Discovery BoxNumbers 3:15 
Context3:15 “Number the Levites by their clans 1 and their families; every male from a month old and upward you are to number.” 2
Numbers 3:28
Context3:28 Counting every male from a month old and upward, there were 8,600. They were responsible for the care 3 of the sanctuary.
Numbers 3:40
Context3:40 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Number all the firstborn males of the Israelites from a month old and upward, and take 4 the number of their names.
Numbers 3:43
Context3:43 And all the firstborn males, by the number of the names from a month old and upward, totaled 22,273.
Numbers 9:1
Context9:1 5 The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out 6 of the land of Egypt:
Numbers 9:11
Context9:11 They may observe it on the fourteenth day of the second month 7 at twilight; they are to eat it with bread made without yeast and with bitter herbs.
Numbers 10:11
Context10:11 8 On the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle of the testimony. 9
Numbers 11:21
Context11:21 Moses said, “The people around me 10 are 600,000 on foot; 11 but you say, ‘I will give them meat, 12 that they may eat 13 for a whole month.’
Numbers 20:1
Context20:1 14 Then the entire community of Israel 15 entered the wilderness of Zin in the first month, 16 and the people stayed in Kadesh. 17 Miriam died and was buried there. 18
Numbers 28:17
Context28:17 And on the fifteenth day of this month is the festival. For seven days bread made without yeast must be eaten.
Numbers 29:7
Context29:7 “‘On the tenth day of this seventh month you are to have a holy assembly. You must humble yourselves; 19 you must not do any work on it.
1 tn Heb “the house of their fathers.” So also in v. 20.
2 tn Heb “you are to/shall number them.”
3 tn The construction here is a little different. The Hebrew text uses the participle in construct plural: שֹׁמְרֵי (shomÿrey, literally “keepers of”). The form specifies the duties of the 8,600 Kohathites. The genitive that follows this participle is the cognate מִשְׁמֶרֶת (mishmeret) that has been used before. So the expression indicates that they were responsible for the care of this part of the cult center. There is no reason to delete one of the forms (as does J. A. Paterson, Numbers, 42), for the repetition stresses the central importance of their work.
4 tn The verb נָשָׂא (nasa’, “take”) has here the sense of collect, take a census, or register the names.
5 sn The chapter has just the two sections, the observance of the Passover (vv. 1-14) and the cloud that led the Israelites in the wilderness (vv. 15-23). It must be remembered that the material in vv. 7-9 is chronologically earlier than vv. 1-6, as the notices in the text will make clear. The two main discussions here are the last major issues to be reiterated before dealing with the commencement of the journey.
6 tn The temporal clause is formed with the infinitive construct of יָצָא (yatsa’, “to go out; to leave”). This verse indicates that a full year had passed since the exodus and the original Passover; now a second ruling on the Passover is included at the beginning of the second year. This would have occurred immediately after the consecration of the tabernacle, in the month before the census at Sinai.
7 sn The delay of four weeks for such people would have permitted enough time for them to return from their journey, or to recover from any short termed defilement such as is mentioned here. Apart from this provision, the Passover was to be kept precisely at the proper time.
8 sn This section is somewhat mechanical: It begins with an introduction (vv. 11, 12), and then begins with Judah (vv. 13-17), followed by the rest of the tribes (vv. 18-27), and finally closes with a summary (v. 28). The last few verses (vv. 29-36) treat the departure of Hobab.
9 tc Smr inserts a lengthy portion from Deut 1:6-8, expressing the command for Israel to take the land from the Amorites.
tn The expression is difficult; it is מִשְׁכַּן הָעֵדֻת (mishkan ha’edut). The reference is to the sacred shrine that covered the ark with the commandments inside. NEB renders the expression as “tabernacle of the Token”; NAB has “the dwelling of the commandments.”
10 tn Heb “the people who I am in their midst,” i.e., among whom I am.
11 tn The Hebrew sentence stresses the number. The sentence begins “600,000….”
12 tn The word order places the object first here: “Meat I will give them.” This adds to the contrast between the number and the statement of the
13 tn The verb is the perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive, carrying the sequence from the preceding imperfect tense. However, this verb may be subordinated to the preceding to express a purpose clause.
14 sn This chapter is the account of how Moses struck the rock in disobedience to the
15 tn The Hebrew text stresses this idea by use of apposition: “the Israelites entered, the entire community, the wilderness.”
16 sn The text does not indicate here what year this was, but from comparing the other passages about the itinerary, this is probably the end of the wanderings, the fortieth year, for Aaron died some forty years after the exodus. So in that year the people come through the wilderness of Zin and prepare for a journey through the Moabite plains.
17 sn The Israelites stayed in Kadesh for some time during the wandering; here the stop at Kadesh Barnea may have lasted several months. See the commentaries for the general itinerary.
18 sn The death of Miriam is recorded without any qualifications or epitaph. In her older age she had been self-willed and rebellious, and so no doubt humbled by the vivid rebuke from God. But she had made her contribution from the beginning.
19 tn Heb “afflict yourselves”; NAB “mortify yourselves”; NIV, NRSV “deny yourselves.”
sn The verb seems to mean “humble yourself.” There is no explanation given for it. In the days of the prophets fasting seems to be associated with it (see Isa 58:3-5), and possibly the symbolic wearing of ashes.
