Numbers 16:38

Num 16:38 The censers of these sinners against their own souls, let them make them broad plates [for] a covering of the altar: for they offered them before the LORD, therefore they are hallowed: and they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel.

Ver. 38. These sinners against their own souls.] So are all such as spend the span of this transitory life, after the ways of their own hearts, and thereby perish for ever. Sin is the soul’s poison; yet how heartily do men feed upon it, as Tartars do upon dead horses; as the maid in Pliny did upon spiders; as the Turkish galley slaves do upon opium, an ounce whereof they will eat at once as if it were bread!

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 16:38. Their own souls — That is, their own lives; who were the authors of their own destruction. The altar — Of burnt-offerings, which was made of wood, but covered with brass before this time, (Exo 27:1-2,) to which this other covering was added for further ornament, and security against the fire, continually burning upon it. A sign — A warning to all strangers to take heed of invading the priesthood.

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

16:38-40 The bronze sheet made by Eleazar to cover the altar replaced or supplemented the one made previously (Exod 38:2). Like the simple blue tassels of Num 15:37-41, it reminded the people of Israel of their need to obey God.

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

Of God’s judgments against rebels.

Which were the occasion of their own death.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(38) These sinners against their own souls.—i.e., men who have forfeited their lives by their sin.

Let them make them broad plates . . . —It was thus that the sacrilegious act of Korah and his company was made the occasion of a permanent warning against all similar profanation of holy things. The altar of burnt-offering had already a covering of brass; but, as the altar was made of wood, an additional covering afforded further security against the fire which was continually burning on it. The censers of Korah and his company were made of brass (Num_16:39). Those of Aaron and his sons are thought by some to have been made of silver, but there seems to be no sufficient authority for this supposition; and in Exo_38:3, where the same Hebrew word is used, but which in the English version is rendered “firepans,” it is said that all the vessels of the altar were made of brass. In the time of Solomon the censers were made of gold (1Ki_7:50). That used by Aaron on the great day of atonement was of gold. (Comp. Heb_9:4; Rev_8:3.)

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

38. (om. even) the fire-pans of these sinners at the cost of their lives] R.V. marg. is an explanation of the R.V. But the latter is grammatically doubtful. LXX. has ὅτι ἡγίασαν τὰ πυρεῖα κ.τ.λ. (‘because they made holy the fire-pans’ &c.). Perhaps we should read ‘for the fire-pans of these sinners have become holy at the cost &c.’ Some have seen an allusion to these words in Heb_12:3, ‘such contradiction of sinners against themselves’ (Westcott and Hort’s text).

for a covering of the altar] This must be the altar of burnt-offering, since the altar of incense was covered with gold, not with brass or bronze (Exo_30:3; Exo_37:26). But according to Exo_27:2; Exo_38:2, the altar of burnt-offering was already covered with bronze at its original manufacture at Sinai. The passage is another indication that the priestly writings are not all from one pen, but contain divergent traditions and date from different periods.

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.

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, being of from the fire continually burning on it; these censers were to be beaten into broad plates, by the workmen who understood how to do it:

for they offered them before the Lord, therefore they are hallowed; they offered them in his presence, they burned incense in them, and to him, though it was not their business, but the business of the priests; yet these being done, and by his orders, for an open trial who were his priests and who not, they were not to be put to common use:

and they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel; a memorial sign, a sign bringing this affair to remembrance, as it is explained in Num 16:40; this was a sign to the priests, that they only were to offer every kind of offerings, and to the Levites, who attended the priests at the altar continually, and so had every day a sight of it and of those plates upon it, which would remind them of this fact, and teach them not to usurp the priest's office; and to all the children of Israel, to learn from hence that none were to burn incense but the priests of the Lord, for doing which Uzziah, though a king, was punished, Ch2 26:18.

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

These sinners against their own souls - That is, “against their own lives.” By their sin they had brought destruction upon themselves.

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

Sinners. These censers were sanctified or set apart for God’s altar: 1. By the intention of those who used them, though contrary to his will; 2. by the exemplary vengeance which he exercised upon the rash pretenders to the priesthood; 3. by being a monument of their folly, and therefore placed, by God’s order, upon the altar, to deter all others from imitating their conduct. Eleazar was commanded to take them up, and scatter the strange fire; that Aaron might not be defiled with touching the carcasses or ashes of the deceased, nor seem to exult in their death. (Calmet) --- God was thus also pleased to manifest that the children of Aaron, and not of the other Levites, should succeed him. (St. Augustine, q. 30.) (Worthington)

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).

Against their own souls, i.e. their own lives; who were the authors of their own death and destruction. Compare 1Ki 2:23; Pro 20:2. This he saith for the vindication of God’s justice and his own ministry in this severe dispensation.

The altar, to wit, of burnt-offerings, which was made of wood, but covered with brass before this time, Exo 27:1,2, to which this other covering was added for further ornament and security against the fire, which was continually burning upon it.

A sign; a monument or warning to all strangers to take heed of invading the priesthood, as it follows, Num 16:40.

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

38. Sinners against their own souls — Their sin had cost the forfeiture of their lives. For a covering of the great or brazen altar. Every thing offered before the Lord is holy. Hence every soul consecrated to God is to account itself henceforth as holy and accepted by him, for he receives all that is offered to him in faith. If a man believes that his vessel is impure he will not so carefully avoid pollution as he who knows that his vessel is holy.

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

These sinners against their own souls, "against their own lives." The thought is not that they had ruined their souls, but that they had forfeited their lives. The Pentateuch does not contemplate any consequences of sin beyond physical death. The same phrase occurs in Pro_20:2. For a covering of the altar. The altar of burnt incense.

The censers were no doubt brazen pans, and when beaten out would form plates which could be affixed to the boards of which the frame of the altar was composed.

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

Their own souls - That is, their own lives: who were the authors of their own destruction. The altar - Of burnt-offerings, which was made of wood, but covered with brass before this time, Exod. xxvii, 1, 2, to which this other covering was added for farther ornament, and security against the fire, continually burning upon it. A sign - A warning to all strangers to take heed of invading the priesthood.

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