Numbers 16:22

22 But Moses and Aaron bowed down with their faces to the ground and said, "O God, you are the source of all life. When one of us sins, do you become angry with the whole community?"

Numbers 16:22 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 16:22

And they fell upon their faces
That is, Moses and Aaron, in order to deprecate the wrath of God, and beseech him to avert the threatened judgment; and so the Targum of Jonathan has it,

``they bowed themselves in prayer upon their faces;''

and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh;
the Maker of all men, as of their bodies, which are flesh, so of their souls or spirits, which are immaterial and immortal; hence he is called "the Father of spirits", ( Hebrews 12:9 ) , who, as the Targum, puts the spirit in the bodies of men; or, as others, who knows the spirits of men; their thoughts, as Jarchi, the inward frames and dispositions of their minds; who knows who have sinned, and who not; and whether their sins proceed from weakness, and being misled, or whether from a malevolent disposition, presumption, and self-will: shall one man sin:
meaning Korah, who was the ringleader: and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?
who, through ignorance and weakness, and by artifice and imposition, are drawn in to join with him; the plea is much the same with that of Abraham, ( Genesis 18:25 ) .

Numbers 16:22 In-Context

20 and the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

21 "Move back from these people, and I will destroy them immediately."

22 But Moses and Aaron bowed down with their faces to the ground and said, "O God, you are the source of all life. When one of us sins, do you become angry with the whole community?"

23 The Lord said to Moses,

24 "Tell the people to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram."