Numeri 16:22

22 Ma essi, prostratisi con la faccia a terra, dissero: "O Dio, Dio degli spiriti d’ogni carne! Un uomo solo ha peccato, e ti adireresti tu contro tutta la raunanza?"

Numeri 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 ) .

Numeri 16:22 In-Context

20 E l’Eterno parlò a Mosè e ad Aaronne, dicendo:

21 "Separatevi da questa raunanza, e io li consumerò in un attimo".

22 Ma essi, prostratisi con la faccia a terra, dissero: "O Dio, Dio degli spiriti d’ogni carne! Un uomo solo ha peccato, e ti adireresti tu contro tutta la raunanza?"

23 E l’Eterno parlò a Mosè, dicendo:

24 "Parla alla raunanza e dille: Ritiratevi d’intorno alla dimora di Kore, di Dathan e di Abiram".