Numbers 16:12

12 Then Moses sent a summons to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; but they said, "We will not come up.

Numbers 16:12 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 16:12

And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab,
&c.] He sent messengers to call them to the house of judgment, as the Targum of Jonathan, to the court of judicature, where the Jews suppose Moses, with the seventy elders, were now sitting: it seems these two men departed either before. Moses rose up from prayer, or however before he had finished his speech to Korah and the Levites; which being particularly directed to them, these men might think they had no concern in it, and went away to their own tents:

which said, we will not come up;
this answer they returned to the messengers, and by them to Moses, declaring that they denied his power, despised his authority, and would not obey his orders, and therefore refused to come up to the tabernacle, or to the tent of Moses, or to the court of judicature, wherever it was; perhaps the first is best. Aben Ezra thinks, that as the tabernacle was in the midst of the camp, it was on an eminence, wherefore those that came to it might be said to come up to it.

Numbers 16:12 In-Context

10 and that He has brought you near, Korah, and all your brothers, sons of Levi, with you? And are you seeking for the priesthood also?
11 "Therefore you and all your company are gathered together against the LORD ; but as for Aaron, who is he that you grumble against him?"
12 Then Moses sent a summons to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; but they said, "We will not come up.
13 "Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to have us die in the wilderness, but you would also lord it over us?
14 "Indeed, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor have you given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Would you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up!"

Footnotes 1

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