XVI. (1) NOW KORAH, THE SON OF IZHAR... — Some suppose that the copula before “Dathan and Abiram” should be omitted, and that the verse should be rendered thus: _Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, took Dathan and Abiram,_ &c. The rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram i... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY ROSE UP... — _i.e.,_ in rebellion. TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY PRINCES... — It has been inferred from Numbers 27:3, where it is stated that Zelophehad, the Manassite, did not take part in the rebellion, that these princes, or chief men of the congregation, belonged to the other tribes of Israel... [ Continue Reading ]
YE TAKE TOO MUCH UPON YOU... — Or, _enough for you_ (comp. Gen. 14:28), _i.e.,_ you have held the priesthood and the government long enough; or, _Let it be enough for you to be numbered amongst the holy people without usurping dominion over them._ It is evident from the whole tenour of the address t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SPAKE UNTO KORAH AND UNTO ALL HIS COMPANY. — The words seem to have been addressed only to Korah and his company, not to Dathan and Abiram, who do not appear to have been present on this occasion. (See Numbers 16:12, where Moses is represented as sending for Dathan and Abiram.) EVEN TO-MORRO... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE YOU CENSERS. — The offering of incense was the peculiar prerogative and the holiest function of the priesthood. The destruction of Nadab and Abihu ought to have served as a warning to Korah and his company not to provoke a similar exhibition of the Divine displeasure.... [ Continue Reading ]
YE TAKE TOO MUCH UPON YOU... — Moses here adopts the language of Korah in Numbers 16:3. The meaning appears to be, as more fully explained in Numbers 16:9, that it ought to have sufficed Korah and the other Levites that they had been chosen from amongst their brethren to discharge the inferior offic... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SEEK YE THE PRIESTHOOD ALSO? — The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan understand the reference to be to the high priesthood. As the other Levites who belonged to Korah’s company sought the priesthood, so Korah may have aimed at the high priesthood.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MOSES SENT TO CALL DATHAN AND ABIRAM... — If, as seems probable from Numbers 16:3, Dathan and Abiram had joined Korah and his company in the address to Moses which is contained in Numbers 16:3, they must have subsequently withdrawn themselves and retired to their own tents, from which they refus... [ Continue Reading ]
A LAND THAT FLOWETH WITH MILK AND HONEY. — The description of the land of promise is here applied perversely and ironically to the land of Egypt.... [ Continue Reading ]
MOREOVER THOU HAST NOT BROUGHT US... — The words which the Lord had spoken to Moses (Exodus 3:8) concerning the deliverance from Egypt, and the bringing of the people into a land flowing with milk and honey, had been communicated by Aaron to the people (Exodus 4:30). Dathan and Abiram reproach Moses... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE NOT TAKEN ONE ASS FROM THEM... — In answer to the accusation preferred against him in Numbers 16:13, Moses vindicates himself from the charge of oppression or extortion.... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE EVERY MAN HIS CENSER. — These censers may have been household vessels resembling censers, and available for the same purpose; or they may have been vessels which were used by the heads of houses, as priests, before the order of priesthood was restricted to the family of Aaron; or they may have... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THE CONGREGATION. — It is evident from these words that there was a general disposition on the part of the people to favour the insurrection of Korah against Moses and Aaron.... [ Continue Reading ]
SEPARATE YOURSELVES FROM AMONG THIS CONGREGATION... — By their obedience to the summons of Korah the congregation generally, or at Yeast a large portion of it, had made themselves partakers in his sin, and had become obnoxious to the Divine wrath.... [ Continue Reading ]
GET YOU UP FROM ABOUT THE TABERNACLE OF KORAH, DATHAN, AND ABIRAM — It is not easy to determine what is the meaning of the word _mishkan_ (tabernacle) in this and in the 27th verse. The word, in the singular number, commonly denotes the tabernacle of the congregation — _i.e.,_ the boarded erection w... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DATHAN AND ABIRAM CAME OUT... — No mention is made of the position of Korah at this time, neither is any mention made of his sons, who, as we learn from Numbers 26:11, “died not” when the company of Korah died. His descendants are mentioned in 1 Chronicles 6:22, and mention is made of “the sons... [ Continue Reading ]
TO DO ALL THESE WORKS. — i.e., to bring the people out of the land of Egypt, to exchange the first-born for the Levites, to consecrate Aaron and his sons to the priesthood, and generally to declare the will of the Lord to the people.... [ Continue Reading ]
MAKE A NEW THING. — Literally, _create a creation_ — _i.e.,_ do something hitherto unknown. INTO THE PIT. — Literally, _into Sheol. _... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE EARTH OPENED HER MOUTH... — Had this verse stood alone it might have been inferred that Korah and his family shared the fate of Dathan and Abiram and their families and households. in regard _to_ the sons of Korah, however, there is direct evidence that they did not share in the punishment o... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE CAME OUT A FIRE FROM THE LORD... — It was thus, as Bishop Wordsworth has observed, that “Korah and his company were punished by the same element as that by which they had sinned.”... [ Continue Reading ]
SPEAK UNTO ELEAZAR THE SON OF AARON... — Aaron was shortly to be employed in an act of sacerdotal ministration and intercession, for which he would have become disqualified had he been ceremonially defiled by contact with things pertaining to the dead.... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE SINNERS AGAINST THEIR OWN SOULS. — i.e., men who have forfeited their lives by their sin. LET THEM MAKE THEM BROAD PLATES... — It was thus that the sacrilegious act of Korah and his company was made the occasion of a permanent warning against all similar profanation of holy things. The altar o... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREWITH THEY THAT WERE BURNT HAD OFFERED. — Or, _which they who were burnt had brought nigh_ (_i.e._ unto the Lord).... [ Continue Reading ]
TO BE A MEMORIAL UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. — The Apostle Jude warns Christians by the same example against the profanation of Divine ordinances (Numbers 16:11).... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT ON THE MORROW... — It is difficult to conceive of a more striking illustration of the depravity of the human heart than is afforded by this outbreak of the same spirit of rebellion which had been so signally punished on the preceding day.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND, BEHOLD, THE CLOUD COVERED IT. — The cloud had probably been removed on the preceding day when the rebels were consumed, and was now again restored in order to encourage Moses and Aaron.... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE A CENSER. — Better, _the censer._ The reference appears to be to the golden censer of the high priest. Incense was an emblem of prayer, and a figure of the intercession and mediation of Christ. (See Psalms 141:2; Revelation 8:3.) AND GO QUICKLY. — Or, _and carry it quickly. _... [ Continue Reading ]
AND RAN INTO THE MIDST OF THE CONGREGATION. — The whole occasion was an extraordinary one. On ordinary occasions incense might only be offered on the golden altar within the holy place in which the priests ministered.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE STOOD BETWEEN THE DEAD AND THE LIVING... — Aaron was, in this respect, a striking type of Christ, who “hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour” (Ephesians 5:2).... [ Continue Reading ]