This chapter gives an account of a sedition of Korah and others against Moses and Aaron, Num. 16:1–4, with whom Moses expostulates, and shows the unreasonableness of their clamour against Aaron, Num.

Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi A great grandson of Levi’s, and own cousin to Moses and Aaron, being brothers children; for Amram the father of Moses and Aaron, and Izhar the father of Korah, were own brothers, both of them the sons of Kohath, and Amram the eldest,…

And they rose up before Moses To his face, openly and publicly, in a bold and audacious manner; with impudence, as the Targum of Jonathan: with certain of the children of Israel; some out of the several tribes, but perhaps chiefly of the tribe of Reuben, as Jarchi: two hundred and fifty princes of…

And they gathered themselves together against Moses, and against Aaron They met together by appointment, and went up in a body to Moses and Aaron: and said unto them, ye take too much upon you; the one to be king, and the other to be priest; for they imagined that Moses took the civil government…

And when Moses heard it What they said, their complaint against him, for setting up Aaron for an high priest, and against Aaron for taking this honour to himself: he fell upon his face; through shame, as the Targum of Jonathan, blushing at their sin, in opposing the ordinance of God; and through…

And he spake unto Korah, and unto all his company The two hundred fifty princes that were with him; what follows was said to them apart from Dathan and Abiram, who seem not to be present at this time; and this was after Moses had finished his prayer to God, and had received instructions from him,…

This do, take you censers Vessels to put incense in to offer, which was the business of the priests: Korah, and all his company; the two hundred fifty princes that were with him, for so many we read took censers, and offered incense, (Num. 16:18, Num. 16:35) .

And put fire therein Into the censers: and put incense in them; on the coals of fire in the censers: before the Lord; not at the altar of incense in the holy place, into which none but Aaron and his sons might come, but at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, where the glory of the Lord…

And Moses said unto Korah Continued his discourse to him, as the head of the conspiracy, and the ringleader of it: hear, I pray you, ye sons of Levi; to whom also he had been before speaking; though Aben Ezra thinks the first speech was made to Korah and his company, and what follows to the Levites.

Seemeth it but a small thing unto you It should not; for it was a great thing which the Lord had done for them, and with which they should have been satisfied, and for it thankful: that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel: this was a special favour, and ought to…

And he hath brought thee near to him To be in his courts, to watch in his house, and wait on his priests, for which an ample provision was made by tithes.

For which cause, both thou and all thy company are gathered together against the Lord For gathering together against his ministers, whom he had put into office to act under him, and endeavouring to overturn a constitution of his erecting, and resisting and not submitting to an ordinance of his, is…

And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, &c.] He sent messengers to call them to the house of judgment, as the Targum of Jonathan, to the court of judicature, where the Jews suppose Moses, with the seventy elders, were now sitting: it seems these two men departed either before.

Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey? &c.] Meaning Egypt, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it; which, though a plentiful country, never had, nor deserved to have this epithet given it, which is peculiar to the land of Canaan, and is here…

Moreover, thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey Meaning the land of Canaan; but this was no fault of Moses, he had brought them to the borders of it, he had bid them go up and possess it; but they refused, and chose to have spies first sent into it, who brought an…

And Moses was very wroth Or “it heated Moses exceedingly” [[14]]; made him very angry, caused him to burn with wrath against them; even the speech they made, the words they uttered, not so much on account of their ill usage of him, as for the dishonour cast upon the Lord: and said unto the Lord,…

And Moses said unto Korah Who was still with him, when the messenger returned from Dathan and Abiram, and who heard what Moses said in his own defence; be thou and all thy company before the Lord; at the tabernacle, at the door of it; the Targum of Jonathan is, at the house of judgment, the court…

And take every man his censer, and put incense therein Which they were to bring with them the next day from their own tents; and these might be censers which they had in their several families, and which they had used in them before the order of priesthood was set up in Aaron’s family, and limited…

And they took every man his censer, and that fire in them, &c.] That is, they came the next morning, according to order, prepared with their censers and incense; and they took fire from off the altar of burnt offering, which stood in the court of the tabernacle: and laid incense thereon: upon the…

And Korah gathered all the congregation against them Not his own company only, but as many of the whole congregation of Israel as he could get together, and especially the principal men; so that it seems there was a, general prevailing inclination in the people to take part with him against Moses…

And the Lord spake unto Moses, and unto Aaron Out of the cloud: saying; as follows.

Separate yourselves, from among this congregation Not only from Korah’s company, but from the congregation of the children of Israel, whom Korah had got together, besides the two hundred fifty men that were at first with him; who by their words and behaviour, and particularly by their association…

And they fell upon their faces That is, Moses and Aaron, in order to deprecate the wrath of God, and beseech him to avert the threatened judgment; and so the Targum of Jonathan has it, “they bowed themselves in prayer upon their faces;” and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh; the…

And the Lord spake unto Moses When on his face in prayer, and bid him rise up, and told him he had granted his request, and then spoke to him: saying; as follows.

Speak unto the congregation Not to Korah’s company, but to the people of Israel, of the several tribes that were assembled together: saying, get ye up from about the tabernacle of Korah, and Dathan, and Abiram; which was either the same with their tents, as in ; though, as they were of different…

And Moses rose up Either from the ground, upon which he fell on his face, or from the seat on which he sat at the door of the tabernacle; though he seems to have stood there; it may be, it only signifies that he obeyed the divine order, and went about it directly, as often in Scripture persons are…

And he spake unto the congregation To the people of Israel assembled together on this occasion: some, out of ill will to Moses and Aaron, inclining to the side of Korah and his accomplices, and some out of curiosity to see the issue of this affair saying, depart, I pray you, from the tents of these…

So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side The place where they met together and made their general rendezvous; this it seems was encompassed on all sides by people out of the several tribes, who either wished them well in their undertaking, or were curious to…

And Moses said, hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works To bring the people of Israel out of Egypt, to exchange the firstborn for the Levites, to make Aaron and his sons priests, to give the Levites to them, and to set Elizaphan over the Kohathites, things which these…

If these men die the common death of all men Or “as every man dies” [[16]], or the generality of men, who for the most part die of one disease or another, as a fever, and the like, or through old age: or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; with such visitations as men in all ages…

But if the Lord make a new thing Or “create a creation”, or “creature” [[17]], what never was before, or put those persons to a death that none ever in the world died of yet; what that is he means is next expressed: and the earth open her mouth and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto…

And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these things As soon as he had finished his discourse, which was addressed to the congregation, and, according to Josephus [[19]], after a long prayer to God, which that writer gives at large; immediately so it was, that the ground clave…

And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up Dathan and Abiram, their wives, sons, and little ones, that stood at the door of their tents with them, and all their goods, as follows: the earth, as if it was a living creature or a beast of prey, opened its mouth and swallowed them up, as such…

They, and all that appertained unto them, went down alive into the pit The grave which the opening earth made for them, they and their families: and the earth closed upon them; and covered them over; this it did of itself, as Aben Ezra remarks: this was a wonderful instance of almighty power, that…

And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them Or because of it, as Aben Ezra; their cry was so loud, their shrieks so dreadful and piercing, that the Israelites about them fled to get out of the sound of them, as well as for their own safety.

And there came out a fire from the Lord Flashes of lightning from the cloud in which he was: and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense; not that it reduced them to ashes, but took away their lives, struck them dead at once, in like manner as Nadab and Abihu were, who though…

And the Lord spake unto Moses Immediately after these men were consumed by fire from him; out of the same cloud from whence that proceeded, he spoke: saying: as follows.

Speak unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest His eldest son, that was to succeed him as high priest, and who perhaps was upon the spot to see the issue of things; and who, rather than Aaron, is bid to do what follows, partly because Aaron was now officiating, burning incense, and that he might…

The censers of these sinners against their own souls Who by burning incense in them sinned, and by sinning hurt and ruined their souls: let them make them broad plates for a covering of the altar; the altar of burnt offering, which, though it had a covering of brass, another made of these were to…

And Eleazar the priest took the brazen censers The metal of which these censers were made is particularly observed, to show that they were fit for the use they were ordered to be put unto, namely, for a covering of the altar of burnt offering, which was covered with brass, that being very suitable,…

To be a memorial unto the children of Israel The whole body of them; this explains what is meant by sign, ; that it was to put or keep in mind what follows: that no stranger which is not of the seed of Aaron come near to offer incense before the Lord; not only any Gentile but any Israelite, and not…

But on the morrow The day following the dreadful catastrophe, the earth swallowing up Dathan and Abiram, and all that belonged to them, the burning of Korah and the two hundred fifty men of his company: all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses, and against Aaron; not…

And it came to pass, when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron To kill them, as the Targum of Jonathan adds; who, perhaps, upon uttering their murmurs, made up to them, and by their gestures showed an intention to murder them: that they looked toward the tabernacle of the…

And Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the congregation. ] Whose tent was not far from it, about which the people of Israel were gathered; and from whence they came to the tabernacle, both for shelter and safety, and for advice and instruction how to behave in this crisis; they did not…

And the Lord spake unto Moses Out of the cloud: saying; as follows.

Get you up from among this congregation That is, withdraw from them, and be separate, that they might not be involved in the same destruction with them, as well as that they might have no concern for them, or plead with the Lord in prayer on their account, but let him alone to destroy them, as…

And Moses said unto Aaron, take a censer Which lay in the tabernacle: and put fire therein from off the altar; the altar of burnt offering, from whence fire only was to be taken for burning incense; and lest Aaron in his hurry should forget to take it from thence, but elsewhere, and offer strange…

And Aaron took as Moses commanded A censer with fire in it from the altar, and also incense: and ran into the midst of the congregation: though a man in years and in so high an office, and had been so ill used by the people; yet was not only so ready to obey the divine command, but so eager to…

And he stood between the dead and the living The plague beginning at one end of the camp, and so proceeded on, Aaron placed himself between that part of it wherein it had made havoc, and that wherein yet it was not come; the Targum of Jonathan is, “he stood in prayer in the middle, and made a…

Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred 14,700. Thus what they were threatened with, that their carcasses should fall in the wilderness, , was more and more fulfilled: beside them that died about the matter of Korah; these are not taken into the number here, even…

And Aaron returned unto Moses After he had by his atonement and intercession put a stop to the wrath of God broken forth upon the people: unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; where Moses was waiting for his return, and to know the issue of this affair: and the plague was stayed:…