Numbers 16:30

30 But and yf the Lorde make a newe thinge and the erth open hir mouthe and swalowe them and all that pertayne vnto them so that they goo doune quycke in to hell: then ye shall vnderstod that these me haue rayled apon the Lorde.

Numbers 16:30 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 16:30

But if the Lord make a new thing
Or "create a creation", or "creature" F19, what never was before, or put those persons to a death that none ever in the world died of yet; what that is he means is next expressed:

and the earth open her mouth and swallow them up, with all that
[appertain] unto them;
their persons, their wives, children and substance:

and they go down quick into the pit;
alive into the grave the opening earth makes for them; this is the new thing created; though the Rabbins say F20, the mouth of the earth, or the opening of the earth, was created from the days of the creation, that is, it was determined or decreed so early that it should be:

then ye shall understated that these men have provoked the Lord;
by rising up against Moses and Aaron, and so against the Lord; by falsely accusing his servants, and endeavouring to set the people against them, and so alter the constitution of things in church and state.


FOOTNOTES:

F19 (arby hayrb) "creationem, creaverit", Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Fagius; "creaturam", Vatablus, Drusius.
F20 Pirke Abot, c. 5. sect. 6. Pirke Eliezer, c. 19.

Numbers 16:30 In-Context

28 And Moses sayed: Hereby ye shall knowe that the Lorde hath sent me to doo all these workes and that I haue not done them of myne awne mynde:
29 Yf these men dye the comon deth of all men or yf they be visyted after the visitacion of all men then the Lorde hath not sent me.
30 But and yf the Lorde make a newe thinge and the erth open hir mouthe and swalowe them and all that pertayne vnto them so that they goo doune quycke in to hell: then ye shall vnderstod that these me haue rayled apon the Lorde.
31 And as soone as he had made an ende of speakynge all these wordes the grounde cloue asunder that was vnder them
32 and ye erth opened hir mouthe and swalowed them and their housses and all the me that were with Corah and all their goodes.
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