Numbers 16:45

Num 16:45-46. They fell upon their faces — To beg mercy for the people; thus rendering good for evil. Put on incense — Which was a sign of intercession, and was to be accompanied with it. Go unto the congregation — He went with the incense to stir up the people to repentance and prayer, to prevent their utter ruin. This he might do upon this extraordinary occasion, having God’s command for his warrant, though ordinarily incense was to be offered only in the tabernacle.

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

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 place from whence he should take it:

and put on incense: upon the fire, in the censer, which he was to do when he came into the camp, and not as soon as he took the fire from the altar: the censer with fire in it he carried in one hand, and the incense in the other; and when he was in the midst of the congregation, he put the incense on the fire, and burnt it, as appears from Num 16:47, this was an emblem of prayer, and a figure of the intercession and mediation of Christ, Psa 141:2,

and go quickly unto the congregation; the case required haste:

and make an atonement for them; which was usually done by the sacrifice of a sin or trespass offering, but now there was no time for that, and therefore incense, which was of quicker dispatch, was used for that purpose instead of it:

for there is wrath gone out from the Lord; some token of it, some disease was inflicted, which Moses had information of from the Lord, and therefore expressly says:

the plague is begun; a pestilence was sent among the people.

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

They fell upon their faces - In intercession for the people; compare Num 16:22; Num 14:5.

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

Get ye out. Moses and Aaron complied with the spirit, though not with the letter of this injunction. They lay prostrate on their faces, with all humility and earnestness, begging that the Lord would preserve them, and at the same time take pity on the frailty of the multitude, who had been deluded, and had, in words at least, approved the conduct of the rebels. (Haydock) --- God encourages them inwardly to persevere in prayer, in the same manner as when he said to Moses, (Exodus xxxii. 20,) Let me alone, that my wrath may be enkindled, &c.

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).

To beg pardon and mercy for the people, as they oft did; thus rendering good to them for evil, which the people requited with evil for their kindness.

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

45. They fell upon their faces — This was an act of heroic self-sacrifice equal to any in history. Only yesterday, after a similar command to the people to stand aloof from the tents of the chief rebels lest they perish with them, the yawning earth devoured the guilty. But now, in the face of a similar order, Moses and Aaron remain among the doomed people, in the attitude of most earnest intercession, determined to avert consuming wrath or perish in the attempt.

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. WMrohe, from The command is substantially the same as that in verse 21. Since it was not obeyed, we must conclude (as before) that it was not intended to be obeyed. They fell on their faces.

In horror and dismay. No doubt they would have interceded (as in verse 22), but that Moses perceived through some Divine intimation that wrath had gone forth, and that some more prevailing form of mediation than mere words must be sought.

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

They fell upon their faces - To beg mercy for the people; thus rendering Good for Evil.

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