Numbers 9:15

The Leading of the Lord

9:15 ¹ On ²  the day that the tabernacle was set up, ³  the cloud ⁴  covered the tabernacle – the tent of the testimony ⁵  – and from evening until morning there was ⁶  a fiery appearance ⁷  over the tabernacle.

Numbers 22:5

22:5 And he sent messengers to Balaam ⁸  son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates River ⁹  in the land of Amaw, ¹⁰  to summon him, saying, “Look, a nation has come out of Egypt. They cover the face ¹¹  of the earth, and they are settling next to me.

[9:15]  ¹ sn This section (Num 9:15-23) recapitulates the account in Exod 40:34 but also contains some additional detail about the cloud that signaled Israel’s journeys. Here again material from the book of Exodus is used to explain more of the laws for the camp in motion.

[9:15]  ² tn Heb “and/now on the day.”

[9:15]  ³ tn The construction uses the temporal expression with the Hiphil infinitive construct followed by the object, the tabernacle. “On the day of the setting up of the tabernacle” leaves the subject unstated, and so the entire clause may be expressed in the passive voice.

[9:15]  ⁴ sn The explanation and identification of this cloud has been a subject of much debate. Some commentators have concluded that it was identical with the cloud that led the Israelites away from Egypt and through the sea, but others have made a more compelling case that this is a different phenomenon (see ZPEB 4:796). A number of modern scholars see the description as a retrojection from later, perhaps Solomonic times (see G. H. Davies, IDB 3:817). Others have tried to connect it with Ugaritic terminology, but unconvincingly (see T. W. Mann, “The Pillar of Cloud in the Reed Sea Narrative,” JBL 90 [1971]: 15-30; G. E. Mendenhall, The Tenth Generation, 32-66, 209-13; and R. Good, “Cloud Messengers?” UF 10 [1978]: 436-37).

[9:15]  ⁵ sn The cloud apparently was centered over the tent, over the spot of the ark of the covenant in the most holy place. It thereafter spread over the whole tabernacle.

[9:15]  ⁶ tn The imperfect tense in this and the next line should be classified as a customary imperfect, stressing incomplete action but in the past time – something that used to happen, or would happen.

[9:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “like the appearance of fire.”

[22:5]  ⁸ sn There is much literature on pagan diviners and especially prophecy in places in the east like Mari (see, for example, H. B. Huffmon, “Prophecy in the Mari Letters,” BA 31 [1968]: 101-24). Balaam appears to be a pagan diviner who was of some reputation; he was called to curse the Israelites, but God intervened and gave him blessings only. The passage forms a nice complement to texts that deal with blessings and curses. It shows that no one can curse someone whom God has blessed.

[22:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “by the river”; in most contexts this expression refers to the Euphrates River (cf. NAB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[22:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in the land of Amaw” (cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV); traditionally “in the land of the sons of his people.” The LXX has “by the river of the land.”

[22:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “eye.” So also in v. 11.