Numbers 29:12

The Feast of Temporary Shelters

29:12 “‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you are to have a holy assembly; you must do no ordinary work, and you must keep a festival to the Lord for seven days.

Numbers 31:8

31:8 They killed the kings of Midian in addition to those slain – Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba – five Midianite kings. ¹  They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. ² 

Numbers 31:28

31:28 “You must exact ³  a tribute for the Lord from the fighting men who went out to battle: one life out of five hundred, from the people, the cattle, and from the donkeys and the sheep.

Numbers 33:3

33:3 They departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day ⁴  after the Passover the Israelites went out defiantly ⁵  in plain sight ⁶  of all the Egyptians.

[31:8]  ¹ sn Here again we see that there was no unified empire, but Midianite tribal groups.

[31:8]  ² sn And what was Balaam doing among the Midianites? The implication is strong. This pagan diviner had to submit to the revealed will of God in the oracles, but he nonetheless could be hired. He had been a part of the attempt to destroy Israel that failed; he then apparently became part of the plan, if not the adviser, to destroy them with sexual immorality and pagan ritual.

[31:28]  ¹ tn The verb is the Hiphil, “you shall cause to be taken up.” The perfect with vav (ו) continues the sequence of the instructions. This raised offering was to be a tax of one-fifth of one percent for the Lord.

[33:3]  ¹ tn Heb “morrow.”

[33:3]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “in the eyes.”