CHAPTER XVI _The rebellion of Korah and his company against Moses_, 1-3. _He directs them how to try, in the course of the next day, whom_ _God had called to the priesthood_, 4-11. _Dathan and Abiram use the most seditious speeches_, 12-14. _Moses is wroth_, 15; _and orders Korah and his compa... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 16:3. _YE_ TAKE _TOO MUCH UPON YOU_] The original is simply רב לכם _rab lachem, too much for you_. The spirit of this saying appears to me to be the following: - "Holy offices are not equally distributed: you arrogate to yourselves the most important ones, as if _your_ superior holines... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 16:5. _THE LORD WILL SHOW WHO ARE HIS_] It is supposed that St. Paul refers to this place, 2 Timothy 2:19: _The foundation of God _- the whole sacrificial system, referring to Christ Jesus, the foundation of the salvation of men; _standeth_ _sure_, notwithstanding the rebellions, intr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 16:15. _RESPECT NOT THOU THEIR OFFERING_] There was no danger of this: they wished to set up a priesthood and a sacrifical system of their own; and God never has blessed, and never can bless, any scheme of salvation which is not of his own appointment. Man is ever supposing that he can... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 16:22. _O GOD, THE GOD OF THE SPIRITS OF ALL FLESH_] אל אלהי הרוחת לכל בשר _El Elohey haruchoth lechol basar_. This address sufficiently proves that these holy men believed that man is a being compounded of flesh and spirit, and that these principles are perfectly distinct. Either the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 16:30. _IF THE LORD MAKE A NEW THING_] ואם בריאה יברא יהוה _veim beriah yibra Yehovah, and if Jehovah should create a_ _creation_, i. e., do such a thing as was never done before. _AND THEY GO DOWN QUICK INTO THE PIT_] שאלה _sheolah_, a proof, among many others, that שאל _sheol_, sign... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 16:33. _THEY, AND ALL THAT_ APPERTAINED _TO THEM_] Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and all that appertained to their respective families, went down into the pit caused by this supernatural earthquake; while the fire from the Lord consumed the 250 men that bare censers. Thus there were two d... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 37. _THE CENSERS - ARE HALLOWED._] קדשו _kadeshu_, are _consecrated_, i. e., _to the service of God_ though in this instance improperly employed.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 16:41. _ON THE MORROW ALL THE CONGREGATION - MURMURED_] It is very likely that the people persuaded themselves that Moses and Aaron had used some _cunning_ in this business, and that the _earthquake_ and _fire_ were artificial; else, had they discerned the hand of God in this punishmen... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 16:46. _THE PLAGUE IS BEGUN._] God now punished them by a _secret blast_, so as to put the matter beyond all dispute; his hand, and his alone, was seen, not only in the plague, but in the _manner_ in which the mortality was arrested. It was necessary that this should be done in _this w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 16:48. _HE STOOD BETWEEN THE DEAD AND THE LIVING; AND THE_ _PLAGUE, C._] What the plague was we know not, but it seems to have begun at one part of the camp, and to have proceeded regularly onward and Aaron went to the quarter where it was then prevailing, and stood with his atonement... [ Continue Reading ]