The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 220

ites and their fate; and if, further, that en- gint, "'"Y"X,iro, /3011:\ih:, representAtives of largement was so unskilfully me.de as to the _host in the great council (cf. eh. i. 16 ; leave considerable confusion in the narrative, XXVl. 9), wherein does that affect either its truth or Ver. 3.-The:y 111.thered themaelves to- its inspiration 1 The supernatural influence gether age:m•t ltosea and age.inst; Aaron. which watched over the production of the They had risen up before M:osea i. ,. made a sacre.d narrative certainly did not interfere tumult in his presence, because they regnrded "-itb e.ny of those natural causes which hin1 (and rightly) as the actual ruler of Israel affect.id its composition, its style, its clear- in religious as well as in secular matten At ness or obscurity. ltora.h, the son of Izha.r, the same time, the attack of Korah a.nd his the son of ltoha.th, the son of Levi. On company (with whom alone the narrative is the genealogy of the Le,':ites i,ee Exod. vi. rea.lly concerned here) was directed especially 16-22, and above on eh. iii. 17-19. It is against the ecclesiastica.l rule which Moses generally supposed. tha.t some generations are exercised through his brother Ae.ron. Ye passed over in these genealogie.s. Korab be- take too mu.eh upon :you. C1?".:l1, "mueh longed to the same Kohatbite sub-tribe as :Moses a.Dd Aa.ron, e.nd was related to them for you," probably in the sense of "enough by some sort of eonsinship ; his fe.ther (or for you" (cf. the use of .::11 in Gi!n. xlv. 28), ancestor) Izhar was the younger brother of i. e. you have enjoyed power long enough ; .\mram and the elder brother of Uzziel, so the Targum Pe.lestine, It ma.y, however, whose descendant Eli7.aphan had been me.de be ta.ken with the following \;il as mee.ning, chief of the Koha.thites. De.than a.nd "let it su.!lice you that all the congregation," Abire.m, the sons of Elia.b. Eliab himself &e. ; and so the Septuagint, ixh-"' vp.iJJ ilr,, was apparently the only son of Pa.Un, the r. r. X. The Targum of Onkelos renders second son of Reuben (eh. xxvi. 5, 8). If it in the same sense as the A. V. All the the word " son" is to be literally understood congregation are holy, every one of them. in all these cases, then Korab, D.a.than, and This was perfectly true, in a sense. There Abira.m would e.11 be great-great-grandsons was a sanctity which _IJerte.ined to Israel as a. of Jo.cob himselL On, the son of Peleth. nation, in which all 1ts members slie.red as It .is one of the strange obscurities of this distinguished from the nations around (Exod. narrative that On, who appears here as a ring- :nx. 6 ; Levit. xx. 26) ; there we.s a priest- leader, is never mentioned again either in hood which was inherent in all the soil.II of this chapter or elsewhere. Sons of Beu.bell.. Israel, older and more indelible than that Reubenit:es. The encampment of their tribe which was conferred on Aaron's line-a was on the south side of the tabernacle in priesthood which, apart from special restric• the outer line (eh. ii 10), while that of the tions, or in exee}'tional circUI1111ta.nces, might K ohathit:es was on the same side in the e.nd did assert itself in priestly acts (Exod. inner line. Thus they were to some extent xxiv. 6, and compare the cases of Se.muel, neighbonrs ; but see below on ver. 24. Elijah, and others who offered se.cri.fice during Ver. 2.-And they rose up before Koses. the failure of the appointed priesthood). II It is suggested that the Reubenites were Moses had taken the power to himself, or it aggrieved because their father had been he had(e.s they doubtlessB11pposed.) restricted deprived of his birthright in favour of e.ctive priestly functions to Aaron because Jnda.h, a.nd that Korab was aggrieved be• he was his brother, and wholly under his ea.use the Uzzielites had been preferred in influence, their contention would have been the person of Elizaphan to the Izharites (eh. quite right. They erred, as most violent iii. 30 ). These accusa.tioll6 have nothing men do, not because they asserted what was whatever in the na.rrative to support them, false, but because they took for granted that and a.re suspicioll.B because they a.re so easy the truth which they asserted wa.s rea.lly in• and so Slll'e to be me.de in such cases. In all consistent with the claims which they &a• ecclesiastical history the true reformer, as sailed. The congregation were all holy ; the well as the heretic and the demagogue, has sons of Israel were all priests; that was true- always been charged with being actuated by but it waa also true that by Divine command motives of disappointed ambition. Without Israel could only exercise his corporate priest- these gratuitous suppositions there was quite hood outwardly through the one family which enough to ex:cite the anger and opposition of God had eet apart for that purpose. The such disconteilted and insubordinate minds same God who has lodged in the bodyeertAin as are to be found in every community. With faculties and powers for the benefit of the certe.i.n of the children of I1rael. These body, has decreed that those faculties and were gathered from the tribes at large, as powers can only be exercised through certAin im1,lied in the statement that Zelophehad a determinate organs, the very specie.liee.tion of Manassite we, not amongst them (eh. x.xvii. which is both condition and result of a higli 3). l'am.ou in tM eongreg11.tion. Literally, organisation. The congregation of the Lord. "calleu men of the cougregation." Septua. There a.re two word!I for congregation in thla ·OH, XVI, 1-40.] THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 201