Numbers 16:32

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

And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me.

i.e. All his family which were there, women, children, and servants; but his sons, who were spared ,58 ,37 were absent, either upon some service of the tabernacle, or upon some other occasion; God so ordering it by his providence, either because they disliked their father’ s act, or upon Moses’ s intercession for them, or for some other reason. This expression may seem to intimate that Korah himself was not here, but that he continued with his two hundred and fifty men before the Lord ,19, where they were waiting for God’ s decision of the controversy; nor is it probable that their chief captain would desert them, and leave them standing there without a head, especially when Aaron, his great adversary, abode there still, and did not go with Moses to Dathan, &c., . And Korah may seem to have been consumed with those two hundred and fifty, , though he be not mentioned there, but is easily understood by comparing that verse with , and from the nature of the thing itself, there being no cause of doubt but that destruction which befell the accessaries did much more involve the principal. And so much is intimated , that no stranger come near to offer incense before the Lord, that he be not as Korah, and as his company, i.e. destroyed, as they were, by fire from the Lord. And when the psalmist relates this history, Psalms 106, the earth’ s swallowing them up is confined to Dathan and Abiram, ; and for all the rest of that conspiracy, it is added, , and a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burnt up the wicked. As for , which seems to oppose this opinion, we shall see more on that place, if God permit.

Numbers 16:32 And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that [appertained] unto Korah, and all [their] goods.Ver. 32. And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up.] So it did a great part of Antioch, by a horrible earthquake, anno 527, for their horrible heresies and blasphemies there broached by the bishops, and defended by the people. So lately Pleurs in Italy.

(32) And the earth opened her mouth . . . —Had this verse stood alone it might have been inferred that Korah and his family shared the fate of Dathan and Abiram and their families and households. in regard to the sons of Korah, however, there is direct evidence that they did not share in the punishment of Dathan and Abiram (see Note on Numbers 16:27): and in regard to Korah there is ground for the belief that he perished by fire with the 250 men who offered incense with him. It is true, indeed, that in Numbers 26:10 Korah is mentioned in conjunction with Dathan and Abiram (see Note in loc.); but in the other places in which reference is made to the conspiracy, the fate of the chief conspirators is separated. Thus, in Deuteronomy 11:6 we read only of what God did unto Dathan and Abiram and their households and tents; and in Psalms 106:17 we read that “The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram,” whilst in the following verse it is added that “The flame burned up the wicked.” If Korah’s tent remained in its appointed place amongst the Kohathites, it may reasonably be supposed that the chasm did not extend beyond the tents of Dathan and Abiram; or if Korah had pitched a tent for himself adjoining the tents of Dathan and Abiram, it may be inferred that those only of his household remained in it who shared in the conspiracy, and that his sons remained amongst the other Kohathites, or withdrew with the rest of the congregation at the command of Moses. It is most natural to suppose that Korah was at this time before the door of the Tabernacle, with the 250 men of his company who had presumed to offer incense, and that he shared their doom. Ibn Ezra observes that in the song of the Red Sea there is no mention made of the drowning of Pharaoh, but only of his chariots and hosts; whilst in Psalms 136:15 we read that Pharaoh and his host were overthrown in the Red Sea.

25–34. The destruction of Dathan and Abiram.

All the men ... - Not his sons (see Numbers 26:11), but all belonging to him who had associated themselves with him in this rebellion.

32. The earth opened her mouth — A poetic impersonation characteristic of the Orientals. Houses — Not their tents, but their families. See Numbers 18:31; Exodus 12:3.