Numbers 5:2

5:2 “Command the Israelites to expel ¹  from the camp every leper, ²  everyone who has a discharge, ³  and whoever becomes defiled by a corpse. ⁴ 

Numbers 5:4

5:4 So the Israelites did so, and expelled them outside the camp. As the Lord had spoken ⁵  to Moses, so the Israelites did.

Numbers 13:3

13:3 So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command ⁶  of the Lord. All of them were leaders ⁷  of the Israelites.

Numbers 13:16-17

13:16 These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to investigate the land. And Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua. ⁸ 

The Spies’ Instructions

13:17 When Moses sent ⁹  them to investigate the land of Canaan, he told them, “Go up through the Negev, ¹⁰  and then go up into the hill country

Numbers 13:27

13:27 They told Moses, ¹¹  “We went to the land where you sent us. ¹²  It is indeed flowing with milk and honey, ¹³  and this is its fruit.

Numbers 14:36

14:36 The men whom Moses sent to investigate the land, who returned and made the whole community murmur against him by producing ¹⁴  an evil report about the land,

Numbers 16:28-29

16:28 Then Moses said, “This is how ¹⁵  you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will. ¹⁶  16:29 If these men die a natural death, ¹⁷  or if they share the fate ¹⁸  of all men, then the Lord has not sent me.

Numbers 20:14

Rejection by the Edomites

20:14 ¹⁹ Moses ²⁰  sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: ²¹  “Thus says your brother Israel: ‘You know all the hardships we have experienced, ²² 

Numbers 20:16

20:16 So when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice and sent a messenger, ²³  and has brought us up out of Egypt. Now ²⁴  we are here in Kadesh, a town on the edge of your country. ²⁵ 

Numbers 21:6

21:6 So the Lord sent poisonous ²⁶  snakes ²⁷  among the people, and they bit the people; many people of Israel died.

Numbers 24:12

24:12 Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not also tell your messengers whom you sent to me,

Numbers 31:6

Campaign Against the Midianites

31:6 So Moses sent them to the war, one thousand from every tribe, with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who was in charge ²⁸  of the holy articles ²⁹  and the signal trumpets.

[5:2]  ¹ tn The construction uses the Piel imperative followed by this Piel imperfect/jussive form; it is here subordinated to the preceding volitive, providing the content of the command. The verb שָׁלַח (shalakh) in this verbal stem is a strong word, meaning “expel, put out, send away, or release” (as in “let my people go”).

[5:2]  ² sn The word צָרוּעַ (tsarua’), although translated “leper,” does not primarily refer to leprosy proper (i.e., Hansen’s disease). The RSV and the NASB continued the KJV tradition of using “leper” and “leprosy.” More recent studies have concluded that the Hebrew word is a generic term covering all infectious skin diseases (including leprosy when that actually showed up). True leprosy was known and feared certainly by the time of Amos (ca. 760 b.c.). There is evidence that the disease was known in Egypt by 1500 b.c. So this term would include that disease in all probability. But in view of the diagnosis and healing described in Leviticus 13 and 14, the term must be broader. The whole basis for the laws of separation may be found in the book of Leviticus. The holiness of the Lord who dwelt among his people meant that a high standard was imposed on them for their living arrangements as well as access to the sanctuary. Anything that was corrupted, diseased, dying, or contaminated was simply not compatible with the holiness of God and was therefore excluded. This is not to say that it was treated as sin, or the afflicted as sinners. It simply was revealing – and safeguarding – the holiness of the Lord. It thus provided a revelation for all time that in the world to come nothing unclean will enter into the heavenly sanctuary. As the Apostle Paul says, we will all be changed from this corruptible body into one that is incorruptible (1 Cor 15:53). So while the laws of purity and holiness were practical for the immediate audience, they have far-reaching implications for theology. The purity regulations have been done away with in Christ – the problem is dealt with differently in the new covenant. There is no earthly temple, and so the separation laws are not in force. Wisdom would instruct someone with an infectious disease to isolate, however. But just because the procedure is fulfilled in Christ does not mean that believers today are fit for glory just as they are. On the contrary, they must be changed before going into his presence. In like manner the sacrifices have been done away in Christ – not what they covered. Sin is still sin, even though it is dealt with differently on this side of the cross. But the ritual and the regulations of the old covenant at Sinai have been fulfilled in Christ.

[5:2]  ³ sn The rules of discharge (Lev 12 and 15) include everything from menstruation to chronic diseases (see G. Wyper, ISBE 1:947, as well as R. K. Harrison, Leviticus (TOTC), 158-66, and G. J. Wenham, Leviticus (NICOT), 217-25.

[5:2]  ⁴ tn The word is נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh), which usually simply means “[whole] life,” i.e., the soul in the body, the person. But here it must mean the corpse, the dead person, since that is what will defile (although it was also possible to become unclean by touching certain diseased people, such as a leper).

[5:4]  ⁵ tn The perfect tense is here given a past perfect nuance to stress that the word of the Lord preceded the obedience.

[13:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “mouth.”

[13:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “heads.”

[13:16]  ¹³ sn The difference in the names is slight, a change from “he saves” to “the Lord saves.” The Greek text of the OT used Iesoun for Hebrew Yeshua.

[13:17]  ¹⁷ tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the next verb of the same formation to express a temporal clause.

[13:17]  ¹⁸ tn The instructions had them first go up into the southern desert of the land, and after passing through that, into the hill country of the Canaanites. The text could be rendered “into the Negev” as well as “through the Negev.”

[13:27]  ²¹ tn Heb “told him and said.” The referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:27]  ²² tn The relative clause modifies “the land.” It is constructed with the relative and the verb: “where you sent us.”

[13:27]  ²³ sn This is the common expression for the material abundance of the land (see further, F. C. Fensham, “An Ancient Tradition of the Fertility of Palestine,” PEQ 98 [1966]: 166-67).

[14:36]  ²⁵ tn The verb is the Hiphil infinitive construct with a lamed (ל) preposition from the root יָצָא (yatsa’, “to bring out”). The use of the infinitive here is epexegetical, that is, explaining how they caused the people to murmur.

[16:28]  ²⁹ tn Heb “in this.”

[16:28]  ³⁰ tn The Hebrew text simply has כִּי־לֹא מִלִּבִּי (ki-lo’ millibbi, “for not from my heart”). The heart is the center of the will, the place decisions are made (see H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament). Moses is saying that the things he has done have not come “from the will of man” so to speak – and certainly not from some secret desire on his part to seize power.

[16:29]  ³³ tn Heb “if like the death of every man they die.”

[16:29]  ³⁴ tn The noun is פְּקֻדָּה (pÿquddah, “appointment, visitation”). The expression refers to a natural death, parallel to the first expression.

[20:14]  ³⁷ sn For this particular section, see W. F. Albright, “From the Patriarchs to Moses: 2. Moses out of Egypt,” BA 36 (1973): 57-58; J. R. Bartlett, “The Land of Seir and the Brotherhood of Edom,” JTS 20 (1969): 1-20, and “The Rise and Fall of the Kingdom of Edom,” PEQ 104 (1972): 22-37, and “The Brotherhood of Edom,” JSOT 4 (1977): 2-7.

[20:14]  ³⁸ tn Heb “And Moses sent.”

[20:14]  ³⁹ sn Some modern biblical scholars are convinced, largely through arguments from silence, that there were no unified kingdoms in Edom until the 9th century, and no settlements there before the 12th century, and so the story must be late and largely fabricated. The evidence is beginning to point to the contrary. But the cities and residents of the region would largely be Bedouin, and so leave no real remains.

[20:14]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “found.”

[20:16]  ⁴¹ tn The word could be rendered “angel” or “messenger.” Some ambiguity may be intended in this report.

[20:16]  ⁴² tn The Hebrew text uses הִנֵּה (hinneh) to emphasize the “here and now” aspect of the report to Edom.

[20:16]  ⁴³ tn Heb “your border.”

[21:6]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “fiery.”

[21:6]  ⁴⁶ tn The designation of the serpents/ snakes is נְחָשִׁים (nÿkhashim), which is similar to the word for “bronze” (נְחֹשֶׁת, nÿkhoshet). This has led some scholars to describe the serpents as bronze in color. The description of them as fiery indicates they were poisonous. Perhaps the snake in question is a species of adder.

[31:6]  ⁴⁹ tn The Hebrew text uses the idiom that these “were in his hand,” meaning that he had the responsibility over them.

[31:6]  ⁵⁰ sn It is not clear what articles from the sanctuary were included. Tg. Ps.-J. adds (interpretively) “the Urim and Thummim.”