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 16:5
16:5 Then he said to Korah and to all his company, “In the morning the Lord will make known who are his, and who is holy. He will cause that person 3 to approach him; the person he has chosen he will cause to approach him.
Numbers 16:46
16:46 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take the censer, put burning coals from the altar in it, place incense on it, and go quickly into the assembly and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the Lord – the plague has begun!”
Numbers 18:24
18:24 But I have given 4 to the Levites for an inheritance the tithes of the Israelites that are offered 5 to the Lord as a raised offering. That is why I said to them that among the Israelites they are to have no inheritance.”
Numbers 21:34
21:34 And the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand. You will do to him what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.
Numbers 22:4
22:4 So the Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “Now this mass of people 6 will lick up everything around us, as the bull devours the grass of the field. Now Balak son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at this time.
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.
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 Heb “him.”
4 tn The classification of the perfect tense here too could be the perfect of resolve, since this law is declaring what will be their portion – “I have decided to give.”
5 tn In the Hebrew text the verb has no expressed subject (although the “Israelites” is certainly intended), and so it can be rendered as a passive.
6 tn The word is simply “company,” but in the context he must mean a vast company – a horde of people.
7 tn Heb “and the land is subdued before you.”