Numbers 16:23

Numbers 16:1 INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 16 This chapter gives an account of a sedition of Korah and others against Moses and Aaron, Numbers 16:1, with whom Moses expostulates, and shows the unreasonableness of their clamour against Aaron, Numbers 16:5; sends for Dathan and Abiram, who were in the confederacy, but refused to come, which greatly angered Moses, Numbers 16:12; orders Korah and his company to appear before the Lord the next day, with Aaron, to have the controversy decided, Numbers 16:16; when all the congregation gathered together would have been, consumed had it not been for the intercession of Moses and Aaron, Numbers 16:19; and who, being separated from the rebels by the command of the Lord, some of the rebels were swallowed up in the earth, and others destroyed by fire from heaven, Numbers 16:23; and their censers were made a covering for the altar, as a memorial of their sin, Numbers 16:36; on which there was a new insurrection of the people, which brought a plague upon them, and destroyed 14,700 persons, and which was stopped at the intercession of Aaron, Numbers 16:41. Ver. 1. Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi,....

16:23-34 The seventy elders of Israel attend Moses. It is our duty to do what we can to countenance and support lawful authority when it is opposed. And those who would not perish with sinners, must come out from among them, and be separate. It was in answer to the prayer of Moses, that God stirred up the hearts of the congregation to remove for their own safety. Grace to separate from evil-doers is one of the things that accompany salvation. God, in justice, left the rebels to the obstinacy and hardness of their own hearts. Moses, by Divine direction, when all Israel were waiting the event, declares that if the rebels die a common death, he will be content to be called and counted an imposter. As soon as Moses had spoken the word, God caused the earth to open and swallow them all up. The children perished with their parents; in which, though we cannot tell how bad they might be to deserve it, or how good God might be otherwise to them; yet of this we are sure, that Infinite Justice did them no wrong. It was altogether miraculous. God has, when he pleases, strange punishments for the workers of iniquity. It was very significant. Considering how the earth is still in like manner loaded with the weight of man's sins, we have reason to wonder that it does not now sink under its load. The ruin of others should be our warning.

Jehovah then instructed Moses, that the congregation was to remove away (עלה, to get up and away) from about the dwelling-place of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and, as we may supply from the context, the congregation fell back from Korah's tent, whilst Dathan and Abiram, possibly at the very first appearance of the divine glory, drew back into their tents. Moses therefore betook himself to the tents of Dathan and Abiram, with the elders following him, and there also commanded the congregation to depart from the tents of these wicked men, and not touch anything they possessed, that they might not be swept away in all their sins.

[Reformed Biblical] ## The glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud, which then shone with greater brightness and majesty, as a token of God’s approach and presence. See Exo_16:7 ,10 Leviticus 9:6,23 Numbers 20:6 . Numbers 16:20 Numbers 16:21 To wit, Korah and his two hundred and fifty men, and the people whom he gathered against Moses and Aaron, Num_16:19. Numbers 16:22 ## Of the spirits, i.e. of souls, as the word spirit in Scripture is oft used, as Psa_31:5 77:3 Pro_17:22 Ecc_12:7 Luk_23:46 Act_7:59. And this is no empty title here, but very emph

6 . what he did unto Dathan and Abiram ] The severity of God’s discipline was not only shown to Israel’s enemies, but in the midst of all Israel to rebellious Israelites. Without such a recollection, the description of that discipline, especially in view of the alarm it was fitted to inspire, would not be complete. This answers Steuern.’s argument that the verse is secondary, on the grounds that there was no reason to mention specially this one out of all the divine punishments inflicted on Israel, and that with the phrase in the midst of all Israel the people are not directly addressed, and that the form of the discourse is thus broken. On the contrary, as shown above, the phrase suits the speaker’s purpose, cp. Deuteronomy 17:4 ; Deuteronomy 17:7 , Deuteronomy 23:16 (17). The event is described in Numbers 16, a passage compounded of JE and P (see Numbers in this series). This verse partly repeats the phraseology of JE, with some variations (e.g. a different verb for opened ), cp. Numbers 16:1 b , Numbers 16:26-27 b ( tents ), Numbers 16:30 ( all that appertained unto them ), Numbers 16:32 a . And, like JE, D mentions Dathan and Abiram alone as the victims of the judgement. Instead of them P mentions Korah. This is another illustration of the consistency with which D follows JE, and was either ignorant of, or deliberately ignored P. It is interesting that Sam. adds to D’s statement ‘and all the men belonging to Korah.’