Numbers 16:29

29 If all these people die a natural death, or if their fate be that of all humans, then the LORD hasn't sent me.

Numbers 16:29 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 16:29

If these men die the common death of all men
Or "as every man dies" ^F18, or the generality of men, who for the most part die of one disease or another, as a fever, and the like, or through old age:

or if they be visited after the visitation of all men;
with such visitations as men in all ages for their sins are visited with, meaning public calamities, such as pestilence, famine, and sword:

[then] the Lord hath not sent me;
it may be concluded that I had no mission nor commission from the Lord to do what I have done, but may be reckoned a deceiver and an impostor; and I am content to be accounted so, should either of the above things be the case of these men.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 (Mdah lk twmk) "ut moriuntur omnes homines", Pagninus; "reliqui homines", Junius & Tremellius; "alii homines", Piscator.

Numbers 16:29 In-Context

27 They withdrew from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Then Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrance of their tents with their wives, children, and little ones.

28 Moses said, "By this you will know that the LORD sent me to do these deeds and that it wasn't my own desire.

29 If all these people die a natural death, or if their fate be that of all humans, then the LORD hasn't sent me.

30 But if the LORD performs an act of creation, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them and everything that belongs to them, so that they descend alive to their graves, then you'll know that these men disrespected the LORD."

31 As soon as he finished speaking these words, the ground under them split open.