Numbers 31:4

31:4 You must send to the battle a thousand men from every tribe throughout all the tribes of Israel.” ¹ 

Numbers 5:3

5:3 You must expel both men and women; you must put them outside the camp, so that ²  they will not defile their camps, among which I live.”

Numbers 13:2

13:2 “Send out men to investigate ³  the land of Canaan, which I am giving ⁴  to the Israelites. You are to send one man from each ancestral tribe, ⁵  each one a leader among them.”

[31:4]  ¹ sn Some commentators argue that given the size of the nation (which they reject) the small number for the army is a sign of the unrealistic character of the story. The number is a round number, but it is also a holy war, and God would give them the victory. They are beginning to learn here, and at Jericho, and later against these Midianites under Gideon, that God does not want or need a large army in order to obtain victory.

[5:3]  ² tn The imperfect tense functions here as a final imperfect, expressing the purpose of putting such folks outside the camp. The two preceding imperfects (repeated for emphasis) are taken here as instruction or legislation.

[13:2]  ³ tn The imperfect tense with the conjunction is here subordinated to the preceding imperative to form the purpose clause. It can thus be translated “send…to investigate.”

[13:2]  ⁴ tn The participle here should be given a future interpretation, meaning “which I am about to give” or “which I am going to give.”

[13:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “one man one man of the tribe of his fathers.”