The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 222

duplication of the verb in the inf. abs., Ver. 21.-That I may oonsu.me them in a, .,~~::,-c1. moment. Literally, "and I will consume Ver. 14.-llloreover thou hut not brought them," The same thing must Le said of us. According to the promises (they meant this as of eh. xiv. 11, 12, to say) by which he had induced them to Ver. 22.-0 God, the God of the spirits of leave their comfortable homes in Egypt all flesh. 'i~f-,~7 nh~ii, 'i:l~t', ~~- The {Exod. iv. 30, 31). Wilt thou put out the 'T"UOd! is the spirit of life which the Cre- eyes of these men 1 i. e. wilt thou blind e.tor has imparted unto perishable flesh, and them to the utter failure of thy plans and made it live. In some sense it belongs to promises! wilt thou throw dust in tbeir eyes 1 beasts as well as to men (Eccles. iii. 19, Ver. 15.-And Jl[osea was very wroth. 21); but in the common use of the word The bitter taunts of the Reubenites had just ~en only e.re thought of, as having received enough semblance of truth in them to make it by e. special commUDication of e. higher them very hard to bear, and especially the order (Gen. ii. 7 ; 1 Cor. xv. 45). Moses, imputation of low personal ambition; but it therefore, really appeals to God, e.s the Author is impossible to say that Moses did not err e.nd Giver of that imperishe.ble life-principle through anger. Respect not thou their which is lodged in the mortal flesh of all offering. Cf. Gen. iv. 4. It is not quite men, not to destroy the works of his own clear what offering Moses meant, since they hands, the creatures made in his own image. do not seem to have wished to offer incense, Here we have in its germ that idea of the Probably it was equivalent to saying, Do not universal fatherhood of God which remained thou accept them when they approach thee ; undeveloped in Jewish thought UDtil Judaism for such approach was always by sacrifice itself expanded into Christianity (cf. Isa. lxiii. (cf. Ps. cix.. 7). I have not taken one ass 16; lxiv. 8, 9; Acts xvii. 26, 29). She.11 from them. Cf. 1 Sam. xii. 3. The ass was one me.n sin. Rather, "the one man (~'t:tv) the least valuable of the ordinary live stock hath sinned," i. e. Korah, who had misled of those days (cf. Exod. xx. 17). The Septua- all the rest, gint has here OUIC l,r~tl/Jf1/JO oMtvoi; aurwv Ver. 23.-The Lord epake unto Jl[oeea. No •'0..'1'/Ja, which is apparently an intentional direct answer was apparently vouchsafed to paraphrase with a reference to the tenth the remonstrance of Moses and Aaron, but com.m.andment (oi,,: l,r~vp,jauc, ,c. T. >.,), it was tacitly allowed. :Neither have I hurt one of them. As abso- Ver, 24.-Get ;you up from about the taber- lute ruler he might have made himself very burdensome to all, and very terrible to his nacle of Xore.h, De.the.n, e.nd Abiram. The personal enemies. Compare Samuel's de- word "tabernacle" (1nishcan) is the same word which is so translated in ver. 9, but not the scription of the Eastern autocrat {l Sam. same which is used in vers.18,19; it properly viii 11-17). signifies "dwelling-place." It is certainly Ver. 16.-And Jl[osea said unto Xorah. the natural conclusion, from the use of this After the interchange of messages with the expression here and in ver. 27, that this Reubenites, Moses repeats his injunctions to mishcan was something different from the Korah to be ready on the morrow to put his claims to the test, adding that Aaron too "tents" (''t.i;,l;t) mentioned in vers. 26, 27, 11hould be there, that the Lord might judge and was some habitation common to the between them. three rebels (see below on ver. 81). The Ver. 18.-Stood in the door of the te.ber- Septuagint, in order to avoid the difficulty, nacle, i. e. at the door of the court, eo that omits the names of Do.than and Abiram, and the_y were visible from the space outside. has only a,ro rii, avvaywyiic Kopi. Ver. 19.-And Xorah ge.thered e.11 the Ver. 26. -Touch nothing of theirs. Be• congrege.tion e.gainat them. It does not cause they, and all that belonged to them, follow that the whole congregation was act- were anathema, devoted to destruction. ively or deliberately on Korah's side. But Compare the case of Achan (Josh. vii. l). a movement ostensibly in behalf of the many Ver. 27.-And Dathan e.nd Abiram .. as against the few is sure to enlist a general, stood in the door of their tents. To see if uot a deep, sympathy; nor is it to be sup- what Moses would do. Nothing is said of Jlosed that Moses and .Aaron could escape a Ko,h. large amount of unpopularity under the Ver. 28.-For I have not done them of mine grievous circumstances of the time. The own mind. Literally, "that not of my heart.'• thoughtless multitude would have hailed '.::!~~ t,t-<,·,:;,. Septuagint, lin ob,c a,r' lpav- tLeir downfall with relLl though short-lived i;ati.sfaction. The glory of the Lord e.p- rol,. peared. As l, fore (eh. xiv. 10 ), filling the Ver. 29.-lf they be visited after the tabernacle probably, and flashing out before visite.tion of all men. iP.'fl is of somewhat the eyes of all doubtful meaning; it seems to llIISWer to the CII, XVI. 1-40,] THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 203