11:34 So the name of that place was called Kibroth Hattaavah, 10 because there they buried the people that craved different food. 11
20:2 And there was no water for the community, and so they gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron.
33:14 They traveled from Alush and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.
1 tn Heb “and with you.”
2 tn The construction uses the noun in a distributive sense: “a man, a man for a tribe,” meaning a man for each tribe.
3 tn The clause expresses a distributive function, “a man” means “each man.”
4 sn See J. R. Bartlett, “The Use of the Word ראשׁ as a Title in the Old Testament,” VT 19 (1969): 1-10.
5 tn Heb “the house of his fathers.”
6 tn The name תַּבְעֵרָה (tav’erah) is given to the spot as a commemorative of the wilderness experience. It is explained by the formula using the same verbal root, “to burn.” Such naming narratives are found dozens of times in the OT, and most frequently in the Pentateuch. The explanation is seldom an exact etymology, and so in the literature is called a popular etymology. It is best to explain the connection as a figure of speech, a paronomasia, which is a phonetic wordplay that may or may not be etymologically connected. Usually the name is connected to the explanation by a play on the verbal root – here the preterite explaining the noun. The significance of commemorating the place by such a device is to “burn” it into the memory of Israel. The narrative itself would be remembered more easily by the name and its motif. The namings in the wilderness wanderings remind the faithful of unbelief, and warn us all not to murmur as they murmured. See further A. P. Ross, “Paronomasia and Popular Etymologies in the Naming Narrative of the Old Testament,” Ph.D. diss., University of Cambridge, 1982.
7 tn Heb “our souls.”
8 sn The Hebrews were complaining both about the bland taste of the manna and dehydration – they were parched in the wilderness.
9 tn Heb “before our eyes,” meaning that “we see nothing except this manna.”
10 sn The name “the graves of the ones who craved” is again explained by a wordplay, a popular etymology. In Hebrew קִבְרוֹת הַתַּאֲוָה (qivrot hatta’avah) is the technical name. It is the place that the people craved the meat, longing for the meat of Egypt, and basically rebelled against God. The naming marks another station in the wilderness where the people failed to accept God’s good gifts with grace and to pray for their other needs to be met.
11 tn The words “different food” are implied, and are supplied in the translation for clarity.
12 tn The verb is rendered as a passive because there is no expressed subject.
13 tn Or “Wadi Eshcol.” The translation “brook” is too generous; the Hebrew term refers to a river bed, a ravine or valley through which torrents of rain would rush in the rainy season; at other times it might be completely dry.
14 tn The word “Eshcol” is drawn from the Hebrew expression concerning the “cluster of grapes.” The word is probably retained in the name Burj Haskeh, two miles north of Damascus.
15 tn Heb “Moses sent to spy out.”
16 tn Heb “daughters.”
17 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Og) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
18 tn Heb “no remnant.”
19 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
20 tn The verse uses כֹּה (koh) twice: “Station yourself here…I will meet [the
21 tn Heb “any work [of] service”; this means any occupational work, that is, the ordinary service.
22 sn That is, the Mediterranean.