1:54 The Israelites did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses 1 – that is what they did.
6:6 “‘All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he must not contact 2 a dead body. 3
15:22 4 “‘If you 5 sin unintentionally and do not observe all these commandments that the Lord has spoken to Moses –
1 tc The LXX adds “and Aaron.”
2 tn The Hebrew verb is simply “enter, go,” no doubt with the sense of go near.
3 tn The Hebrew has נֶפֶשׁ מֵת (nefesh met), literally a “dead person.” But since the word נֶפֶשׁ can also be used for animals, the restriction would be for any kind of corpse. Death was very much a part of the fallen world, and so for one so committed to the
4 sn These regulations supplement what was already ruled on in the Levitical code for the purification and reparation offerings. See those rulings in Lev 4-7 for all the details. Some biblical scholars view the rules in Leviticus as more elaborate and therefore later. However, this probably represents a misunderstanding of the purpose of each collection.
5 tn The verb is the plural imperfect; the sin discussed here is a sin committed by the community, or the larger part of the community.
6 tn Or “girls.” The Hebrew indicates they would be female children, making the selection easy.
7 tn Heb “who have not known [a] man by lying with a man.”
8 sn Many contemporary scholars see this story as fictitious, composed by the Jews during the captivity. According to this interpretation, the spoils of war here indicate the wealth of the Jews in captivity, which was to be given to the Levites and priests for the restoration of the sanctuary in Jerusalem. The conclusion drawn from this interpretation is that returning Jews had the same problem as the earlier ones: to gain a foothold in the land. Against this interpretation of the account is a lack of hard evidence, a lack which makes this interpretation appear contrived and subjective. If this was the intent of a later writer, he surely could have stated this more clearly than by making up such a story.