EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)
(24)
Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram—It is not easy to determine what is the meaning of the word
mishkan(tabernacle) in this and in the 27th verse. The word, in the singular number, commonly denotes the tabernacle of the congregation—
i.e.,the boarded erection which was covered by the
ohel,or tent. The word means simply a “dwelling-place,” and it may denote in this and in the 27th verse a rival tabernacle which had been erected by Korah and the other conspirators; or it may denote, in a collective sense, the tent of Korah, which may have been contumaciously pitched near that of the Reubenites, and also the tents of Dathan and Abiram, which were in proximity to those of the Kohathites, but further removed from the Tabernacle. The substitution of the word “tents” in
Numbers 16:26, in which Moses delivers to the people the command contained in
Numbers 16:24, seems to favour the latter of these explanations.
Numbers 16:24-25.
Speak unto the congregation —Whom, for your sakes, I will spare upon the condition following.
Unto Dathan —Because they refused to come to him.
The elders —The seventy rulers, whom he carried with him for the greater solemnity of the action, and to encourage them in their work, notwithstanding the obstinate and untractable nature of the people they were to govern.
16:23-34 The seventy elders of Israel attend Moses. It is our duty to do what we can to countenance and support lawful authority when it is opposed. And those who would not perish with sinners, must come out from among them, and be separate. It was in answer to the prayer of Moses, that God stirred up the hearts of the congregation to remove for their own safety. Grace to separate from evil-doers is one of the things that accompany salvation. God, in justice, left the rebels to the obstinacy and hardness of their own hearts. Moses, by Divine direction, when all Israel were waiting the event, declares that if the rebels die a common death, he will be content to be called and counted an imposter. As soon as Moses had spoken the word, God caused the earth to open and swallow them all up. The children perished with their parents; in which, though we cannot tell how bad they might be to deserve it, or how good God might be otherwise to them; yet of this we are sure, that Infinite Justice did them no wrong. It was altogether miraculous. God has, when he pleases, strange punishments for the workers of iniquity. It was very significant. Considering how the earth is still in like manner loaded with the weight of man's sins, we have reason to wonder that it does not now sink under its load. The ruin of others should be our warning. Could we, by faith, hear the outcries of those that are gone down to the bottomless pit, we should give more diligence than we do to escape for our lives, lest we also come into their condemnation.
The tent, "the tabernacle" of Korah, as a Kohathite, stood on the south side of the tabernacle of the Lord; and those of Dathan and Abiram, as Reubenites, in the outer line of encampment on the same side. Yet though the tents of these three were thus contiguous, they did not share the same fate. Korah and his company who dared to intrude themselves on the priestly office were destroyed by fire from the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the Lord
Numbers 16:35; the Reubenites, who had reviled Moses for the failure of the promises about the pleasant land, were suddenly engulfed while standing at their own tent-doors in the barren wilderness
Numbers 16:31-33.
24-26. Speak unto the congregation, … Get you up from about the tabernacle—Moses was attended in the execution of this mission by the elders. The united and urgent entreaties of so many dignified personages produced the desired effect of convincing the people of their crime, and of withdrawing them from the company of men who were doomed to destruction, lest, being partakers of their sins, they should perish along with them.
Speak unto the congregation, whom for your sakes I will spare upon the condition here following.
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and On too, who is mentioned
Numbers 16:1, though some think he desisted and repented, and therefore is not now mentioned.
Speak unto the congregation,.... Not to Korah's company, but to the people of Israel, of the several tribes that were assembled together:
saying, get ye up from about the tabernacle of Korah, and Dathan, and Abiram; which was either the same with their tents, as inNumbers 16:26; though, as they were of different tribes, Korah of the tribe of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram of the tribe of Reuben, their tents must be in distinct and different places, though both encamped on the same side of the tabernacle, and pretty near to each other; the camp of Levi was nearest the tabernacle, and the camp of Reuben next to it. It may be, there was a single tabernacle erected on this occasion, for all these men to meet at when they judged it necessary. Aben Ezra is of opinion, Korah had a tent for his men and substance, at a distance from the camp of the Levites, and to his tent joined the tents of Dathan and Abiram.
Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
