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Numbers 16:35

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35 And 1fire came out from the LORD and consumed 2the 250 men offering the incense.
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Numbers 16:35 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 16:35

And there came out a fire from the Lord
Flashes of lightning from the cloud in which he was:

and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense;
not that it reduced them to ashes, but took away their lives, struck them dead at once, in like manner as Nadab and Abihu were, who though said to be devoured by the fire, yet their bodies remained, ( Leviticus 10:2 Leviticus 10:4 Leviticus 10:5 ) ; and is often the case of persons killed by lightning; though Josephus

FOOTNOTES:

F1 thinks they were so consumed as that their bodies were no more seen, and who is express for it that Korah perished with them in this manner; which is not improbable, since he took his censer and offered incense with them, and was the ringleader of them, and the person that contended with Aaron for the priesthood, which was to be determined in this way; and though he is not mentioned it may be concluded, as Aben Ezra observes, by an argument from the lesser to the greater, that if the men he drew in perished, much more he himself; and the same writer observes, that in the song of the Red sea, no mention is made of the drowning of Pharaoh in it, only of his chariots and his host, and yet he himself was certainly drowned: now these men burning incense which belonged only to the priests of the Lord, were by just retaliation consumed by fire, and which made it plainly appear they were not the priests of the Lord; and the judgment on them was the more remarkable, that Moses and Aaron, who stood by them, remained unhurt. This was an emblem of the vengeance of eternal fire, of everlasting burnings, ( Jude 1:11 ) .


F1 Antiq. l. 4. c. 3. sect. 4.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Numbers 16:35 In-Context

33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.
34 And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, "Lest the earth swallow us up!"
35 And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men offering the incense.
36 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
37 "Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers out of the blaze. Then scatter the fire far and wide, for they have become holy.

Cross References 2

  • 1. [Numbers 11:1]; Leviticus 10:2; Psalms 106:18
  • 2. ver. 17
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.