48443 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But if the Lord make a new thing,.... Or "create a creation", or "creature" (s), what never was before, or put those persons to a death that none ever in the world died of yet; what that is he means is next expressed: and the earth open her mouth and swallow them up, with all that [appertain] unto them; their persons, their wives, children and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these things,.... As soon as he had finished his discourse, which was addressed to the congregation, and, according to Josephus (u), after a long prayer to God, which that writer gives at large; immediately so it was, that the ground clave asunder that [was] under them; on which they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up,.... Dathan and Abiram, their wives, sons, and little ones, that stood at the door of their tents with them, and all their goods, as follows: the earth, as if it was a living creature or a beast of prey, opened its mouth and swallowed them up, as such a creature does its prey: and their houses;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They, and all that [appertained] unto them, went down alive into the pit,.... The grave which the opening earth made for them, they and their families: and the earth closed upon them; and covered them over; this it did of itself, as Aben Ezra remarks: this was a wonderful instance of almighty power, that it should open in such large fissures as to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them,.... Or because of it, as Aben Ezra; their cry was so loud, their shrieks so dreadful and piercing, that the Israelites about them fled to get out of the sound of them, as well as for their own safety. The Targum of Jonathan not only represents their cry as terrible, but gives the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And there came out a fire from the Lord,.... Flashes of lightning from the cloud in which he was: and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense; not that it reduced them to ashes, but took away their lives, struck them dead at once, in like manner as Nadab and Abihu were, who though said to be devoured by the fire, yet their...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... Immediately after these men were consumed by fire from him; out of the same cloud from whence that proceeded, he spoke: saying: as follows.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Speak unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest,.... His eldest son, that was to succeed him as high priest, and who perhaps was upon the spot to see the issue of things; and who, rather than Aaron, is bid to do what follows, partly because Aaron was now officiating, burning incense, and that he might not be defiled with the dead bodies; and partly...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The censers of these sinners against their own souls,.... Who by burning incense in them sinned, and by sinning hurt and ruined their souls: let them make them broad plates [for] a covering of the altar; the altar of burnt offering, which, though it had a covering of brass, another made of these were to be over it, for the further security of it,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Eleazar the priest took the brazen censers,.... The metal of which these censers were made is particularly observed, to show that they were fit for the use they were ordered to be put unto, namely, for a covering of the altar of burnt offering, which was covered with brass, that being very suitable, since fire was continually burning on it;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
[To be] a memorial unto the children of Israel,.... The whole body of them; this explains what is meant by sign, Numbers 16:38; that it was to put or keep in mind what follows: that no stranger which [is] not of the seed of Aaron come near to offer incense before the Lord; not only any Gentile but any Israelite, and not any Israelite only, but any...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But on the morrow,.... The day following the dreadful catastrophe, the earth swallowing up Dathan and Abiram, and all that belonged to them, the burning of Korah and the two hundred fifty men of his company: all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses, and against Aaron; not the princes and heads of the people only, but...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass, when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron,.... To kill them, as the Targum of Jonathan adds; who, perhaps, upon uttering their murmurs, made up to them, and by their gestures showed an intention to murder them: that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation; either the people did, to see...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the congregation. Whose tent was not far from it, about which the people of Israel were gathered; and from whence they came to the tabernacle, both for shelter and safety, and for advice and instruction how to behave in this crisis; they did not go into it, but stood before it; the Lord being in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... Out of the cloud: saying; as follows.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Get you up from among this congregation,.... That is, withdraw from them, and be separate, that they might not be involved in the same destruction with them, as well as that they might have no concern for them, or plead with the Lord in prayer on their account, but let him alone to destroy them, as follows: that I may consume them in a moment; as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Moses said unto Aaron, take a censer,.... Which lay in the tabernacle: and put fire therein from off the altar; the altar of burnt offering, from whence fire only was to be taken for burning incense; and lest Aaron in his hurry should forget to take it from thence, but elsewhere, and offer strange fire as his sons had done, Moses expresses the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Aaron took as Moses commanded,.... A censer with fire in it from the altar, and also incense: and ran into the midst of the congregation: though a man in years and in so high an office, and had been so ill used by the people; yet was not only so ready to obey the divine command, but so eager to serve this ungrateful people, and save them from...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he stood between the dead and the living,.... The plague beginning at one end of the camp, and so proceeded on, Aaron placed himself between that part of it wherein it had made havoc, and that wherein yet it was not come; the Targum of Jonathan is, "he stood in prayer in the middle, and made a partition, with his censer, between the dead and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred,.... 14,700. Thus what they were threatened with, that their carcasses should fall in the wilderness, Numbers 14:29, was more and more fulfilled: beside them that died about the matter of Korah; these are not taken into the number here, even the two hundred fifty men of...