Numbers 26:11

26:1-51 Moses did not number the people but when God commanded him. We have here the families registered, as well as the tribes. The total was nearly the same as when numbered at mount Sinai. Notice is here taken of the children of Korah; they died not, as the children of Dathan and Abiram; they seem not to have joined even their own father in rebellion. If we partake not of the sins of sinners, we shall not partake of their plagues.

Notwithstanding, the children of Korah died not. Neither of the pestilence, nor by fire, nor by the swallowing up of the earth; they not being in the counsel of their father, but followed the doctrine of Moses the prophet, as the Targum of Jonathan; they either disliked their father's scheme, or, if they engaged with him in it, they repented and departed from him, and were not present when the judgments of God came upon him and his company; there were several of his posterity who were singers in the times of David, and to whom many of the psalms were sent to be sung.

Numbers 26:11 . The children of Korah died not — God being pleased to spare them, because they disowned their father’s act, and separated themselves from his tent and company. Hence the sons of Korah are mentioned 1 Chronicles 6:22 ; 1 Chronicles 6:38 , and often in the book of Psalms.

11 . and the sons of Korah died not ] There is no mention of Korah’s family in ch. 16, but the inference might naturally be drawn from Numbers 26:32 that they were included in his body of adherents. This inference the writer felt it necessary to check, because in his day ‘sons of Korah’ were found in Jerusalem. They were a subdivision of the Levites, a guild which formed one of the temple choirs. To their hymnbook belonged Psalms 42, 44-49, 84 f., 87 f. In Numbers 26:58 (below) they are called ‘the family of the Korahites.’

Verse 11. - The children of Korah died not. The confused nature of the narrative in chapter 16 is well exemplified by this statement; we should certainly have supposed from Numbers 16:32 that Korah's sons had perished with him, if we were not here told to the contrary. The sons of Korah are frequently mentioned among the Levites, and Samuel himself would seem to have been of them (see on 1 Chronicles 6:22, 28, 33-38, and titles to Psalm 42, 88 , &c.); it is, however, slightly doubtful whether the Kohathite Korah of 1 Chronicles 6:22 , the ancestor of Samuel, is the same as the Izharite Korah, the ancestor of Heman, in 1 Chronicles 6:38 . Numbers 26:11

God being pleased to spare them, either because they disowned their father’s act, and thereupon separated themselves both from his tent and company, or because Moses interceded for them, or because God would glorify his own free mercy in sparing some, while he punished others, according to his declaration in a like case, Exodus 33:19 . Hence the sons of Korah are mentioned 1 Chronicles 6:22,37 , and oft in the book of Psalms.

The children of Korah died not - Compare Numbers 26:58 . Samuel the prophet was of this family, and Heman, "the king's seer" 1 Chronicles 6:22 , 1 Chronicles 6:33 ; 1 Chronicles 25:5 . Several of the Psalms appear from the titles to have been composed for the sons of Korah: compare titles of Psalm 42:1-11 ; 44; 45, etc.

11. Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not—Either they were not parties to their father's crime, or they withdrew from it by timely repentance. His descendants became famous in the time of David, and are often mentioned in the Psalms [Ps 42:1; 44:1; 45:1; 46:1; 47:1; 48:1; 49:1; 84:1; 85:1; 87:1; 88:1], also in 1Ch 6:22, 38.

The families of Reuben tally with Genesis 46:9 ; Exodus 6:14 , and 1 Chronicles 5:3 . The plural בּני (sons), in Numbers 26:8 , where only one son is mentioned, is to be explained from the fact, that several sons of this particular son (i.e., grandsons) are mentioned afterwards. On Dathan and Abiram, see at Numbers 16:1 and Numbers 16:32 . See also the remark made here in Numbers 26:10 and Numbers 26:11 , viz., that those who were destroyed with the company of Korah were for a sign (נס, here a warning); but that the sons of Korah were not destroyed along with their father.

22. Issachar and his posterity, 64,300, Numbers 26:23-25. Zebulun and his posterity, 60,500, Numbers 26:26, 1. That among these there was not a man of the former census, save Joshua and Caleb, see Numbers 26:64, Numbers 26:65. ADAM CLARK'S BIBLE COMMENTARY NUMBERS 2. That though there was an increase in seven tribes of not less than 74,800 men, yet so great was the decrease in the other five tribes, that the balance against the present census is 1,820, as appears above: thus we find that there was an in crease of 601,728 from 603,550 in the space of thirty-eight years. Notwithstanding the amazing increase in some and decrease in other tribes, the same sort of proportion is preserved in the east, west, north, and south divisions, as before; so as to keep the division of Judah, which was always in the front or van, the largest; and the division of Dan, which was always in the rear, the next in number. But it is worthy of remark that as they are now, properly speaking, to commence their grand military operations, so their front, or advanced division, is increased from 186,400 to 201,300; and their rear from 157,600 to 163,200. The first division is strengthened 14,900 men, and the last division 5,600 men. The reasons for this are sufficiently obvious. Mr. Ainsworth has a curious remark on the number of families in the 12 tribes. NUMBERSber of Families 1. Of Manasseh 8 7. Of Reuben 4 2. Of Benjamin 7 8. Of Issachar 4 3. Of Gad 7 9. Of Ephraim 4 4. Of Simeon 5 10. Of Naphtali 4 5. Of Judah 5 11. Of Zebulun 3 6. Of Asher 5