Numbers 16:37-50

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 16:45

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 follows: that I may consume them in a moment ; as he was able to do, and had proposed to do it before, but they entreated him that he would not, Numbers 16:21 ; as they again do: and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 16:46

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 fire as his sons had done, Moses expresses the place from whence he should take it: and put on incense : upon the fire, in the censer, which he was to do when he came into the camp,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 16:47

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 serve this ungrateful people, and save them from utter destruction, that he ran from the tabernacle into the midst of them: and, behold, the plague was begun among the people ; he saw... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 16:48

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 partition, with his censer, between the dead and living;'in this he was a type of Christ, the Mediator between God and man, the living God and dead sinners; for though his atonement and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 16:49

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, Numbers 14:29 , was more and more fulfilled: beside them that died about the matter of Korah ; these are not taken into the number here, even the two hundred fifty men of Korah's company, and the families of Dathan and Abiram, Numbers 16:32 ; how many they were is not certain, but they were but few in... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 16:50

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 : even before Aaron left the camp, and is here repeated for the certainty of it, and to intimate that it continued to cease, and broke not out again. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 16:37

The censers - are hallowed - קדשו kadeshu , are consecrated, i. e., to the service of God though in this instance improperly employed. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 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 punishment, could they have dared the anger of the Lord in the very face of justice? read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 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 way, that the whole congregation might see that those men who had perished were not the people of the Lord; and that God, not Moses and Aaron, had destroyed them. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 16:48

He stood between the dead and the living; and the plague, etc. - 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 where it was now making its ravages, and the plague was stayed; but not before 14,700 had fallen victims to it, Numbers 16:49 . If Aaron the high priest, with his censer and incense, could disarm the wrath of an... read more

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 16:45

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 16:46

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 16:47

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 16:48

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 16:49

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 16:50

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 16:37

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 16:41

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 16:46

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 16:48

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