Numbers 16:48

Num 16:48 And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.

Ver. 48. And he stood between.] A clear type of Christ.

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 16:48. Between the dead and the living — Whereby it may seem that this plague, like that fire, (Num 11:1,) began in the uttermost parts of the congregation, and so proceeded destroying one after another in an orderly manner, which gave Aaron occasion and direction so to place himself as a mediator with God on their behalf. In this action Aaron was a most eminent type of Christ, and the effect of Aaron’s oblation of incense an expressive emblem of the efficacy and happy fruits of the interposition of our great High-Priest.

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

God drew back his hand and ceased to punish them.

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

he stood between the living and the dead--The plague seems to have begun in the extremities of the camp. Aaron, in this remarkable act, was a type of Christ.

Next: Numbers Chapter 17

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 48. He stood between the dead and the living; and the plague, c.] What the plague was we know not, but it seems to have begun at one part of the camp, and to have proceeded regularly onward and Aaron went to the quarter where it was then prevailing, and stood with his atonement where it was now making its ravages, and the plague was stayed; but not before 14,700 had fallen victims to it, Nu 16:49.

IF Aaron the high priest, with his censer and incense, could disarm the wrath of an insulted, angry Deity, so that a guilty people, who deserved nothing but destruction, should be spared; how much more effectual may we expect the great atonement to be which was made by the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom Aaron was only the type! The sacrifices of living animals pointed out the death of Christ on the cross; the incense, his intercession. Through his death salvation is purchased for the world; by his intercession the offending children of men are spared. Hence St. Paul, Ro 5:10, says: If, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved THROUGH HIS LIFE, i. e., by the prevalence of his continual intercession. 2Co 5:18-19: "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation."

By the awful transactions recorded in this chapter, we may see how jealous God is of the sole right of appointing the way and means of salvation. Had any priesthood, and any kind of service, no matter how solemn and sincere, been equally available in the sight of Divine justice and mercy, God would not have resented in so awful a manner the attempts of Korah and his company in their new service. The way of God's own appointment, the agony and death of Christ, is the only way in which souls can be saved. His is the priesthood, and his is the only available sacrifice. All other modes and schemes of salvation are the inventions of men or devils, and will in the end prove ruinous to all those who trust in them. Reader, forget not the Lord who bought thee.

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

(48) And he stood between the dead and the living . . . —Aaron was, in this respect, a striking type of Christ, who “hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour” (Eph_5:2).

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

Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred,.... 14,700. Thus what they were threatened with, that their carcasses should fall in the wilderness, Num 14:29, was more and more fulfilled:

beside them that died about the matter of Korah; these are not taken into the number here, even the two hundred fifty men of Korah's company, and the families of Dathan and Abiram, Num 16:32; how many they were is not certain, but they were but few in comparison of these.

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

Whereby it may seem that this plague, like that fire, Num 11:1, began in the uttermost parts of the congregation, and proceeded, destroying one after another in an orderly manner, which gave Aaron occasion and direction so to place himself as a mediator to God on their behalf.

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

48. Between the dead and the living — The secret blast was moving along, like the angel of death, from one extremity of the camp to the other, destroying the people. At the line which ran between the living and the dead, Aaron heroically takes his stand in imminent peril of his own life.

The plague was stayed — A notable instance of the efficiency of faith. Intercessory prayer seems not to have been made because all the arguments had been already exhausted. “He could not stake his life for the nation as at Horeb, (Exo_32:32,) for the nation had rejected him. He could no longer plead the honour of Jehovah among the heathen, seeing that the Lord, even when sentencing the rebellious race to fall in the desert, had assured him that the whole earth should be filled with his glory. Num_14:20, etc.” — Keil.

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

And he stood between the dead and the living. If this is to be understood literally, as seems most consistent with the character of the narrative, then the plague must have been strictly local in its character; striking down its victims in one quarter before passing on to another; only thus could it be arrested by tile actual interposition of Aaron with the smoking censer. And the plague was stayed. Thus was given to the people the most striking and public proof of the saving efficacy of that mediatorial and intercessory office which they had been ready to invade and to reject. Thus also was it shown that what in profane hands was a savour of death unto death, became when rightly and lawfully used a savour of life unto life.

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

The living - Whereby it may seem that this plague, like that fire, chap. xi, 1, began in the uttermost parts of the congregation, and so proceeded destroying one after another in an orderly manner, which gave Aaron occasion and direction so to place himself, as a mediator to God on their behalf.

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