Numbers 5:14

5:14 and if jealous feelings ¹  come over him and he becomes suspicious ²  of his wife, when she is defiled; ³  or if jealous feelings come over him and he becomes suspicious of his wife, when she is not defiled –

Numbers 12:6

12:6 The Lord ⁴  said, “Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, ⁵  I the Lord ⁶  will make myself known to him in a vision; I will speak with him in a dream.

Numbers 22:22

God Opposes Balaam

22:22 Then God’s anger was kindled ⁷  because he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose ⁸  him. Now he was riding on his donkey and his two servants were with him.

Numbers 23:17

23:17 When Balaam ⁹  came to him, he was still standing by his burnt offering, along with the princes of Moab. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?”

Numbers 25:13

25:13 So it will be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of a permanent priesthood, because he has been zealous for his God, ¹⁰  and has made atonement ¹¹  for the Israelites.’”

Numbers 35:23

35:23 or with any stone large enough that a man could die, without seeing him, and throws it at him, and he dies, even though he was not his enemy nor sought his harm,

---

¹ tn The Hebrew text has the construct case, “spirit of jealousy.” The word “spirit” here has the sense of attitude, mood, feelings. The word קִנְאָה (qin’ah) is the genitive of attribute, modifying what kind of feelings they are. The word means either “zeal” or “jealousy,” depending on the context. It is a passionate feeling to guard or protect an institution or relationship. It can also express strong emotional possessiveness such as envy and coveting. Here there is a feeling of jealousy, but no proof of infidelity.

² tn The word is now used in the Piel stem; the connotation is certainly “suspicious,” for his jealousy seems now to have some basis, even if it is merely suspicion.

³ tn The noun clause begins with the conjunction and the pronoun; here it is forming a circumstantial clause, either temporal or causal.

⁴ tn Heb “he.”

⁵ tn The form of this construction is rare: נְבִיאֲכֶם (nÿvi’akhem) would normally be rendered “your prophet.” The singular noun is suffixed with a plural pronominal suffix. Some commentators think the MT has condensed “a prophet” with “to you.”

⁶ tn The Hebrew syntax is difficult here. “The Lord” is separated from the verb by two intervening prepositional phrases. Some scholars conclude that this word belongs with the verb at the beginning of v. 6 (“And the Lord spoke”).

⁷ sn God’s anger now seems to contradict the permission he gave Balaam just before this. Some commentators argue that God’s anger is a response to Balaam’s character in setting out – which the Bible does not explain. God saw in him greed and pleasure for the riches, which is why he was so willing to go.

⁸ tn The word is שָׂטָן (satan, “to be an adversary, to oppose”).

⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn The motif is reiterated here. Phinehas was passionately determined to maintain the rights of his God by stopping the gross sinful perversions.

¹¹ sn The atonement that he made in this passage refers to the killing of the two obviously blatant sinners. By doing this he dispensed with any animal sacrifice, for the sinners themselves died. In Leviticus it was the life of the substitutionary animal that was taken in place of the sinners that made atonement. The point is that sin was punished by death, and so God was free to end the plague and pardon the people. God’s holiness and righteousness have always been every bit as important as God’s mercy and compassion, for without righteousness and holiness mercy and compassion mean nothing.