Numbers 2:2

2:2 “Every one ¹  of the Israelites must camp ²  under his standard with the emblems of his family; ³  they must camp at some distance ⁴  around the tent of meeting. ⁵ 

Numbers 15:21

15:21 You must give to the Lord some of the first of your finely ground flour as a raised offering in your future generations.

Numbers 16:2

16:2 and rebelled against Moses, along with some of the Israelites, 250 leaders ⁶  of the community, chosen from the assembly, ⁷  famous men. ⁸ 

Numbers 27:20

27:20 Then you must delegate ⁹  some of your authority ¹⁰  to him, so that the whole community of the Israelites will be obedient. ¹¹ 

Numbers 35:11

35:11 you must then designate some towns as towns of refuge for you, to which a person who has killed someone unintentionally may flee.

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¹ tn Heb “a man by his own standard.”

² tn The imperfect tense is to be taken in the nuance of instruction.

³ tn Heb “of/for the house of their fathers.”

⁴ tn The Hebrew expression מִנֶּגֶד (minneged) means “from before” or “opposite; facing” and “at some distance” or “away from the front of” (see BDB 617 s.v. נֶגֶד 2.c.a; DCH 5:603-4 s.v. 3.b).

⁵ sn The Israelites were camping as a military camp, each tribe with the standards and emblems of the family. The standard was the symbol fastened to the end of a pole and carried to battle. It served to rally the tribe to the battle. The Bible nowhere describes these, although the serpent emblem of Numbers 21:8-9 may give a clue. But they probably did not have shapes of animals in view of the prohibition in the Decalogue. The standards may have been smaller for the families than the ones for the tribes. See further K. A. Kitchen, “Some Egyptian Background to the Old Testament,” TynBul 5 (1960): 11; and T. W. Mann, Divine Presence and Guidance in Israelite Tradition, 169-73.

⁶ tn Heb “princes” (so KJV, ASV).

⁷ tn These men must have been counselors or judges of some kind.

⁸ tn Heb “men of name,” or “men of renown.”

⁹ tn The verb is simply “give,” but in this context giving some of Moses’ honor to Joshua in the presence of the people is essentially passing the leadership to him, or delegating the authority to him with the result that people would follow him.

¹⁰ tc The Greek, Syriac, and Vulgate read “glory” for this form that occurs only here in the Pentateuch. Elsewhere it is rendered “majesty, splendor” (see Ps 96:6). It could even be “vitality” here. The authority being transferred here is both spiritual and civil.

¹¹ tn Heb “hear.”