Matthew Henry on Numbers 16:23-34
We have here the determining of the controversy with Dathan and Abiram, who rebelled against Moses, as in the next paragraph the determining of the controversy with Korah and his company, who would be rivals with Aaron. It should seem that Dathan and Abiram had set up a spacious tabernacle in the midst of the tents of their families, where they kept court, met in council, and hung out their flag of defiance against Moses; it is here called the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, Num 16:24, Num 16:27. There, as in the place of rendezvous, Dathan and Abiram staid, when Korah and his friends went up to the tabernacle of the Lord, waiting the issue of their trial; but here we are told how t…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Numbers 16:28
Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works--The awful catastrophe of the earthquake which, as predicted by Moses, swallowed up those impious rebels in a living tomb, gave the divine attestation to the mission of Moses and struck the spectators with solemn awe.
John Gill on Numbers 16:34
And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them,.... Or because of it, as Aben Ezra; their cry was so loud, their shrieks so dreadful and piercing, that the Israelites about them fled to get out of the sound of them, as well as for their own safety. The Targum of Jonathan not only represents their cry as terrible, but gives the words they expressed at it;"and all Israel that were round about them fled, because of the terror of their voice, when they cried and said, the Lord is righteous and his judgments truth, and truth are the words of Moses his servant, but we are wicked who have rebelled against him:"
for they said, lest the earth swallow us up also; which they might f…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Calvin on Numbers 16:34
And all Israel that were round about them. We must suppose that the people were standing around, expecting at a distance the event that was to take place; for they had previously retired from the tents, in token of their separation (from this wicked company.) [100] That they should now fly in confusion, lest the same destruction should overwhelm themselves, is a sign of their bad conscience, which is always troubled in itself, and agitates the wicked with sore inquietude. It is needful, indeed, that even the pious should be alarmed by God's judgments, in order that their consternation or dread should instruct them [101] in his holy fear, and therefore they never reflect without dread on the…
