Numbers 16:31-41

31 As soon as he finished speaking all these words, the ground under them was split apart.

32 The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, along with their households—everyone who belonged to Korah and all their goods.

33 So they with all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol; the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

34 All Israel around them fled at their outcry, for they said, "The earth will swallow us too!"

35 And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred fifty men offering the incense.

36 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

37 Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to take the censers out of the blaze; then scatter the fire far and wide.

38 For the censers of these sinners have become holy at the cost of their lives. Make them into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they presented them before the Lord and they became holy. Thus they shall be a sign to the Israelites.

39 So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers that had been presented by those who were burned; and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar—

40 a reminder to the Israelites that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, shall approach to offer incense before the Lord, so as not to become like Korah and his company—just as the Lord had said to him through Moses.

41 On the next day, however, the whole congregation of the Israelites rebelled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, "You have killed the people of the Lord."

Numbers 16:31-41 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Ch 17.1 in Heb