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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Numbers 16:23 - 16:40
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The Punishment of the Rebellious Faction
v. 23. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
v. 24. Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle, the place of habitation, of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
v. 25. ; And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram, who, it seems, had stayed in their tents, as they had said,
v. 12. while Korah led the revolt against the Tabernacle; and the elders of Israel followed him.
v. 26. And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins, be punished as partakers in their transgression.
v. 27. So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram on every side, moved back in a wide circle from their place of habitation. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children, apparently defying the authority of Moses and Aaron to the very last.
v. 28. And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works, everything connected with the leadership of the people; for I have not done them of mine own mind; he was not governed by any selfish motives.
v. 29. If these men die the common death of all men, as men usually die, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men, then the Lord hath not sent me. If Providence would keep the rebellious people from a violent death, then Moses was ready to be accused of being an impostor.
v. 30. But if the Lord make a new thing, something unheard of until now, and the earth open her mouth and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick, while still alive, into the pit, then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord.
v. 31. And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them;
v. 32. and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up and their houses, the families of the leaders, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, that is, his servants, and all their goods. The catastrophe included Korah, although he was probably not in his tent at the time, but somewhere between the Tabernacle and the section of the camp south of the Tabernacle, and next to the camp of the Kohathites, where the tribe of Reuben was encamped.
v. 33. They and all that appertained to them went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them; and they perished from among the congregation. It should be noted that the sons of Korah were not included in this punishment, Num_26:11. Their descendants were later known as the sons of Korah, a noted family of singers, 1Ch_6:18-22; 1Ch_9:19.
v. 34. And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them, for the noise, as the abyss opened beneath them, was mingled with the shrieks of the doomed; for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also. It was not a case of wholesome fear, however, which would have led them to repentance, but of slavish dread, which cowed without conquering them.
v. 35. And there came out a fire from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense, and thus, like Nadab and Abihu, offered strange fire before the Lord, Lev_10:2.
v. 36. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
v. 37. Speak unto Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, that he take up the censers out of the burning, out of the midst of those that had been destroyed by the fire of the Lord, and scatter thou the fire yonder, that is, the coals of fire that were in the censers; for they are hallowed, consecrated by virtue of the fact that they had been presented before Jehovah.
v. 38. The censers of these sinners against their own souls, who by their sin had forfeited their lives, let them (the artisans) make them broad plates for a covering of the altar; for they offered them before the Lord, although without authority, therefore they are hallowed; and they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel, lest some one else encroach upon the functions of the priesthood in the same manner and perish for his foolhardiness.
v. 39. And Eleazar, the priest, took the brazen censers, wherewith they that were burned had offered; and they were made broad plates for a covering of the altar,
v. 40. to be a memorial unto the children of Israel, that no stranger, which is not of the seed of Aaron, even an Israelite who does not belong to the family of priests, come near to offer incense before the Lord; that he be not as Korah and as his company; as the Lord said to him by the hand of Moses. Christians will also be careful to remember that God is opposed to the haughty spirits who occasionally rise and wish to set aside the regular office of the ministry.