1]  ⁶ sn The account apparently means that the men were having sex with the Moabite women. Why the men submitted to such a temptation at this point is hard to say. It may be that as military heroes the men took liberties with the women of occupied territories.

[32:40]  ⁵ tn Heb “in it.”

[20:1]  ⁶ sn This chapter is the account of how Moses struck the rock in disobedience to the Lord, and thereby was prohibited from entering the land. For additional literature on this part, see E. Arden, “How Moses Failed God,” JBL 76 (1957): 50-52; J. Gray, “The Desert Sojourn of the Hebrews and the Sinai Horeb Tradition,” VT 4 (1954): 148-54; T. W. Mann, “Theological Reflections on the Denial of Moses,” JBL 98 (1979): 481-94; and J. R. Porter, “The Role of Kadesh-Barnea in the Narrative of the Exodus,” JTS 44 (1943): 130-43.

[20:1]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew text stresses this idea by use of apposition: “the Israelites entered, the entire community, the wilderness.”

[20:1]  ⁸ sn The text does not indicate here what year this was, but from comparing the other passages about the itinerary, this is probably the end of the wanderings, the fortieth year, for Aaron died some forty years after the exodus. So in that year the people come through the wilderness of Zin and prepare for a journey through the Moabite plains.

[20:1]  ⁹ sn The Israelites stayed in Kadesh for some time during the wandering; here the stop at Kadesh Barnea may have lasted several months. See the commentaries for the general itinerary.

[20:1]  ¹⁰ sn The death of Miriam is recorded without any qualifications or epitaph. In her older age she had been self-willed and rebellious, and so no doubt humbled by the vivid rebuke from God. But she had made her contribution from the beginning.

[21:1]  ⁷ sn This chapter has several events in it: the victory over Arad (vv. 1-3), the plague of serpents (vv. 4-9), the approach to Moab (vv. 10-20), and the victory over Sihon and Og (vv. 21-35). For information, see D. M. Gunn, “The ‘Battle Report’: Oral or Scribal Convention.” JBL 93 (1974): 513-18; and of the extensive literature on the archaeological site, see EAEHL 1:74-89.

[21:1]  ⁸ sn The name Arad probably refers to a place a number of miles away from Tel Arad in southern Israel. The name could also refer to the whole region (like Edom).

[21:1]  ⁹ tn Or “the south”; “Negev” has become a technical name for the southern desert region and is still in use in modern times.

[21:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “its daughters.”

[25:4]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in the sun.” This means in broad daylight.

[32:17]  ¹⁰ tn The MT has חֻשִׁים (khushim); the verbal root is חוּשׁ (khush, “to make haste” or “hurry”). But in light of the Greek and Latin Vulgate the Hebrew should probably be emended to חֲמֻשִׁים (hamushim), a qal passive participle meaning “in battle array.” See further BDB 301 s.v. I חוּשׁ, BDB 332 s.v. חֲמֻשִׁים; HALOT 300 s.v. I חושׁ, חישׁ; HALOT 331 s.v. I חמשׁ.

[32:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from before.”

[35:25]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in it.”