Numbers 22:18

22:18 Balaam replied ¹  to the servants of Balak, “Even if Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I could not transgress the commandment ²  of the Lord my God ³  to do less or more.

Numbers 24:13

24:13 ‘If Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond ⁴  the commandment ⁵  of the Lord to do either good or evil of my own will, ⁶  but whatever the Lord tells me I must speak’?

Numbers 27:14

27:14 For ⁷  in the wilderness of Zin when the community rebelled against me, you ⁸  rebelled against my command ⁹  to show me as holy ¹⁰  before their eyes over the water – the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.”

[22:18]  ¹ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[22:18]  ² tn Heb “mouth.”

[22:18]  ³ sn In the light of subsequent events one should not take too seriously that Balaam referred to Yahweh as his God. He is referring properly to the deity for which he is acting as the agent.

[24:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “I am not able to go beyond.”

[24:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “mouth.”

[24:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “from my heart.”

[27:14]  ⁷ tn The preposition on the relative pronoun has the force of “because of the fact that.”

[27:14]  ⁸ tn The verb is the second masculine plural form.

[27:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “mouth.”

[27:14]  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.