,.,1,,,rn/11, and l1naru,r,j of the Septua~nt, counted exclusive of Korab himself. On the- and to cur "oversight," or "visitation" whole, while it is certain that the narrative- (Gorman, lwimsuch'lllll{J, Thus it may mean is very obscure, and the question very doubt- practically the providence of God for good, ful, it seems most agreeable to all the testi- i. e. in the way of protection, or for evil, i. e. monies of Holy Scripture to conclude -1. in the way of judgment. In either sense That Korah had left his own place, and had: providence showed itself in no ordinary form some sort of dwelling (mukan) either in towards these men. common with Dathan and Abiram, or harc1 Ver. 30.-llllake a new thing. "Create a by their tents. 2. That the earth opened and creation." tq:;i~ n~'"!:;!, Into the pit. swallowed up the miskan of Korah, and the tents of Dathan and Abiram. 3. That Rather, "into Sheol." n~i-t~. Septuagint, Korah's men (see next verse) and their pro- ii~ ;;0011. Sheol is not "the pit," but Hades, perty were swallowed up with his mishcan, the place of departed spirits (Gen. xxxvii. and (as far as we can tell) Korah himselt 36 ; xiii. 38), which is regarded, according also. If this be correct, then the much dis- to the general instinct of mankind, as being puted hooding of the chapter in the A. V. "under the earth" (cf. Philip. ii. 10 b.; Rev. will be right after all v. 13). They were to go down "quick" into Ver. 32.-And their honsH, i. e. their Sheol, because they were still alive at the families, as in eh. xviii. 13. And all t!le moment that they were lost to sight for men that appertained unto Xorah. Liter- ever. ally, "all the men who to Korab." Whether Ver. 31.-The gro11I1d clave asunder that it means his dependants, or his special parti- was 11I1der them. As it sometintes does sans, is uncertain. Perhaps some had clung during an earthquake. In this case, how- to his fortunes in blind confidence when the- ever, the event was predicted, and wholly rest gat up from his miskan. supernatural. The sequence of the narrative Ver. 34.-At the cry of them. C~p~, "at would lead us to suppose that the earth opened beneath the tents of De.than and the noise of them;" at the mingled sound Abiram in the camp of Reuben. It is diffi- of their shrieks and of the n,ttural convul- cult to think of the gulf as extending so far sion amidst which they disappeared. as to involve the tent of Korah in the Ko- Ver. 35.-There came out a fire from th& hathite lines in the same destruction, while Lord. The fire probably flashed out from there is nothing to suggest the idea that the the sanctuary with the destructive force of earth opened in more than one pince. It is lightning. The two hundred and :8.fty men. true that the camps of the Reubenites and These had remained swinging their censers of the Kohathites were more or less con- before the gate of the tabernacle while Moses tiguous; but when it is remembered that and (presumably) Korah himself had gone to there were 46,500 adult males in the former, the camp of Reuben. and 8600 males in the latter, and that a Ver. 37.-Speak llllto Eleazar. This is broad space must have been left between the the first time that any special duty is assigned two lines of encampment, it is obviously im- to Eleazar, who was destined to succeed to prol.llLble that Korah's tent was in a practical the high-priesthood. We may suppose that sense "near" to those of Dnthnn and Abi- he was sent instead of his father bec1Luse the mm, unless indeed he had purposely re- duty of gathering up the censers could hardly moved it in order to be under the protection have been carried out without incurring legal of his Reubenite partisans. It is very ob- defilement by contact with the dead. Out of servable that not a word is said here as to the burning. Or, "out of the burnt," the fate of Korab himself. It is implied in Septuagint, '" µi<1011 rwv rara"travµivwv. ver. 40 that he had perished, and it is ap- From amongst the charred o.nd smouldering parently asserted in eh. xxvi. 10 that he corpses. Scatter thou the fire yonder ; for was swallowed up with Dathnn and Abiram they are hallowed. The censers had been (see the note there). On tho other hand, made holy even by that sacrilegious dedica- Deut. xi. 6 ; Ps. cvi. 17 s_peak of the en- tion, nnd must never revert to any common gulfing of the other two Without any men- uses ; for the same renson the live con.ls tion of Korah himself sharing their fate ; which still remained in them were to be and while "all the men that appertained emptied out in a separate place. nnto Korah" perished, his own sons did not Ver. 38.-These sinners age.inst their own. (eh. xxvi. 11). On those grounds it is held sou.la. Cl)bi!;l~~. "ngainst their own lives." by most commentators that Korab died by The thought •is· not thnt they hlLd ruine,l fire among those who offered incense (ver. their souls, but that they had forfeited tLleir 36). This, however, is untenable, because lives. The Penta.tench does not contemplate "the two hundred and fifty men who offered any cons ·•1uences of sin beyond physical incense" are distinctly mentioned as having denth. The 1;ame phrase occms in Prov. xx, been his partiae.ns (ver, 2), and 11re ulways 2. For a covering of the altar. The o.ltar THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. (cu. xvi. 1-40.
.of burnt incense. The censers were no doubt Ver: 40,-'rhat he benota.a Xorah. M'JP=l brazen pans, and when beaten out would form plates which could be affixed to the 'tlJ~-N~1• That he do not meet with the boards of which the frame of the altar was same fa.te as Korah, composed.