Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 16:15
And Moses was very wroth, and said unto the LORD, Respect not thou their offering: I have not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them.
15. their offering ] This refers, apparently, ‘to the sacrifice which every Israelite might offer for his household and may be compared with Gen 4:4 f. The writer is not thinking of any special priesthood, but simply takes it for granted that Yahw, whose favour was always sought by sacrifice, will not accept the offering of rebels against just authority’ (Addis).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 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 mend his Maker’s work, or that he can make one of his own that will do in its place.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Moses was very wroth, not so much for his own sake, for he had learnt to bear indignities, Num 12, as for Gods sake, who was highly dishonoured, blasphemed, and provoked by these speeches and carriages, in which case he ought to be angry, as Christ was, Mar 3:5.
Respect not thou their offering, i.e. accept not their incense which they are now going to offer, but show some eminent dislike of it. He calls it their offering, though it was offered by Korah and his companions, because it was offered in the name and by the consent of all the conspirators, for the decision of the present controversy between them and Moses.
Not one ass, i.e. not any thing of the smallest value, as an ass was; see 1Sa 12:3 neither have I injured them, nor used my power to defraud or oppress them, as I might have done; but, which is here implied, I have done them many good offices, but no hurt; therefore their crime is inexcusable, because without any cause or provocation on my part.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. Moses was very wrothThoughthe meekest of all men [Nu 12:3],he could not restrain his indignation at these unjust and groundlesscharges; and the highly excited state of his feeling was evinced bythe utterance of a brief exclamation in the mixed form of a prayerand an impassioned assertion of his integrity. (Compare 1Sa12:3).
and said unto the Lord,Respect not thou their offeringHe calls it theiroffering, because, though it was to be offered by Korah and hisLevitical associates, it was the united appeal of all the mutineersfor deciding the contested claims of Moses and Aaron.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Moses was very wroth,…. Or “it heated Moses exceedingly” p; 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, that Dathan and Abiram were great men, and had offered such kind of offerings before this fact; and therefore Moses desires that the Lord would have no respect to any they had offered, but have respect to him, who had never injured any of them. Jarchi gives it as the sense of some, that whereas these men had a part in the daily sacrifices of the congregation (with which a meat offering always went), the request is, that it might not be received with acceptance by the Lord; but he himself thinks it is to be understood of the offering of incense they were to offer on the morrow; and Moses desires that God would show his disapprobation of it, and which is the common interpretation. The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem render it, “their gift”:
I have not taken one ass from them; either by force, or as a bribe, or by way of gratuity for any service done them; the sense is, that he had not taken from them the least thing in the world, anything of the meanest worth and value, on any consideration. Aben Ezra interprets the word “take”, of taking and laying any burden upon an ass of theirs; so far was he from laying any burdens on them, and using them in a cruel and tyrannical manner, as they suggested, that he never laid the least burden on any ass of theirs, and much less on them:
neither have I hurt any of them; never did any injury to the person or property of anyone of them, but, on the contrary, had done them many good offices.
p “et excanduit Mosi valde”, Drusius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Moses was so disturbed by these scornful reproaches, that he entreated the Lord, with an assertion of his own unselfishness, not to have respect to their gift, i.e., not to accept the sacrifice which they should bring (cf. Gen 4:4). “ I have not taken one ass from them, nor done harm to one of them, ” i.e., I have not treated them as a ruler, who demands tribute of his subjects, and oppresses them (cf. 1Sa 12:3).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Verses 15-18:
The taunts of Dathan and Abiram made Moses very angry. It appears his anger was not directed toward them personally, but toward the rebellious spirit they manifested. God Himself is angry with rebellion, and it is fitting that His child should be angry with that which angers Him.
Moses affirmed his own innocence of the charges Dathan and Abiram had made against him.
Moses ordered Korah and the two hundred fifty co-conspirators to assemble the next morning before the Tabernacle. They were to bring with them their censers (fire-pans) and incense. Aaron would meet them there with his censer.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
15. And Moses was very wroth. Although it might be, that there was something of human passion here, still zeal for God was supreme in his mind, nor did intemperate feelings, if he was at all tempted by them, prevail. Assuredly, it appears probable, from the context, that he was inflamed with holy ardor; since he executes the vengeance of God, as His lawful minister, so that it is plain he neither spoke nor did anything but at the dictation of the Spirit. Nay, we shall soon see that, although he was anxious with regard to the public safety, he required that but a few offenders should be punished, and not that the multitude should perish. Nor does his anger burst forth into revilings: as those, who are carried away by excess, usually assail the enemies by whom they are injured, with their tongue as well as their hands: but he betakes himself to God; nor does he ask more than flint they may be brought to shame in their pride. This is, indeed, expounded generally, by many, as if Moses desired that God should have no mercy upon them; but inasmuch as the decision of the quarrel depended on the approbation or rejection by God of rite offering they were about to make, he does not seem to me to pray for more than that God, by refusing their polluted gift, should thus chastise their ambition. At the same time also he shows that his prayer springs from the confidence of a good conscience, when he dares to testify before God that he had injured no man. Now this was the extreme of integrity and disinterestedness, that, when the people owed everything to him, he had not taken even the value of a single ass as the reward of all his labors.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(15) I have not taken one ass from them . . . In answer to the accusation preferred against him in Num. 16:13, Moses vindicates himself from the charge of oppression or extortion.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. Moses was very wroth Anger in the interest of truth and justice is a holy emotion which dwells in the bosom of God and of his Son. Psa 7:11; Mar 3:5, note.
Respect not Accept not their offered incense.
Gen 4:4.
Not taken one ass No tribute had been exacted such as kings lay upon their subjects. Their rebellion is entirely without justification.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Moses Prays that Yahweh Will Refute Them ( Num 16:15 )
Num 16:15
‘And Moses was very angry, and said to Yahweh, “Do not you respect their offering. I have not taken one ass from them, nor have I hurt one of them.” ’
Moses was very angry at their reply and the position that they were taking up, and he cried to Yahweh not to accept anything that they brought as an offering to Him. He was calling on Yahweh to reject them and not recognise them as people of the covenant. For he pointed out that they had rebelled against his authority and that it was not because of anything that he had done. He had not even taken one ass from them. He had not hurt a single one of them. The implication was that this was all happening because of what Yahweh had commanded him.
“I have not taken one ass from them.” Kings rode on asses when they rode in triumph (compare 1Ki 1:33; Zec 9:9), which their subjects would often be called on to provide. Perhaps Moses was indicating that he had never tried to lord it over them.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Num 16:15. Moses was very wrothI have not taken one ass from them Moses pleads, in justification of himself, that so far from dealing arbitrarily, as they allege, (Num 16:13.) he had not exacted the smallest thing from them, nor done any one of them the least injury. He ruled the Hebrews, not like the kings of other nations, who took tribute of their subjects, and were accustomed to seize, at their pleasure, their men servants and their maid servants, their goodliest young men, and their asses and put them to work. 1Sa 8:16. Moses, on the contrary, declares before God, that he assumed no authority but that of a prophet, which consisted chiefly in putting in execution those orders which he received from God. In like manner, Samuel, clearing himself from the imputation of having acted in an arbitrary or oppressive manner, says, whose ass have I taken? 1Sa 12:3. Hence it appears, that this was a proverbial expression, to signify acts of oppression and tyranny in the general. Houbigant, however, greatly prefers the Samaritan reading, which the LXX follow: chemud; desiderabile, vel pretiosum: I have not taken any thing valuable from them. See his note.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Reader! Behold in the instance of Moses, and his meekness for the moment forsaking him, the weakness of poor human nature universally. It was thou only, dearest JESUS! that couldst exercise mercy unrestrained, when in that hour of unequalled suffering on the cross, thou didst pray for thine enemies! Luk 23:34 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Num 16:15 And Moses was very wroth, and said unto the LORD, Respect not thou their offering: I have not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them.
Ver. 15. And Moses was very wroth. ] Or, Very sore grieved. He might have said, as one once did, Felix essem si non imperitassem, Happy had I been if I had never been in place of authority. Egypt is said by Seneca to have been loquax et ingeniosa in contumeliam praefectorum provincia, in qua qui vitaverit culpam non effugit infamiam, A province apt to find fault with, and to speak hardly of their rulers, though never so innocent. These rebels had haply learned those Egyptian manners, by living so long amongst them.
I have not taken one ass from them.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
offering = gift offering. App-13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
very wroth: Num 12:3, Exo 32:19, Mat 5:22, Mar 3:5, Eph 4:26
Respect: Num 16:6, Num 16:7, Gen 4:4, Gen 4:5, Isa 1:10-15
I have not: Though Moses was their ruler, under God, yet, so far from oppressing them, he had not imposed the smallest tax, nor taken, as a present, so much as an ass from one of them. The common present that is now made to the great, in these countries, is a horse; but there is reason to believe, that an ass might formerly have answered the same purpose. “If it is a visit of ceremony from a bashaw,” says Dr. Russell, “or other person in power, a fine horse, sometimes with furniture, or some such valuable present, is made to him at his departure.” As asses were esteemed no dishonourable beasts for the saddle, Sir. J. Chardin, in his manuscript, supposes, that when Samuel disclaimed having taken the ass of any one – 1Sa 12:3, he is to be understood of not having taken any ass for his riding. In the same light, he considers this similar declaration of Moses. His reason is “asses being then esteemed very honourable creatures for riding on – Num 22:21, Num 22:30, Jdg 5:10, 2Sa 16:2,as they are at this very time in Persia, being rode with saddles.” 1Sa 12:3, 1Sa 12:4, Act 20:33, Act 20:34, 1Co 9:15, 2Co 1:12, 2Co 7:2, 2Co 12:14-17, 1Th 2:10
Reciprocal: Gen 31:36 – was wroth Exo 16:20 – and Moses Num 3:51 – Moses 1Sa 8:6 – prayed 2Sa 22:22 – I have kept 2Ki 13:19 – was wroth Neh 5:6 – General Neh 5:16 – neither bought Psa 99:7 – kept Isa 1:26 – And I will Isa 33:15 – shaketh Mic 3:11 – heads Rom 11:2 – how he maketh 1Co 13:5 – is not 2Co 12:18 – in the same steps 1Th 2:3 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
The Sin and Judgment of Korah
Num 16:15-35
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
1. The sin of faultfinding. It is often so done. And the people seem not to fear for what they do. They think it is as nothing to criticize and malign the servants of the Lord with words of judgment and condemnation. They forget that it is Satan who is the chief slanderer against saints, and their leading accuser. Are they, who are forever harping against some saint, not led of Satan?
Korah and Dathan and Abiram with 250 princes, rose up before Moses and said, “Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation (of Israel) are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them.”
The words cut deep, and were full of poison against those appointed of God to lead His people, Were they true? They were not. The fact was that the accusation, robed in religious phraseology, was utterly false.
Beloved, let us judge one another no more. Let us not turn critics against everything and everybody that does not suit our fancies. Even when there is a fault, let us leave it with God to settle.
David would not lay his hand on the Lord’s anointed. Let us be careful lest we do.
2. The sin of self-seeking. The whole trouble with these three men was that they wanted to put down another; that they themselves might be exalted. They sought to climb up to prominence upon the bodies of the victims of their jealousies.
It is not always the case, but it is often true that men seek to bemean another, that they may be exalted. They seek to depose those in authority, that they may step into their shoes and rule in their stead.
Thus, in fighting against Moses and Aaron, Korah and the others were, in fact, fighting against God. Yes, they did their underhanded work in so pious a fashion. They claimed for themselves that God was with them, and that they were all holy.
3. The spirit of insurrection is the spirit of the wicked one. These wicked men led others into the net of their own faultfinding. There were 250 princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, and men of renown, who were carried away with the defection of the three leaders, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
No man sinneth unto himself. Perhaps the easiest way to get others into sin is to lead them into criticism of some who are better than they.
Everyone seems ready to seek better things for himself. Just let one leader begin to criticize some other leader, and factions are soon begun; and, when once begun there is no telling where they will end.
If there is sin in the camp, let us come out against it in the open. Let us not creep about in the shadows, and in an underhanded way endeavor to overthrow even that which is false, and in error. There is no place for criticism and submarine fighting, anywhere, at any time.
I. SIN IS NOT A SMALL THING (Num 16:9; Num 16:13)
1. Is it a small thing to overstep the call of God? Dare we take authority to ourselves, and seek to lord it over God’s heritage? Dare we press ourselves into the place where God has not sent us? We may, indeed, lay ourselves at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, as willing laborers, seeking His best gifts, in His own will. We may not, however, seek to displace another, that we may reign, nor may we endeavor to seek great things for ourselves and for our own glory.
The whole thing, boiled down, is thus summed up by Moses in Num 16:11 : “Thou and all thy company are gathered together against the Lord.” They thought within themselves that they were only murmuring against Aaron, or against Moses. They were, in fact, against the Lord. It was God who designated the priesthood, and it was God who placed Aaron at its head.
When Saul of Tarsus fought against the saints at Damascus, Christ said unto him, “Why persecutest thou Me?”
2. “Is it a small thing that thou hast broken thy pledge?” This was Dathan and Abiram’s word against Moses. Moses said to them, “Seemeth it but a small thing?” They replied, “Is it a small thing?” The only difference was that the voice of Dathan and Abiram gave a false accusation. Their accusation revealed the true reason for their uprising against Moses. It was twofold.
First, they said, “Thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us.” Mark that there is not a word of the 400 years of bondage and servitude to Pharaoh.
Secondly, they said, “Thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey.” Just so. They spake not a word of the experiences at Kadesh, where God was ready to lead the people in, but the people rebelled. There was not a word of the wondrous way in which God had led them through the wilderness. There was not a word of thanksgiving-nothing but carping and underhanded criticism.
Thus they refused to come up at Moses’ call.
II. FACING THE LORD (Num 16:16)
1. The correct place for a true test. No matter what accusations may be made against any of us, let us carry the matter before the face of the Lord for settlement.
“Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath,” is still a faithful command from above. It is still true that God will manage our affairs.
2. God will surely avenge His elect who cry unto Him, Why not quietly serve day and night, and carry our case to God, knowing that He will justify us if we have served Him faithfully, and have lived above reproach?
God said to Abraham, “I will bless them, that bless thee; and curse him that curseth thee.” Thus doth God undertake in behalf of those who serve Him. His judgments are according to truth. There is nothing hidden to His eyes. He will show Himself strong in our behalf if our hearts are perfect toward Him.
3. If God be for us, who can be against us? After all, what does the cry of the critic, who would destroy us, amount to? None can harm us when God stands with us, and is for us. Let us follow the ways of the Lord, who, when the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against His Anointed, simply laughs at them, and has them in derision.
It is still true that God will place His hedge around us, and the angels will encamp round about us to deliver us from any and every foe.
III. A STRANGE SIGHT (Num 16:18-22)
1. It was strange to see Korah and his company with censers and fire, coming before the Lord. Moses had so commanded them, and they were ready to respond. Moses said, “Put incense in them before the Lord * *: and it shall be that the man whom the Lord doth choose, he shall be holy.”
So “they took every man his censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon, and stood in the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation.”
Our minds go to a somewhat similar scene, when Elijah put the priests of Baal and their altar on the one side, and his altar and sacrifice, water-soaked, on the other side, and said, “Call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the Name of the Lord: and the God that answers by fire, let him be God.”
We know what happened in Elijah’s day. The priests of Baal called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, but there was no voice and no fire.
2. It was strange to see Korah gathering all the congregation together against Moses. He was certainly putting forth his utmost to undo the leadership of Moses, and to make him a stench in Israel.
He seemed, at the first, quite successful as the crowds gathered to him. The test was on! Would Moses, after all, be defeated; and would Korah and his group come out victors? To the casual observer, so it doubtless seemed. Had Moses, indeed, sought to make himself a prince in Israel? Had he gone over to Belial? Was God about to rebuke him before all the people?
The masses seemed to be carried away with the dissenters. What would God do?
IV. GOD DEMANDS SEPARATION (Num 16:20-22)
1. There is a separation demanded in daily life. This is demonstrated in the Children of Israel’s being called out of Egypt. The lamb was slain, the blood of the lamb was sprinkled on the upper doorpost, and upon the two side posts. The lamb was then eaten. Now catch the words of God: “And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand.”
What was the reason for this procedure? It was this: they were to immediately depart out of Egypt. Is this not the call of God to us? Shall the one saved from sin and the world, still live worldly? Listen! “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.” This is the first separation.
2. There is a separation demanded in the hour when judgment falls. God said to Moses, “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.”
Do you remember how Abraham prayed when God told him that Sodom and Gomorrah were to be destroyed? He said: “Wilt Thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?”
Even so Moses prayed: “Shall one man sin, and wilt Thou be wroth with all the congregation?”
In Mat 25:1-46, we have a graphic picture of the judgment of the Nations. There God asserts: “And before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.”
When God judges the wicked for their sins, the saved who bask under the true token of the Blood shall not perish with the wicked any more than Rahab and her household, who stayed behind the scarlet cord, perished with the wicked when the walls of Jericho fell down.
V. SEPARATION REALIZED (Num 16:23-27)
1. The command. “Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.” There is a word in II John (2Jn 1:10-11), which says, “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed; for he that biddeth him Godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds.”
The alliance that many had made with the three leaders, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, had to be broken at once, or else they would, of necessity, have perished with them.
Separation from wickedness and from false doctrine is still the call of God.
2. The cry. Then Moses went down and cried out unto the congregation, “Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs lest ye be consumed in all their sins.”
3. The result. “So they got up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side.”
Beloved, the faithful minister who really cares for the sheep of his pasture will at once call his people out from unholy alliances with certain men who have crept into the church unawares, and have denied the only True God, and our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Thank God that the people obeyed the voice of Moses and came away from the ones with whom they had consorted.
4. The final picture. When the others all came apart, the three men, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; with their wives, their sons, and their children, came and stood in the door of their tents. It is sad to see those women and children clinging to their husbands and fathers. It is sad to know that sins of the parents are visited upon the children, unto the third and fourth generations.
No man liveth unto himself. If the Lord should now speak, He might still say, “Up, get you away!”
VI. GREAT TEST (Num 16:28-30)
1. A peculiar prayer. As Korah, Dathan, and Abiram stood defiantly to themselves, not one word of sorrow for their wickedness came from their lips. They would not yield to God; they would not repent; they would not pray for mercy.
Then it was that Moses put a strange test before the Lord, and said: “Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the Lord hath not sent me.”
Then Moses prayed that the earth might open its mouth and swallow them up, and all that appertained unto them. And that is exactly what happened.
2. A striking knowledge of the place of the abode of the dead. We may marvel that Moses knew that Sheol was in the inner part of the earth. Yet he did know. The more we study the Bible, the more we grasp the real depth of the knowledge of Old Testament saints concerning the deep things of God. They lived and walked with God. They took time to be holy. They often spoke with God face to face.
Concerning death, and the abode of the dead, the seers of old spoke of being “gathered to their fathers.” Concerning Sheol, they spoke more than once, not as of the grave, but of the nether (that is, the lower) parts of the earth.
In line with this, Christ said, “As Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Of course, the heart of the earth is not on the top of the earth. In Ephesians it is written: “Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?”
Since Christ’s ascension, saints, when they die, go to be with Christ; but not so in the days prior to His resurrection and ascension. Of old they were gathered to their fathers in Paradise-the Paradise into which Christ descended.
VII. THE CONSUMING FIRE (Num 16:34-35)
1. Sin leads to fear. Num 16:34 says, “And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also.” They knew that they had been joined with Korah in his rebellion against Moses. Therefore they trembled as judgment fell upon their leaders.
Men often laugh at destruction, but that is when they think themselves safe and far from its reach.
One old captain, when told by the doctor that he must die, said that he had faced death too many times on the battlefield, to be afraid. The doctor said, “But what of the judgment?” The captain paled as he said, “Ah, that is another thing.”
2. God’s wrath against sin and especially against the sin of rebellion. Num 16:35 says that fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men that offered incense.
In Hebrews we read “Our God is a consuming Fire.” The Christian may say, “Well, that fire can never touch me.” That depends whether you are sinning against Him. I grant that those redeemed by the precious Blood of Christ are safe from the fires of hell. Certainly they are. However, in I Corinthians the Spirit tells us pointedly that many saints will not alone have their works burned, but they themselves shall be saved “so as by fire” (1Co 3:15).
The Scripture in Hebrews which says, “Our God is a consuming Fire,” also says, “And again, The Lord shall judge His people” (Heb 10:30).
It is “whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” Think not, dear believers, that you can wander from your Lord and yet escape His fiery indignation.
AN ILLUSTRATION
The wicked men who led the insurrection against Moses and Aaron placed their hopes on that which was of the flesh and not of God, As a result, they staked their all and lost it. The following incident suggests their folly:
Senor Severo, a member of the Brazilian Parliament, invested all his fortune in constructing an airship, which he named The Pax (meaning “The Peace”). Accompanied by an assistant named Sachet, he made his first ascent at Vaugirard, France, in the presence of his wife and friends. At the height of about 1000 feet, the balloon suddenly exploded and fell to the ground, both aeronauts being instantaneously killed. The greatest sympathy was expressed for the sad loss sustained by Senora Severo and her seven children. The Pax airship was the pride of the inventor; he had embarked in her his all, and as he wished his wife farewell and rose into the heavens all seemed bright. Twenty minutes later the whole affair was lying a complete wreck How different they who invest their all in Christ Jesus (Rom 10:9-10), for “they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles” (Isa 40:31). They shall be “caught up.”
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
Num 16:15. Respect not their offering Accept not their incense which they are now going to offer, but show some eminent dislike of it. He calls it their offering, though it was offered by Korah and his companions, because it was offered in the name and by the consent of all the conspirators, for the decision of the present controversy between them and Moses. I have not hurt one of them I have never injured them, nor used my power to defraud or oppress them, as I might have done; I have done them many good offices, but no hurt; therefore their crime is without any cause or provocation.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
God’s method of judging Korah, Dathan, and Abiram was a graphic lesson to the rest of the nation that God would bury those who rebelled against His will. Sin always leads to death (Rom 6:23).
"Sheol, the abode of the dead, is pictured as lying immediately under the surface of the ground . . ." [Note: G. Wenham, p. 137.]
"The point is that rebellion against those whom Yahweh has chosen is rebellion against him. This does not mean simply that leaders are always right. It says that if the leader is appointed by God, rebellion against the leadership is rebellion against God." [Note: Ashley, p. 318.]
The "men who belonged to Korah" (Num 16:32) were apparently his followers since some if not all of his sons did not die with their father (cf. Num 26:58; 1Ch 6:18-22; 1Ch 9:19). God destroyed the 250 leaders with fire that proceeded from Himself, as He had dealt with Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10:2).