Discovery BoxNumbers 20:2 
Context20:2 And there was no water for the community, and so they gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron.
Numbers 20:20
Context20:20 But he said, “You may not pass through.” Then Edom came out against them 1 with a large and powerful force. 2
Numbers 25:3
Context25:3 When Israel joined themselves to Baal-peor, 3 the anger of the Lord flared up against Israel.
1 tn Heb “to meet him.”
2 tn Heb “with many [heavy] people and with a strong hand.” The translation presented above is interpretive, but that is what the line means. It was a show of force, numbers and weapons, to intimidate the Israelites.
3 tn The verb is “yoked” to Baal-peor. The word is unusual, and may suggest the physical, ritual participation described below. It certainly shows that they acknowledge the reality of the local god.
sn The evidence indicates that Moab was part of the very corrupt Canaanite world, a world that was given over to the fertility ritual of the times.
