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. read more
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 have been esteemed such, that God, who was the God of the whole people of Israel in common, should separate the tribe of Levi from all the rest of the tribes of Israel: to bring you... read more
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. Korah is there personally addressed: and all thy brethren, the sons of Levi, with thee ; the whole tribe of them, excepting Aaron and his family, who were advanced to be priests: and seek ye the priesthood also ? the high priesthood, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; this opens the true cause of their discontent and... read more
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 interpreted gathering against him, and acting in opposition to him; see Romans 13:1 , and what is Aaron, that ye murmur against him ? what is his transgression? what has he done?... read more
And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab ,.... 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. Moses rose up from prayer, or however before he had finished his speech to Korah and the Levites; which being particularly directed to them, these men might think they had no concern in it, and... read more
Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey ?.... 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 given, in opposition to the description of that land, which the Lord himself had so described; and argues great impudence and want of reverence of the divine Being, as well as great ingratitude... read more
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 ill report of it, which they listened to, and had so provoked the Lord thereby, that he ordered them to turn back, and threatened them with a consumption of them in the wilderness; or... read more
And Moses was very wroth ,.... Or "it heated Moses exceedingly" F16 ויחר למשה מאד "et excanduit Mosi valde", Drusius. ; 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, respect not thou their offering ; their "Minchah", the word is commonly used for the meat or bread offering. Aben Ezra observes,... read more
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 of judicature, where this affair was to be tried, and that was at the tabernacle, as appears by what follows: thou, and they, and Aaron, tomorrow ; the day after Moses had sent to... read more
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John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 16:7
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 appeared, Numbers 16:18 ; and this they were to do tomorrow ; the day following that on which the insurrection was made, and in the morning of that day, which was the usual... read more