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 15:31

15:31 Because he has despised ⁶  the word of the Lord and has broken ⁷  his commandment, that person ⁸  must be completely cut off. ⁹  His iniquity will be on him.’” ¹⁰ 

Numbers 20:11

20:11 Then Moses raised his hand, and struck the rock twice with his staff. And water came out abundantly. So the community drank, and their beasts drank too.

Numbers 20:26

20:26 Remove Aaron’s priestly garments ¹¹  and put them on Eleazar his son, and Aaron will be gathered to his ancestors ¹²  and will die there.”

Numbers 21:29

21:29 Woe to you, Moab.

You are ruined, O people of Chemosh! ¹³ 

He has made his sons fugitives,

and his daughters the prisoners of King Sihon of the Amorites.

Numbers 27:8

27:8 And you must tell the Israelites, ‘If a man dies ¹⁴  and has no son, then you must transfer his inheritance to his daughter;

Numbers 32:21

32:21 and if all your armed men cross the Jordan before the Lord until he drives out his enemies from his presence

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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 The verb בָּזָה (bazah, “to despise”) means to treat something as worthless, to treat it with contempt, to look down the nose at something as it were.

⁷ tn The verb פָּרַר (parar, “to break”) can mean to nullify, break, or violate a covenant.

⁸ tn Heb “soul.”

⁹ tn The construction uses the Niphal imperfect with the modifying Niphal infinitive absolute. The infinitive makes the sentence more emphatic. If the imperfect tense is taken as an instruction imperfect, then the infinitive makes the instruction more binding. If it is a simple future, then the future is certain. In either case, there is no exclusion from being cut off.

¹⁰ sn The point is that the person’s iniquity remains with him – he must pay for his sin. The judgment of God in such a case is both appropriate and unavoidable.

¹¹ tn The word “priestly” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹² tn Heb “will be gathered”; this is a truncated form of the usual expression “gathered to his ancestors,” found in v. 24. The phrase “to his ancestors” is supplied in the translation here.

¹³ sn The note of holy war emerges here as the victory is a victory over the local gods as well as over the people.

¹⁴ tn Heb “a man, if he dies.”