Discovery BoxNumbers 4:11 
Context4:11 “They must spread a blue cloth on the gold altar, and cover it with a covering of fine leather; and they must insert its poles.
Numbers 5:26
Context5:26 Then the priest will take a handful of the grain offering as its memorial portion, burn it on the altar, and afterward make the woman drink the water.
Numbers 12:2
Context12:2 They 1 said, “Has the Lord only 2 spoken through Moses? Has he not also spoken through us?” 3 And the Lord heard it. 4
Numbers 14:13
Context14:13 Moses said to the Lord, “When the Egyptians hear 5 it – for you brought up this people by your power from among them –
Numbers 16:32
Context16:32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, along with their households, and all Korah’s men, and all their goods.
Numbers 25:7
Context25:7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, 6 he got up from among the assembly, took a javelin in his hand,
Numbers 26:10
Context26:10 The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and Korah at the time that company died, when the fire consumed 250 men. So they became a warning.
Numbers 36:9
Context36:9 No inheritance may pass from tribe to tribe. But every one of the tribes of the Israelites must retain its inheritance.”
1 tn Now the text changes to use a plural form of the verb. The indication is that Miriam criticized the marriage, and then the two of them raised questions about his sole leadership of the nation.
2 tn The use of both רַק and אַךְ (raq and ’akh) underscore the point that the issue is Moses’ uniqueness.
3 tn There is irony in the construction in the text. The expression “speak through us” also uses דִּבֵּר + בְּ(dibber + bÿ). They ask if God has not also spoken through them, after they have spoken against Moses. Shortly God will speak against them – their words are prophetic, but not as they imagined.
sn The questions are rhetorical. They are affirming that God does not only speak through Moses, but also speaks through them. They see themselves as equal with Moses. The question that was asked of the earlier presumptuous Moses – “Who made you a ruler over us?” – could also be asked of them. God had not placed them as equals with Moses. The passage is relevant for today when so many clamor for equal authority and leadership with those whom God has legitimately called.
4 sn The statement is striking. Obviously the
5 tn The construction is unusual in that we have here a perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive with no verb before it to establish the time sequence. The context requires that this be taken as a vav (ו) consecutive. It actually forms the protasis for the next verse, and would best be rendered “when…then they will say.”
6 tn The first clause is subordinated to the second because both begin with the preterite verbal form, and there is clearly a logical and/or chronological sequence involved.
