Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 16:8
And Moses said unto Korah, Hear, I pray you, ye sons of Levi:
8 11. In these verses Korah’s company, represented as Levites, claim the privileges of the priesthood (see prelim. note to the chapter).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Consider what I say before it be too late, and repent of your great wickedness.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5-11. he spake unto Korah and untoall his companyThey were first addressed, not only becausethey were a party headed by his own cousin and Moses might hope tohave more influence in that quarter, but because they were stationednear the tabernacle; and especially because an expostulation was themore weighty coming from him who was a Levite himself, and who wasexcluded along with his family from the priesthood. But to bring thematter to an issue, he proposed a test which would afford a decisiveevidence of the divine appointment.
Even to-morrowliterally,”in the morning,” the usual time of meeting in the East forthe settlement of public affairs.
the Lord will show who arehis, . . . even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come nearunto himthat is, will bear attestation to his ministry by somevisible or miraculous token of His approval.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
8. Hear, I pray you, ye sons of Levi. He addresses the whole body, and yet it is said that his discourse was directed to Korah alone, and this was because he had corrupted others of the Levites, and therefore is first summoned to God’s tribunal, so that the whole party might be at the same time included. He was able to expostulate with the Levites at once, because their residence was close to the sanctuary.
He accuses them of ingratitude, because they were not satisfied with the honor with which God had already dignified them, but also sought the high-priesthood. In this they betrayed their despisal of His grace; for, if they had rightly valued the gifts of God, each of them would have quietly contented himself with his lot; especially since, in proportion as a person has been liberally dealt with, his ingratitude is more intolerable, if he aspires to anything higher. We are taught, therefore, that the higher the degree may be to which we have been elevated by God’s goodness, the greater is the punishment which our crime deserves, if our ambition still incites us to overleap the bounds of our calling. Nevertheless, such is the perversity of almost all men, that as soon as a person has attained some intermediate position, he uplifts, as it were, the standard of pride (91) and prescribes to himself no limit, until he shall have reached above the clouds. In a word, few are found who do not grow insolent in places of honor. Wherefore we ought to be all the more attentive to this admonition of Moses, that those are most ungrateful to God who despise their lot, which is already honorable, and aim at something higher.
(91) “Comme si Dieu en l’honorant luy avoit dresse une banniere d’orgueil;” as if God by honoring him had raised for him a banner of pride. — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Moses Charge against Korah ( Num 16:8-11 ).
Num 16:8-10
‘And Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi, does it seem but a small thing to you, that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of Yahweh, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, and that he has brought you (thee) near, and all your brethren the sons of Levi with you? and do you seek the priesthood also?” ’
Moses now added a further warning to them and especially to their leader. It was not too late to withdraw. Let Korah consider this on behalf of his followers. Did they consider the privileged position that they had been given to do the service of the Dwellingplace of Yahweh, and to act as ministers to the congregation, to be a small thing? He was well aware that they did not. Let them remember that God had separated them from the congregation of Israel for special service, and had brought them near to Himself, by allowing them to camp around the Dwellingplace as its guardians, and to enter the courtyard of the Dwellingplace to fulfil their functions. That was a huge privilege. No other tribe of Israel had such access to that holy place. And this was not only true for him, but for all who were truly sons of Levi. If they then saw their position as privileged, because they had been chosen and ‘made holy’ in preparation for it, would they not recognise that in seeking to act as priests they were stepping outside their calling. They were well aware that Yahweh Himself had chosen the sons of Aaron. Would they then seek that priesthood for themselves contrary to Yahweh’s express desire? Let them think about it, and beware.
Again the writer is stressing his central point. The overall rebellion he treats as secondary.
“All your brethren the sons of Levi with you?” The whole tribe of Levites is in mind here as having the Levite privileges, as against the few who were in the rebellion.
Num 16:11
“ Therefore you and all your company are gathered together against Yahweh, and Aaron, what is he that you murmur against him?”
And it was in the seeking of the priesthood which was at Yahweh’s disposal that they had gathered together ‘against Yahweh and against Aaron’. Let them consider that their action was in the face of Yahweh’s direct commandment. It put them ‘against Yahweh’. After all, what was Aaron that they should murmur against him? He was only doing what Yahweh had commanded him. He and they were in the same position. They each ought to do what Yahweh chose them for, and what He had set them apart for, and commanded them to do.
It would seem at this point that Korah and his band of Levites were satisfied with the offer and were ready to retire to their tents in the Levite camp ready for the morning. They disregarded his warning. Moses’ warnings had simply passed over their heads because they were gripped by covetousness. But Moses recognised that he had only dealt with half the problem.
He then turned his attention to the Reubenites who had previously withdrawn. He recognised that they would not be satisfied with such a test. They were more concerned with gaining leadership of the confederacy than with becoming priests. It was necessary somehow to pacify them and deal with their fellow-rebels.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
I humbly conceive in this expostulation of Moses, and his mention of Aaron in so humiliating a manner, What is Aaron that you murmur against him? that the man of GOD pointed thereby to the infirmity of the man, as if to convince them that the acceptance of Aaron could not be for anything in himself, but must have arisen wholly from the LORD’S own pleasure. I do not presume to say, that Moses saw so much of gospel in the appointment of Aaron to the priesthood, that he beheld JESUS as typified and represented in every rite and ceremony Aaron ministered in. But I do venture to believe that Moses saw enough in the dispensation, to discover that Aaron never was or could be accepted for himself and for the people, in consequence of any merit or righteousness of his own. What is Aaron, that ye murmur against him? As if he had said, is not this the same Aaron that transgressed, in the instance of the golden calf? Exo 32:1-6 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Num 16:8 And Moses said unto Korah, Hear, I pray you, ye sons of Levi:
Ver. 8. Ye sons of Levi. ] He took these to task apart; as hoping, haply, to withdraw them from their purpose, and to hide pride from them, Job 33:17 but they proved uncounsellable, incorrigible.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Reciprocal: Jdg 17:12 – his priest
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
KORAHS REBELLION
And Moses said unto Korah, Hear, I pray you, ye sons of Levi, etc.
Num 16:8-11
I. The sin of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram was this: they were discontented with the arrangement made for public worship by the choosing out of Aaron and his family to be priests. The argument they used was a very plausible one, because it depended upon the great truth of the Lords being with all His people, consecrating and sanctifying them all, making them all in a certain sense holy to the Lord, in a certain sense priests.
II. The Mosaic history is a continual witness to the tendency which there was in the Divinely appointed order to become a caste, a perpetual record of the ways in which God was counter-working that tendency. The Aaronic family was appointed to offer the sacrifices; it was to show that God Himself was the Inventor of them. Woe to it if it tried to persuade the people that it was the inventor of them or could make them more acceptable!
III. Korah and his company were the assertors of a popular maxim.But unhappily that popular maxim would have been destructive of the people, would have been fatal to their moral, political, spiritual, freedom. Korah would have asserted for himself and the other families of the tribe of Levi the privilege and right of offering sacrifices. Dathan and Abiram would have claimed that privilege and right for all the tribes. There was a lie in the words. They at once introduced the principle of which sacrifice is the renunciation, the principle against which the family of Aaron was the permanent protest.
IV. Since it is the tendency of a mere national organisation to become exclusive, to assert the dignity of birth or the sacredness of property above the dignity and sacredness of humanity, the business of the priest in each land will be especially to protect it against this danger. The priest presents Christs finished sacrifice for the whole human racefor rich and poor, high and low. He must expect to go down alive into a deeper pit than that which received Korah and his company if he shows that wealth, honours, distinctions of any kind, are the objects of his search, not remembering that he that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Rev. F. D. Maurice.
Illustration
Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and causest to approach unto Thee, that he may dwell in thy courts. Oh, that the Lord would so put his Holy Spirit upon us as to show that we are His, and that we are welcome to approach into His inner shrine! That which these conspirators demanded from a mere spirit of jealous rivalry, we ask because the love of our heart craves for nearness. How wise it was on the part of Moses to pass the controversy off himself and Aaron, and on to God! They that sin against Gods servants do in reality sin against the Master, and He will vindicate them and avenge their wrongs. It becomes us to separate ourselves from those who notoriously sin against the Lord, that we be not involved in their sin and fate. The message is a perpetual one, Come ye out from among them, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Num 16:8-11. Ye sons of Levi They were of his own tribe; nay, they were of Gods tribe. It was therefore the worse in them thus to mutiny against God and against him. To minister to them So they were the servants both of God and of the church, which was a high dignity, though not sufficient for their ambitious minds. Against the Lord Whose chosen servant Aaron is. You strike at God through Aarons sides.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The rebels viewed Israel’s experiences since leaving Egypt in a carnal way. They attributed these trials to Moses personally rather than to God. This failure to perceive the will of God as such led them to regard Moses’ leadership as inadequate and unacceptable.
"It was not that Moses was in error or that Aaron was at fault. It was simply that these wicked men wanted their positions.
"Anytime one begins so heavily to emphasize ’my ministry,’ then such a one is in danger of standing in Korah’s sandals." [Note: Allen, p. 837.]
"In Num 16:10 b Moses comes to the nub of the matter-not being satisfied with the position to which God has called one, but wanting more for the sake of power and prestige. It is clear that the Levites’ call was to ministry or service of the people, not to power and position over them. This misunderstanding is near the heart of that which makes Korah’s rebellion so tragic: a misunderstanding of God’s call as to privilege and not to service." [Note: Ashley, p. 309.]