Numbers 16:24

(24) Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram—It is not easy to determine what is the meaning of the word mishkan (tabernacle) in this and in the 27th verse. The word, in the singular number, commonly denotes the tabernacle of the congregation—i.e., the boarded erection which was covered by the ohel, or tent. The word means simply a “dwelling-place,” and it may denote in this and in the 27th verse a rival tabernacle which had been erected by Korah and the other conspirators; or it may denote, in a collective sense, the tent of Korah, which may have been contumaciously pitched near that of the Reubenites, and also the tents of Dathan and Abiram, which were in proximity to those of the Kohathites, but further removed from the Tabernacle. The substitution of the word “tents” in Num_16:26, in which Moses delivers to the people the command contained in Num_16:24, seems to favour the latter of these explanations.

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

Num 16:24 Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

Ver. 24. Get you up from about.] "Save yourselves from this untoward generation"; {Act 2:40} force yourselves from them, stave them off, as the word signifies (στελλεσθαι παραγγελλομεν, 2Th 3:6), and we charge you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to do so. Ut scias quam aegre divellimur, saith one.

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 16:24-25. Speak unto the congregation — Whom, for your sakes, I will spare upon the condition following. Unto Dathan — Because they refused to come to him. The elders — The seventy rulers, whom he carried with him for the greater solemnity of the action, and to encourage them in their work, notwithstanding the obstinate and untractable nature of the people they were to govern.

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

Speak unto the congregation, . . . Get you up from about the tabernacle--Moses was attended in the execution of this mission by the elders. The united and urgent entreaties of so many dignified personages produced the desired effect of convincing the people of their crime, and of withdrawing them from the company of men who were doomed to destruction, lest, being partakers of their sins, they should perish along with them.

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

24. the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram] This strange expression, which recurs in Num_16:27, has resulted from the combination of the narratives. The test is arranged at the door of the sacred Tent of Jehovah (Num_16:18-19), and all the congregation are assembled there. The word ‘tabernacle’ (mishkân) is never used of ordinary human dwellings1 [Note: Except in the plural in one poetical passage, Num_24:5.] . And the singular here would imply that Korah, Dathan, and Abiram all lived in the same tent, which is negatived by Num_16:26. The original reading must either have been simply ‘the tabernacle’ or more probably the tabernacle of Jehovah.

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.

Speak unto the congregation,.... Not to Korah's company, but to the people of Israel, of the several tribes that were assembled together:

saying, get ye up from about the tabernacle of Korah, and Dathan, and Abiram; which was either the same with their tents, as in Num 16:26; though, as they were of different tribes, Korah of the tribe of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram of the tribe of Reuben, their tents must be in distinct and different places, though both encamped on the same side of the tabernacle, and pretty near to each other; the camp of Levi was nearest the tabernacle, and the camp of Reuben next to it. It may be, there was a single tabernacle erected on this occasion, for all these men to meet at when they judged it necessary. Aben Ezra is of opinion, Korah had a tent for his men and substance, at a distance from the camp of the Levites, and to his tent joined the tents of Dathan and Abiram.

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

The tent, “the tabernacle” of Korah, as a Kohathite, stood on the south side of the tabernacle of the Lord; and those of Dathan and Abiram, as Reubenites, in the outer line of encampment on the same side. Yet though the tents of these three were thus contiguous, they did not share the same fate. Korah and his company who dared to intrude themselves on the priestly office were destroyed by fire from the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the Lord Num 16:35; the Reubenites, who had reviled Moses for the failure of the promises about the pleasant land, were suddenly engulfed while standing at their own tent-doors in the barren wilderness Num 16:31-33.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Speak unto the congregation, whom for your sakes I will spare upon the condition here following.

Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and On too, who is mentioned Num 16:1, though some think he desisted and repented, and therefore is not now mentioned.

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

24. Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah — The intercession was effectual. Israel is spared, but the authors and public actors in the rebellion must be destroyed. Some think that the tabernacle here mentioned was one which Korah and company had set up in opposition to the tabernacle proper.

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

Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. The word "tabernacle" (mishcan) is the same word which is so translated in verse 9, but not the same which is used in verses 18, 19; it properly signifies "dwelling-place." It is certainly the natural conclusion, from the use of this expression here and in verse 27, that this mishcan was something different from the "tents" (yleha) mentioned in verses 26, 27, and was some habitation common to the three rebels (see below on verse 31). The Septuagint, in order to avoid the difficulty, omits the names of Dathan and Abiram, and has only apo thv sunagwghv Kore ..

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

The congregation - Whom for your sakes I will spare upon the condition following.

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

העלו GET YOU UP [FROM ABOUT THE DWELLING OF KORAH] — Understand this as the Targum does: withdraw from the vicinity of Korah’s dwelling.

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.