Numbers 16:31

31 As soon as he had finished saying all this, the ground under them split,

Numbers 16:31 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 16:31

And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all
these things
As soon as he had finished his discourse, which was addressed to the congregation, and, according to Josephus ^F21, after a long prayer to God, which that writer gives at large; immediately so it was,

that the ground clave asunder that [was] under them;
on which they stood, not from any natural cause, as by subterranean volcano, forcibly making their way and bursting the earth, and so getting vent, which has been thought to be the cause of earthquakes; but this was by the immediate hand and almighty power of God, and came to pass just as Moses suggested it would, and as soon as he had uttered his words, which made it the more observable.

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 Antiqu. l. 4. c. 3. Sect. 2.

Numbers 16:31 In-Context

29 If these men die like all other people--if they die a natural death--then the LORD hasn't sent me.

30 But if the LORD does something totally new--if the ground opens up, swallows them and everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive to their graves--then you'll know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt."

31 As soon as he had finished saying all this, the ground under them split,

32 and the earth opened up to swallow them, their families, the followers of Korah, and all their property.

33 They went down alive to their graves with everything that belonged to them. The ground covered them, and so they disappeared from the assembly.