Matthew Henry on Numbers 16:41–end
Here is, I. A new rebellion raised the very next day against Moses and Aaron. Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and wonder, O earth! Was there ever such an instance of the incurable corruption of sinners? On the morrow (Num 16:41) the body of the people mutinied. 1. Though they were so lately terrified by the sight of the punishment of the rebels. The shrieks of those sinking sinners, those sinners against their own souls, were yet sounding in their ears, the smell of the fire yet remained, and the gaping earth was scarcely thoroughly closed, and yet the same sins were re-acted and all these warnings slighted. 2. Though they were so lately saved from sharing in the same punishment, and the…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Numbers 16:41
the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the Lord--What a strange exhibition of popular prejudice and passion--to blame the leaders for saving the rebels! Yet Moses and Aaron interceded for the people--the high priest perilling his own life in doing good to that perverse race.
John Gill on Numbers 16:45
Get you up from among this congregation,.... That is, withdraw from them, and be separate, that they might not be involved in the same destruction with them, as well as that they might have no concern for them, or plead with the Lord in prayer on their account, but let him alone to destroy them, as follows:
that I may consume them in a moment; as he was able to do, and had proposed to do it before, but they entreated him that he would not, Numbers 16:21; as they again do:
and they fell upon their faces; in prayer, as the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem; and so Aben Ezra observes, it was to pray to deprecate the wrath of God, and to implore his pardoning mercy for this sinful people; whic…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Calvin on Numbers 16:45
Get you up from among this congregation. I have expounded the meaning of this expression a little above, namely, that as God regards His people with constant and peculiar love, so He defers His vengeance against the wicked, until these people are set apart, and placed in safety. For tie declares that, as soon as Moses and Aaron have secured themselves, all the rest shall perish in a moment. But incredible was the kindness of both of them, thus humbly to intercede for so ungrateful a people, who deserved to die a hundred times over; for, forgetful of their own lives, which they saw to be imperiled, they were ready to make atonement for the guilt, so as to rescue from death those abandoned wre…
