Numbers 3:47

3:47 collect ¹  five shekels for each ²  one individually; you are to collect ³  this amount ⁴  in the currency of the sanctuary shekel (this shekel is twenty gerahs). ⁵ 

Numbers 3:41

3:41 And take ⁶  the Levites for me – I am the Lord – instead of all the firstborn males among the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the livestock of the Israelites.”

Numbers 11:16

The Response of God

11:16 ⁷ The Lord said to Moses, “Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know are elders of the people and officials ⁸  over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting; let them take their position there with you.

[3:47]  ¹ tn The verb again is the perfect tense in sequence; the meaning of “take” may be interpreted here with the sense of “collect.”

[3:47]  ² tn The idea is expressed simply by repetition: “take five, five, shekels according to the skull.” They were to collect five shekels for each individual.

[3:47]  ³ tn The verb form now is the imperfect of instruction or legislation.

[3:47]  ⁴ tn Heb “them,” referring to the five shekels.

[3:47]  ⁵ sn The sanctuary shekel was first mentioned in Exod 30:13. The half-shekel of Exod 38:26 would then be 10 gerahs. Consequently, the calculations would indicate that five shekels was about two ounces of silver for each person. See R. B. Y. Scott, “Weights and Measures of the Bible,” BA 22 (1951): 22-40, and “The Scale-Weights from Ophel, 1963-1964,” PEQ 97 (1965): 128-39.

[3:41]  ⁶ tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it carries forward the instructions from the preceding verse. The verb “take” now has the sense of appointing or designating the Levites.

[11:16]  ¹¹ sn The Lord provides Spirit-empowered assistance for Moses. Here is another variation on the theme of Moses’ faith. Just as he refused to lead alone and was given Aaron to share the work, so here he protests the burden and will share it with seventy elders. If God’s servant will not trust wholeheartedly, that individual will not be used by God as he or she might have been. Others will share in the power and the work. Probably one could say that it was God’s will for others to share this leadership – but not to receive it through these circumstances.

[11:16]  ¹² tn The “officials” (שֹׁטְּרִים, shottÿrim) were a group of the elders who seem to have had some administrative capacities. The LXX used the word “scribes.” For further discussion, see R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 69-70.