Numbers 16:1-10

Korah, Dathan and Abiram

1 Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent^[a]

2 and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council.

3 They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD’s assembly?”

4 When Moses heard this, he fell facedown.

5 Then he said to Korah and all his followers: “In the morning the LORD will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will have that person come near him. The man he chooses he will cause to come near him.

6 You, Korah, and all your followers are to do this: Take censers

7 and tomorrow put burning coals and incense in them before the LORD. The man the LORD chooses will be the one who is holy. You Levites have gone too far!”

8 Moses also said to Korah, “Now listen, you Levites!

9 Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near himself to do the work at the LORD’s tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to them?

10 He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood too.

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Numbers 16:1-10 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 16

This chapter gives an account of a sedition of Korah and others against Moses and Aaron, Nu 16:1-4, with whom Moses expostulates, and shows the unreasonableness of their clamour against Aaron, Nu 16:5-11; sends for Dathan and Abiram, who were in the confederacy, but refused to come, which greatly angered Moses, Nu 16:12-15; orders Korah and his company to appear before the Lord the next day, with Aaron, to have the controversy decided, Nu 16:16-18; when all the congregation gathered together would have been, consumed had it not been for the intercession of Moses and Aaron, Nu 16:19-22; and who, being separated from the rebels by the command of the Lord, some of the rebels were swallowed up in the earth, and others destroyed by fire from heaven, Nu 16:23-35; and their censers were made a covering for the altar, as a memorial of their sin, Nu 16:36-40; on which there was a new insurrection of the people, which brought a plague upon them, and destroyed 14,700 persons, and which was stopped at the intercession of Aaron, Nu 16:41-50.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 22

1. S Exodus 6:24; Jude 1:11
2. ver 24; Psalms 106:17
3. Numbers 26:8; Deuteronomy 11:6
4. Numbers 27:3
5. Numbers 1:16; Numbers 26:9
6. ver 7; Psalms 106:16
7. Exodus 19:6
8. S Numbers 14:14
9. Numbers 12:2
10. Numbers 14:5
11. S Leviticus 10:3; 2 Timothy 2:19*
12. Jeremiah 30:21
13. Numbers 17:5; Psalms 65:4; Psalms 105:26; Jeremiah 50:44
14. ver 7,16
15. S Leviticus 10:1; Revelation 8:3
16. S Leviticus 10:1
17. S Exodus 30:9
18. S ver 6
19. ver 5
20. S Genesis 30:15
21. Numbers 3:6; Deuteronomy 10:8; Deuteronomy 17:12; Deuteronomy 21:5; 1 Samuel 2:11; Psalms 134:1; Ezekiel 44:11
22. Numbers 3:10; Numbers 18:7; Judges 17:5,12

Footnotes 1

[a]. Or "Peleth—took men"