Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 16:37
Speak unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the censers out of the burning, and scatter thou the fire yonder; for they are hallowed.
37. out of the burning ] From the heap of burnt corpses.
for they are holy ] These words probably belong to the next verse (see n. there). The fire-pans had previously been the private property of the 250 princes (see on Num 16:6); but when they had once been employed for a sacred purpose, and had been in contact with sacred incense, they had acquired (according to a very wide-spread Semitic notion) a new quality of sacredness, which made it dangerous and wrong to use them in future for secular purposes. For this Semitic idea cf. Num 19:21; Eze 44:19; Eze 46:20; Lev 6:27; Hag 2:12 f.; Isa 45:5; and see art. ‘Holiness’ in DB. ii.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Aaron as High Priest and as one of those that offered incense Num 16:17, could not be defiled by going among the dead.
The censers were not to be used again for censers, nor the coals on them for kindling the incense to be offered before the Lord. Yet neither of them could fittingly be employed for common purposes. The censers therefore were beaten into plates for the altar; the coals were scattered at a distance.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Num 16:37-40
Take up the censers.
Divine economy
What God has kissed must not be lost; what God has consecrated must be preserved. The two hundred and fifty men may be burned up, the censers may be scorched, but they shall be turned to some use in the sanctuary. O thou great Economist, the very stones of Thy house are sacred to Thee; they are not sacred as magically consecrated, but they are sacred because Thou hast told men to seek in the quarries of the earth and in the forests of the land for stone and wood to put together to make a sanctuary for Thee; and once Thine, Thine for ever. The stones are dear to Thee, yea, the dust of Zion is more than the constellations of the sky. If we have given anything to the Cross, it is Gods; it will never be unholy. At the beginning of every year some men say, So much for Christ. They say, There it is; every penny is His, it will all go to His treasury. Such men can never be vexed and fretted by appeals, because they have given the money, and when they have spent all the money they say so, and God is as pleased with their not giving as with their giving, because they have given it all. They first set it apart, they consecrated it, they took it to the Cross and said, Jesus, this little handful is all Thine; help me to spend it aright. It is all gone, so when the next applicant comes and gets nothing, God is not displeased. So let us give ourselves to Christ; then every hair on our head is His, and will be numbered; all our outgoings and incomings, our downsittings and uprisings, will be of consequence to Heaven. Why? Not because of the detailed action, but because the life out of which all of that action came was itself baptized, made holy with the chrism of fire. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 37. The censers – are hallowed.] kadeshu, are consecrated, i. e., to the service of God though in this instance improperly employed.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Unto Eleazar, rather than to Aaron, partly because the tronblesome part of the work was more proper for him, and partlly lest Aaron should be polluted by going amongst those dead carcasses; for it is probable this fire consumed them, as lightning somethnes doth others, by taking away their lives, and leaving their bodies dead upon the place.
Out of the burning, i.e. from among the dead bodies of those men who were burnt. Burning put for those who are burnt, as captivity for the captives, Num 21:1, and poverty for the poor, 2Ki 24:14.
The fire, i.e. the cinders or ashes which are left in or near their censers.
Yonder, i.e. far from the altar and sanctuary, into an unclean place, where the ashes were wont to be cast; by which God shows his rejection of their services.
They are hallowed; either,
1. By Gods appointment, because they were presented before the Lord by his express order, Num 16:16,17. Or,
2. By Gods just judgment, because they, together with the persons that used them, were accursed and devoted by God, and therefore were the Lords, and not to be employed in any profane or common use, as appears from Lev 27:28. But the first reason is the chief, and is rendered by God himself, Num 16:38.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
37-40. Speak unto EleazarHewas selected lest the high priest might contract defilement fromgoing among the dead carcasses.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Speak unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest,…. His eldest son, that was to succeed him as high priest, and who perhaps was upon the spot to see the issue of things; and who, rather than Aaron, is bid to do what follows, partly because Aaron was now officiating, burning incense, and that he might not be defiled with the dead bodies; and partly because it was more proper and decent for the son to do it than the father; and it may be also because it was for the further confirmation of the priesthood in the posterity of Aaron:
that he take up the censers out of the burning; either out from among the dead bodies burnt with fire from the Lord, or out of the burning of the incense in them; these were the censers of Korah and the two hundred fifty men with him:
and scatter thou the fire yonder; the fire that was in the censers; the incense burning in them was to be cast out and scattered here and there, or carried to some unclean place at a distance, as a token of the rejection of the services of these men: and thus the Lord answered the prayer of Moses, that he would not have respect to their offering,
Nu 16:15; if incense is intended there; though that seems to refer only to Dathan and Abiram, and not to these two hundred fifty men:
for they are hallowed, incense being offered in them before the Lord, and therefore were not to be made use of in common service.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
37. Speak unto Eleazar the son of Aaron. Since there is no manifestation of God’s wrath so conspicuous as not to be forgotten too often by man’s stupidity, God was willing to anticipate this evil, and set up a monument for posterity, lest the recollection of this memorable judgment should ever be obscured. He commands, therefore, that a covering for the altar should be made of the censers, in order that none should rashly intrude himself to make the sacred offerings. When He calls them “hallowed,” some understand that it was sinful to transfer them to profane purposes, because they had once been devoted to the service of God. I am, however, rather of opinion that they were set apart (sacratas) as things accursed (anathemata.) Thus the fire which had been upon them is scattered afar, in order that the altar should be cleansed from its pollution. Although, however, there was the same pollution in the censers, yet God would have them preserved as accursed, so that all posterity might understand that none but the priests were to be admitted to the sacrifices. Nor is it superfluous for Him to speak of the rebels as having acted criminally “against their own souls;” but it was in order that the memory of their punishment might be inn manner engraved upon those brazen enclosures, in order to awaken continued dread.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(37) Speak unto Eleazar the son of Aaron . . . Aaron was shortly to be employed in an act of sacerdotal ministration and intercession, for which he would have become disqualified had he been ceremonially defiled by contact with things pertaining to the dead.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE MEMORIAL CENSERS, Num 16:36-40.
37. Out of the burning From between the burning, that is, from the hands of the men that had been burned.
Scatter the fire yonder That is, empty the censers of the burning coals in a distant place, and not on the holy altar.
Hallowed Because they had been brought before Jehovah, and hence when the rebels were slain their censers fell to him as articles under the anathema.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Num 16:37 Speak unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the censers out of the burning, and scatter thou the fire yonder; for they are hallowed.
Ver. 37. For they are hallowed. ] And therefore may not be turned to any other use.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
burning. Hebrew. saraph. See App-43. e from among those that were burnt.
the fire. Compare Num 16:7, not accepted by Jehovah.
hallowed = set apart. See note on “holy”. Exo 3:5
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the censers: Num 16:7, Num 16:18
hallowed: Kadashoo, consecrated, i.e., to the service of God, though in this instance, improperly employed. Lev 27:28
Reciprocal: 2Ch 7:7 – hallowed