Numbers 1:20

1:20 And they were as follows:

The descendants of Reuben, the firstborn son of Israel: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name individually.

Numbers 11:16

The Response of God

11:16 ¹ 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 ²  over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting; let them take their position there with you.

Numbers 16:38

16:38 As for the censers of these men who sinned at the cost of their lives, ³  they must be made ⁴  into hammered sheets for covering the altar, because they presented them before the Lord and sanctified them. They will become a sign to the Israelites.”

Numbers 18:11

18:11 “And this is yours: the raised offering of their gift, along with all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual ordinance. Everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it.

Numbers 28:14

28:14 For their drink offerings, include ⁵  half a hin of wine with each bull, one-third of a hin for the ram, and one-fourth of a hin for each lamb. This is the burnt offering for each month ⁶  throughout the months of the year.

Numbers 32:29

32:29 Moses said to them: “If the Gadites and the Reubenites cross the Jordan with you, each one equipped for battle in the Lord’s presence, and you conquer the land, ⁷  then you must allot them the territory of Gilead as their possession.

Numbers 36:3

36:3 Now if they should be married to one of the men ⁸  from another Israelite tribe, their inheritance would be taken from the inheritance of our fathers and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry. ⁹  As a result, it will be taken from the lot of our inheritance.

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¹ 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.

² 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.

³ tn The expression is “in/by/against their life.” That they sinned against their life means that they brought ruin to themselves.

⁴ tn The form is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. But there is no expressed subject for “and they shall make them,” and so it may be treated as a passive (“they shall [must] be made”).

⁵ tn The word “include” is not in the Hebrew text but is implied. It is supplied in the translation to make a complete English sentence.

⁶ tn Heb “a month in its month.”

⁷ tn Heb “and the land is subdued before you.”

⁸ tn “Men” is understood; it says “to one from the sons of the tribes of the Israelites for a wife,” or if he has her for a wife.

⁹ tn Heb “which they will be to them,” meaning, to those who have them, i.e., the marriages.