And they rose up before Moses
To his face, openly and publicly, in a bold and audacious manner;
with impudence, as the Targum of Jonathan:
with certain of the children of Israel;
some out of the several tribes, but perhaps chiefly of the tribe
of Reuben, as Jarchi:
two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly;
or "congregation" F9, who were princes in the several
tribes to which they belonged, heads of houses and families of
their fathers, rulers of thousands, hundreds, &c.
famous in the congregation;
or "called" F11 to the tabernacle of the
congregation; who, when the great men among the people were
gathered together to consult about any affair, were called, as
Ben Melech observes:
men of renown,
or "of name" F12; in high esteem among the people
for their birth and rank, their wealth and riches, wisdom and
prudence; and were so before they came out of Egypt, as Aben Ezra
remarks; so that the persons concerned in this rebellion were not
the mob and dregs of the people, but men of the greatest figure
and fame, and therefore was likely to be of bad consequence.