Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 16:21
Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.
To wit, Korah and his two hundred and fifty men, and the people whom he gathered against Moses and Aaron, Num 16:19.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
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 standing along with him, showed them to be on his side, which greatly provoked the Lord:
that I may consume them in a moment; by fire from him, as the two hundred fifty men were afterwards consumed, Nu 16:35.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
21. Separate yourselves from among this congregation. Again does God declare that He will bear the people’s great impiety no longer, but will destroy them all to a man. Just, therefore, as he had commanded Lot to depart from Sodom, nay, had drawn him out by the hand of the angel, when He desired to destroy that city, so He now commands Moses and Aaron to give Him room to exercise His wrath. In this He declares His extraordinary favor towards them; as if He were not free to execute vengeance, until they had gone out of the way, lest the destruction should reach themselves. In speaking thus, however, He does not absolutely affirm what He had determined in His secret counsel, but only pronounces what the authors of this wickedness had deserved. It is, therefore, just as if He were ascending His judgment-seat. Thus Moses by his intercession by no means changed His eternal decree; but, by appeasing Him, delivered the people from the punishment they had merited. In the same sense God is said to be influenced by our prayers; not that after the manner of men He assumes new feelings, but, in order to show the more than paternal love with which he honors us, He, as it were, indulges us, when He listens to our desires. Hence we gather that even by this express denunciation Moses was not prohibited from praying; because his faith in the adoption of the people was not destroyed. For we have already said that this principle, that the covenant which God had made with Abraham could not be made void, was so thoroughly an-graven upon his mind, that it surmounted whatever obstacles might present themselves. Resting, therefore, on the gratuitous promise, which depended not on men, his prayer was the offspring of faith. For the saints do not always reason accurately and subtlety as to the form of their prayers; but, after they have once embraced that which suffices to awaken in them confidence in prayer, viz., God’s word, their whole attention is so directed to it, that they pass over the things which seem apparently to contradict it. Nor can we doubt but that it was God’s design, when He delivered his terrible sentence as to the destruction of the people, to quicken the earnestness of Moses in prayer, since necessity more and more inflames the zeal of the pious. In short, Moses was always consistent in his care for the well-being of the people.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(21) Separate yourselves from among this congregation . . . By their obedience to the summons of Korah the congregation generally, or at Yeast a large portion of it, had made themselves partakers in his sin, and had become obnoxious to the Divine wrath.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. Separate yourselves This command to withdraw themselves from the congregation was not obeyed, but through intercession the command was tacitly countermanded.
Consume them By assembling at the instigation of Korah this whole congregation had avowed their adherence to the rebels.
In a moment Here is an outflashing of justice untempered by mercy.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Num 16:21 Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.
Ver. 21. Separate yourselves. ] Good men are taken away from the evil to come. When God pulls away the pillars, what will become of the building? Lot was no sooner taken out of Sodom, but Sodom was taken out of the world.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Separate: Gen 19:15-22, Jer 5:16, Act 2:40, 2Co 6:17, Eph 5:6, Eph 5:7, Rev 18:4
that I may: Num 16:45, Num 14:12, Num 14:15, Exo 32:10, Exo 33:5, Psa 73:19, Isa 37:36, Heb 12:28, Heb 12:29
Reciprocal: Gen 19:14 – Up Exo 33:3 – lest I Lev 6:10 – consumed Num 16:24 – General Num 16:26 – I pray you Ezr 9:14 – wouldest not thou Job 42:10 – when Psa 99:6 – they called Jer 4:20 – in Eze 9:8 – that I Eze 13:5 – have not Eze 20:13 – I said 1Co 15:52 – a moment