Numbers 10:23

Summary

The verse identifies the leader placed over the military division of the tribe of the descendants of Manasseh: Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur. It follows the pattern used elsewhere in Numbers 10 for listing tribal contingents and their commanders during the wilderness march.

Key words

• tze.Va' ("military group of", H6635A) — masculine singular construct; establishes that what follows (the tribe of Manasseh) is the entity whose "army/host" is being designated, linking this verse to the census-army structure of the chapter.
• ma.Teh ("tribe of", H4294H) — masculine singular construct; chains onto tze.Va', forming a construct sequence "army of the tribe of..."
• be.Nei ("descendants of", H1121G) — masculine plural construct; continues the construct chain, specifying that the tribe belongs to the "sons/descendants" of Manasseh rather than naming Manasseh directly as tribal head.
• gam.li.'El ("Gamaliel", H1583) — proper name, no verb attached in the Hebrew clause; the name simply stands appositionally after the construct chain, without an explicit verb of "being over" or "leading."
• ben- ("son of", H1121A) — masculine singular construct; introduces patronymic identification, connecting Gamaliel to his father Pedahzur (rendered here as two segments, pe.dah- and tzur).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a long construct chain: tze.Va' ("army/host of") governs ma.Teh ("tribe of"), which governs be.Nei ("sons/descendants of"), which governs Menashsheh ("Manasseh"). This produces the sense "the army of the tribe of the descendants of Manasseh." After this nominal chain, the personal name Gamli'el appears without a linking verb — the Hebrew text does not contain a word meaning "was over" or "commanded" in this verse; the relationship between the army-chain and Gamaliel's name is established by simple apposition, continuing syntactically from the construct phrase itself (the initial 'Al-, "over," governs the whole chain from verse 22's context of tribal listing).

Gamaliel is further identified by patronymic: ben, "son of," followed by the father's name split across two words, Pedah- and -tzur, which together form the single personal name Pedahzur. This two-part rendering in the word list reflects the compound nature of the Hebrew name rather than two separate entities.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the father's name as Phadassour (Φαδασσούρ), matching the Hebrew compound Pedah-tzur as a single transliterated unit. The Vulgate follows similarly with Phadassur, and adds the word princeps ("chief"), an explicit term for "leader" not present as a separate lexical item in the Hebrew construct chain, where the leadership role is conveyed only through the preposition 'al ("over") carried from the sentence structure rather than a noun like "chief."