Numbers 16:15

Num 16:15 And Moses was very wroth, and said unto the LORD, Respect not thou their offering: I have not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them.

Ver. 15. And Moses was very wroth.] Or, Very sore grieved. He might have said, as one once did, Felix essem si non imperitassem, Happy had I been if I had never been in place of authority. Egypt is said by Seneca to have been loquax et ingeniosa in contumeliam praefectorum provincia, in qua qui vitaverit culpam non effugit infamiam, A province apt to find fault with, and to speak hardly of their rulers, though never so innocent. These rebels had haply learned those Egyptian manners, by living so long amongst them.

I have not taken one ass from them.] Moses was not of them that follow the administration of justice as a trade only, with an unquenchable and unconscionable desire of gain. This is but robbery with authority, and justifies the common resemblance of the courts of justice to the bush, where to while the sheep flees for defence in weather, he is sure to lose part of his fleece.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Num 16:15. Respect not their offering — Accept not their incense which they are now going to offer, but show some eminent dislike of it. He calls it their offering, though it was offered by Korah and his companions, because it was offered in the name and by the consent of all the conspirators, for the decision of the present controversy between them and Moses. I have not hurt one of them — I have never injured them, nor used my power to defraud or oppress them, as I might have done; I have done them many good offices, but no hurt; therefore their crime is without any cause or provocation.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16:15 Do not accept their grain offerings! Cp. Ps 109:7; Prov 28:9.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Moses was very wroth--Though the meekest of all men [Num 12:3], he could not restrain his indignation at these unjust and groundless charges; and the highly excited state of his feeling was evinced by the utterance of a brief exclamation in the mixed form of a prayer and an impassioned assertion of his integrity. (Compare Sa1 12:3).

and said unto the Lord, Respect not thou their offering--He calls it their offering, because, though it was to be offered by Korah and his Levitical associates, it was the united appeal of all the mutineers for deciding the contested claims of Moses and Aaron.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 15. Respect not thou their offering] There was no danger of this: they wished to set up a priesthood and a sacrifical system of their own; and God never has blessed, and never can bless, any scheme of salvation which is not of his own appointment. Man is ever supposing that he can mend his Maker's work, or that he can make one of his own that will do in its place.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(15) I have not taken one ass from them . . . —In answer to the accusation preferred against him in Num_16:13, Moses vindicates himself from the charge of oppression or extortion.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. their offering] This refers, apparently, ‘to the sacrifice which every Israelite might offer for his household and may be compared with Gen_4:4 f.… The writer is not thinking of any special priesthood, but simply takes it for granted that Yahwè, whose favour was always sought by sacrifice, will not accept the offering of rebels against just authority’ (Addis).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Moses was very wroth,.... Or "it heated Moses exceedingly" (p); made him very angry, caused him to burn with wrath against them; even the speech they made, the words they uttered, not so much on account of their ill usage of him, as for the dishonour cast upon the Lord:

and said unto the Lord, respect not thou their offering; their "Minchah", the word is commonly used for the meat or bread offering. Aben Ezra observes, that Dathan and Abiram were great men, and had offered such kind of offerings before this fact; and therefore Moses desires that the Lord would have no respect to any they had offered, but have respect to him, who had never injured any of them. Jarchi gives it as the sense of some, that whereas these men had a part in the daily sacrifices of the congregation (with which a meat offering always went), the request is, that it might not be received with acceptance by the Lord; but he himself thinks it is to be understood of the offering of incense they were to offer on the morrow; and Moses desires that God would show his disapprobation of it, and which is the common interpretation. The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem render it, "their gift":

I have not taken one ass from them; either by force, or as a bribe, or by way of gratuity for any service done them; the sense is, that he had not taken from them the least thing in the world, anything of the meanest worth and value, on any consideration. Aben Ezra interprets the word "take", of taking and laying any burden upon an ass of theirs; so far was he from laying any burdens on them, and using them in a cruel and tyrannical manner, as they suggested, that he never laid the least burden on any ass of theirs, and much less on them:

neither have I hurt any of them; never did any injury to the person or property of anyone of them, but, on the contrary, had done them many good offices.

(p) "et excanduit Mosi valde", Drusius.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Very angry. This anger was a zeal against sin; and an indignation at the affront offered to God; like that which the same holy prophet conceived upon the sight of the golden calf, Exodus xxxii. 19. (Challoner) --- Respect not. Hebrew, "thou wilt not have regard for their sacrifices," as long as they continue in these sentiments of pride and of rebellion. (Haydock) --- Thou knowest. Hebrew, "I have not," &c. --- Ass. This expression is proverbial, 1 Kings xii. 3. The Samaritan and Septuagint read, chamod, "any thing desirable," instead of chamor "an ass." (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Moses was very wroth, not so much for his own sake, for he had learnt to bear indignities, Num 12, as for God’s sake, who was highly dishonoured, blasphemed, and provoked by these speeches and carriages, in which case he ought to be angry, as Christ was, Mar 3:5.

Respect not thou their offering, i.e. accept not their incense which they are now going to offer, but show some eminent dislike of it. He calls it their offering, though it was offered by Korah and his companions, because it was offered in the name and by the consent of all the conspirators, for the decision of the present controversy between them and Moses.

Not one ass, i.e. not any thing of the smallest value, as an ass was; see 1Sa 12:3 neither have I injured them, nor used my power to defraud or oppress them, as I might have done; but, which is here implied, I have done them many good offices, but no hurt; therefore their crime is inexcusable, because without any cause or provocation on my part.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. Moses was very wroth — Anger in the interest of truth and justice is a holy emotion which dwells in the bosom of God and of his Son. Psa_7:11; Mar_3:5, note.

Respect not — Accept not their offered incense.

Gen_4:4.

Not taken one ass — No tribute had been exacted such as kings lay upon their subjects. Their rebellion is entirely without justification.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Moses was very wroth. The bitter taunts of the Reubenites had just enough semblance of truth in them to make them very hard to bear, and especially the imputation of low personal ambition; but it is impossible to say that Moses did not err through anger. Respect not thou their offering. Cf. Gen_4:4. It is not quite clear what offering Moses meant, since they do not seem to have wished to offer incense. Probably it was equivalent to saying, Do not thou accept them when they approach thee; for such approach was always by sacrifice. (cf. Psa_109:7) I have not taken one ass from them. Cf. 1Sa_12:3. The ass was the least valuable of the ordinary live stock of those days. (cf. Exo_20:17) The Septuagint has here ouk epiyumhma oudeno , which is apparently an intentional paraphrase with a reference to the tenth commandment (ouk epiyumhseiv k.t.l.). Neither have I hurt one of them. As absolute ruler he might have made himself very burdensome to all, and very terrible to his personal enemies. Compare Samuel"s description of the Eastern autocrat. (1Sa_8:11-17)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Respect not their offering - Accept not their incense which they are now going to offer, but shew some eminent dislike of it. He calls it their offering, though it was offered by Korah and his companions, because it was offered in the name and by the consent of all the conspirators, for the decision of the present controversy between them and Moses. I have not hurt one of them - I have never injured them, nor used my power to defraud or oppress them, as I might have done; I have done them many good offices, but no hurt: therefore their crime is without any cause or provocation.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Moses was so disturbed by these scornful reproaches, that he entreated the Lord, with an assertion of his own unselfishness, not to have respect to their gift, i.e., not to accept the sacrifice which they should bring (cf. Gen 4:4). "I have not taken one ass from them, nor done harm to one of them," i.e., I have not treated them as a ruler, who demands tribute of his subjects, and oppresses them (cf. Sa1 12:3).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

I have not taken one donkey from them

One donkey here represents anything that a person my take from someone else. AT: "I have not taken anything from them, not even one donkey" (See: Synecdoche)

censer

a container in which to burn incense

translationWords

anger

sacrifice

donkey

incense

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

ויחר למשה מאד AND MOSES WAS VERY DISTRESSED — i.e. he was very much grieved.

אל תפן אל מנחתם TURN NOT THOU TO THEIR OBLATION — According to its plain sense the meaning is: “In respect to the frankincense which they will offer before Thee tomorrow, I beg of Thee do not turn (pay regard) to them”. The Midrashic explanation is: He said, “I know that they have a portion in the continual offerings of the community; let not even this their portion be accepted favourably before Thee — let the fire leave it alone and not consume it” (Midrash Tanchuma, Korach 7).

לא חמור אחד מהם נשאתי means, I have not taken the ass of any one of them; — even when I went from Midian to Egypt and placed my wife and my sons on the ass (Exodus 4:20), and I surely ought afterwards to have taken the price of that ass from their money, yet I took it only from my own (Midrash Tanchuma, Korach 7). The translation given by Onkelos of the word נשאתי is שחרית: in the Aramaic language a forced levy made by the king is so called, viz., שחרור (cf. Rashi on Bava Batra 47a. The translation of Onkelos therefore is: I did not press into my service the ass of any one of them).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

RESPECT NOT THOU ‘MINCHATHAM’ (THEIR OFFERING). “According to its plain sense [the meaning of ‘their offering’ is] ‘the incense which they will offer up before You tomorrow — do not turn to it.’ The Midrashic explanation is that Moses said: ‘I know that they have a portion in the Daily Whole-offerings of the congregation; let not [their part in it] be accepted before You favorably.’” This is Rashi’s language. But it does not seem to me to be correct that it is referring to the incense, because it was with reference to Dathan and Abiram that Moses said this, because he became angered by their words, and they were not amongst the company who gathered together to burn the incense. But the plain meaning [of the verse] is that because these people wanted the priesthood, to be able to perform the service of the offerings, Moses said: “Respect not Thou their offering, meaning: respect not the offering which they want to bring before You, nor the prayer which they will pray unto You,” for all offerings, including prayer, are called minchah (offering) in Scripture. Onkelos also rendered [minchatham] as kurbanhon (their offering), meaning “anything that they will offer before You.”

I HAVE NOT TAKEN ONE ASS FROM THEM. The meaning thereof is that Moses said: “What lordship am I exercising over them, for I have never taken from them even one ass to do my work, as is the manner of kings and princes?” For this is the manner of the kingdom, as it is written, and he will take your asses, and put them to his work., 8:16. This is the meaning of Onkelos’ rendition: [“I have not taken one ass from them] sh’chorith (as a levy),” for [in Aramaic] the king’s levy is called shichvur. Thus Moses mentioned the smallest incident amongst the laws of royalty, and then he said, Neither have I hurt one of them by appointing him to my chariot, Verse 12. or to do my work, as is befitting for a king, or by perverting his judgment [in a lawsuit] or by treating him with disrespect, for [the phrase “hurting” in neither have I ‘hurt’ one of them] includes all kinds of injustice.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.