Numbers 16:26-30

26 He warned the assembly, “Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.”
27 So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents.
28 Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea:
29 If these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all mankind, then the LORD has not sent me.
30 But if the LORD brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the realm of the dead, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.”

Numbers 16:26-30 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.

Cross References 12

  • 1. Isaiah 52:11
  • 2. S Genesis 19:15
  • 3. Jeremiah 51:6
  • 4. S ver 12
  • 5. ver 32; Joshua 7:24; Isaiah 13:16; Isaiah 14:21
  • 6. S Exodus 33:8
  • 7. 1 Kings 18:36
  • 8. Exodus 3:12; John 5:36; John 6:38
  • 9. Numbers 24:13; Job 31:2; Ecclesiastes 3:19
  • 10. Psalms 141:7; Isaiah 5:14
  • 11. ver 33; S Genesis 37:35; 1 Samuel 2:6; Job 5:26; Job 21:13; Psalms 9:17; Psalms 16:10; Psalms 55:15; Isaiah 14:11; Isaiah 38:18
  • 12. S Numbers 14:11; S Ezekiel 26:20
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