Numbers 6:11

6:11 Then the priest will offer one for a purification offering ¹  and the other ²  as a burnt offering, ³  and make atonement ⁴  for him, because of his transgression ⁵  in regard to the corpse. So he must reconsecrate ⁶  his head on that day.

Numbers 8:17

8:17 For all the firstborn males among the Israelites are mine, both humans and animals; when I destroyed ⁷  all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I set them apart for myself.

Numbers 16:37

16:37 “Tell ⁸  Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to pick up ⁹  the censers out of the flame, for they are holy, and then scatter the coals of fire ¹⁰  at a distance.

Numbers 27:14

27:14 For ¹¹  in the wilderness of Zin when the community rebelled against me, you ¹²  rebelled against my command ¹³  to show me as holy ¹⁴  before their eyes over the water – the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.”

[6:11]  ¹ tn The traditional translation of חַטָּאת (khatta’t) is “sin offering,” but it is more precise to render it “purification offering” (as with the other names of sacrifices) to show the outcome, not the cause of the offering (see Lev 4). Besides, this offering was made for ritual defilements (for which no confession was required) as well as certain sins (for which a confession of sin was required). This offering restored the person to the ritual state of purity by purifying the area into which he would be going.

[6:11]  ² tn The repetition of “the one…and the one” forms the distributive sense of “the one…and the other.”

[6:11]  ³ tn The burnt offering (Lev 1) reflects the essence of atonement: By this sacrifice the worshiper was completely surrendering to God, and God was completely accepting the worshiper.

[6:11]  ⁴ tn The verb וְכִפֶּר (vÿkhipper) is the Piel perfect with vav (ו) consecutive. The meaning of the verb is “to expiate, pacify, atone.” It refers to the complete removal of the barrier of fellowship between the person and God, and the total acceptance of that person into his presence. The idea of “to cover,” often linked to this meaning, is derived from a homonym, and not from this word and its usage.

[6:11]  ⁵ tn The verb “to sin” has a wide range of meanings, beginning with the idea of “missing the way or the goal.” In view of the nature of this case – the prescribed ritual without confession – the idea is more that he failed to keep the vow’s stipulations in this strange circumstance than that he committed intentional sin.

[6:11]  ⁶ tn The verb simply means “to consecrate,” but because it refers to a vow that was interrupted, it must here mean to “reconsecrate.”

[8:17]  ⁷ tn The idiomatic “on the day of” precedes the infinitive construct of נָכָה (nakhah) to form the temporal clause: “in the day of my striking…” becomes “when I struck.”

[16:37]  ¹³ tn Heb “say to.”

[16:37]  ¹⁴ tn The verb is the jussive with a vav (ו) coming after the imperative; it may be subordinated to form a purpose clause (“that he may pick up”) or the object of the imperative.

[16:37]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew text just has “fire,” but it would be hard to conceive of this action apart from the idea of coals of fire.

[27:14]  ¹⁹ tn The preposition on the relative pronoun has the force of “because of the fact that.”

[27:14]  ²⁰ tn The verb is the second masculine plural form.

[27:14]  ²¹ tn Heb “mouth.”

[27:14]  ²² 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.