Discovery BoxNumbers 4:28 
Context4:28 This is the service of the families of the Gershonites concerning the tent of meeting. Their responsibilities will be under the authority 1 of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest. 2
Numbers 4:37
Context4:37 These were those numbered from the families of the Kohathites, everyone who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord by the authority of Moses.
Numbers 4:49
Context4:49 According to the word of the Lord they were numbered, 3 by the authority of Moses, each according to his service and according to what he was to carry. 4 Thus were they numbered by him, 5 as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Numbers 5:20
Context5:20 But if you 6 have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has had sexual relations with you….” 7
Numbers 9:23
Context9:23 At the commandment of the Lord they camped, and at the commandment of the Lord they traveled on; they kept the instructions of the Lord according to the commandment of the Lord, by the authority 8 of Moses.
Numbers 36:13
Context36:13 These are the commandments and the decisions that the Lord commanded the Israelites through the authority 9 of Moses, on the plains of Moab by the Jordan River 10 opposite Jericho. 11
1 tn Or “the direction” (NASB, TEV); Heb “under/by the hand of.” The word “hand” is often used idiomatically for “power” or “authority.” So also in vv. 33, 37, 45, 48.
2 sn The material here suggests that Eleazar had heavier responsibilities than Ithamar, Aaron’s fourth and youngest son. It is the first indication that the Zadokite Levites would take precedence over the Ithamar Levites (see 1 Chr 24:3-6).
3 tn The verb is the simple perfect tense – “he numbered them.” There is no expressed subject; therefore, the verb can be rendered as a passive.
4 tn Or “his burden.”
5 tn The passive form simply reads “those numbered by him.” Because of the cryptic nature of the word, some suggest reading a preterite, “and they were numbered.” This is supported by the Greek, Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate. It would follow in the emendation that the relative pronoun be changed to “just as” (כַּאֲשֶׁר, ka’asher). The MT is impossible the way it stands; it can only be rendered into smooth English by adding something that is missing.
6 tn The pronoun is emphatic – “but you, if you have gone astray.”
7 tn This is an example of the rhetorical device known as aposiopesis, or “sudden silence.” The sentence is broken off due to the intensity or emphasis of the moment. The reader is left to conclude what the sentence would have said.
8 tn Heb “hand.”
9 tn Heb “by the hand.”
10 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
11 map For the location of Jericho see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.
