Numbers 26:10

Num 26:10 And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men: and they became a sign.

Ver. 10. And they became a sign.] An example of that rule, that great sins bring great plagues, as Herodotus hath it, speaking of the destruction of Troy. Aliorum perditio, tua sit cautio, Enjoy other men’s madness, &c. Discite iustitiam moniti, &c. Let all that behold me beware; this was written upon the statue of Sennacherib, saith Herodotus.

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 26:10. Together with Korah — These words seem to import that Korah was swallowed up with Dathan and Abiram. But it being more probable, as was observed on Num 16:32, that Korah was consumed by the fire of God with those who offered incense, the words may be otherwise translated thus: The earth swallowed them up; namely, Dathan and Abiram; and as for Korah, he died with that company, what time the fire devoured, &c. — To the same purpose speak the Samaritan text and Josephus. “Also we have the testimony of the apostolical constitutions, and in effect of Clement of Rome, of Ignatius and Eusebius, that the Septuagint version originally gave the same account.” — Whiston. Junius and Tremellius render the passage, The earth swallowed them up, and what things belonged to Korah; namely, his tent, and goods, and family, his children excepted, as they are here. The psalmist seems to confirm the opinion that Korah was burned with his Levites, mentioning only Dathan and Abiram as being swallowed up, Psa 106:17. They became a sign — A monument of divine vengeance against daring sinners, warning them not to rebel against God, or magistrates, his deputies, nor to usurp the priestly office.

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

That is, for an example that others should not murmur and rebel against God’s ministers.

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

the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah--rather, "the things of Korah." (See on Num 16:35; compare Psa 106:17).

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 10. Together with Korah] The Samaritan text does not intimate that Korah was swallowed up, but that he was burnt, as appears in fact to have been the case. And the earth swallowed them up, what time that company died; and the fire devoured Korah with the two hundred and fifty men, who became a sign.

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

(10) And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah . . . —Hebrew, and Korah. It would appear from this verse that Korah perished in the earthquake with Dathan and Abiram. The Samaritan Pentateuch, however, has a different reading here. It transposes the words “and Korah,” and combines them with the words”and the two hundred and fifty men”: thus—“when the fire devoured Korah and the two hundred and fifty men.” (See Notes on Num_16:32; Num_16:35.) It is possible that there may have been an omission here of the words which are found in Num_16:32, “all the men that appertained unto,” or of words denoting “all the goods belonging to.”

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

10. and they became a sign] This is a reference to Num_16:38; but there it is not the offenders but their fire-pans, beaten into plates for the altar, that are a sign.

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.

Notwithstanding, the children of Korah died not. Neither of the pestilence, nor by fire, nor by the swallowing up of the earth; they not being in the counsel of their father, but followed the doctrine of Moses the prophet, as the Targum of Jonathan; they either disliked their father's scheme, or, if they engaged with him in it, they repented and departed from him, and were not present when the judgments of God came upon him and his company; there were several of his posterity who were singers in the times of David, and to whom many of the psalms were sent to be sung.

Notwithstanding, the children of Korah died not. Neither of the pestilence, nor by fire, nor by the swallowing up of the earth; they not being in the counsel of their father, but followed the doctrine of Moses the prophet, as the Targum of Jonathan; they either disliked their father's scheme, or, if they engaged with him in it, they repented and departed from him, and were not present when the judgments of God came upon him and his company; there were several of his posterity who were singers in the times of David, and to whom many of the psalms were sent to be sung.

Numbers 26:12

num 26:12

num 26:12

num 26:12The sons of Simeon, after their families,.... This tribe was next numbered, not only because Simeon was next to Reuben by birth, but because his tribe was under the standard of Reuben; two of his sons are a little differently named here than they are in Gen 46:10, there the eldest is called Jemuel, here Nemuel; there the youngest but one is named Zohar, here Zerah; and one of them is here omitted, namely Ohad, perhaps because he died without children, and so no family sprang from him; wherefore the families of Simeon were but five, and the number of them were 22,200; by which it appears there was a very great decrease in this tribe since the last muster, even 37,100 which in some measure is to be accounted for by the great number of this tribe supposed to have died of the plague, on account of fornication and idolatry, made mention of in the preceding chapter; a prince in this tribe having set a bad example, it is probable he was followed in it by many of it, for which great numbers were cut off. Jarchi, from Tanchuma, says, that all the 24,000 that died of the plague was of the tribe of Simeon; and so says the Samaritan Chronicle (o); but that is not likely.

(o) Apud Hottinger. ut supra. (Smegma Oriental, l. 1. c. 8. p. 448.)

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

Together with Korah - i. e., they were engulfed at the same time that Korah perished, for Korah himself appears to bare died among the two hundred and fifty incense offerers at the door of the tabernacle, not with Dathan and Abiram (compare Num 16:32 note).

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

Miracle. Hebrew, "they became a sign," of reproach, and a memorial of God’s just judgments, who caused the earth to swallow up Core and his companions alive, by a most disgraceful kind of death, to which the faithless vestal virgins were condemned at Rome, being buried alive; while those who had offered incense were consumed by fire. Many of the ancients assert that Core was also burnt, meaning perhaps by the fire of hell; to which he descended. (Josephus, [Antiquities?] iv. 3.) --- Others have thought that the children of Core were swallowed up with their father. But this is not true, with respect to some of them at least, (Haydock) who by a miracle of divine grace and goodness, were preserved from joining in his sedition; (Calmet) while Core, his wife and servants, all concurred to shew them such a pernicious example. (Haydock) --- Lyranus and the Rabbins tell us, that the children stopped to intreat their father to repent; and while the earth opened under them, God supported them in the air, and gave them the spirit of prophecy; so that they sung, (Psalm xlv.) God is our refuge, &c., or, according to others, the Psalm xli. which has their name in the title. But these accounts are to be received with caution. The Samaritan text, fuerunt in fugam, (Calmet) may be translated, "out of this world they fled away, (11) and the sons of Core did not perish."

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).

Swallowed them up together with Korah: according to this translation Korah was not consumed by fire with his two hundred and fifty men, Num 16, but swallowed up by the earth. But others rather think he was devoured by the fire, of which see on Num 16:32,35, and render these words, and the things of Korah, or belonging to Korah, to wit, his tent, and goods, and family, children excepted, as here follows; which interpretation receives strength by comparing this place with Num 16:32,

And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them (to wit, Dathan and Abiram, as is manifest from Num 26:24,25,27) up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah; which variation of the phrase plainly shows that Korah himself was not swallowed up with them, but only his men and his tabernacle, which is mentioned there together with the tabernacles of Dathan and Abiram, Num 26:24,27, but his person is not there mentioned with their persons. Nor is it unusual both in sacred and profane authors, by the name of a man who is the head and master, to understand only his house and family, though himself be not included. But this difficulty may be cleared another way. The Hebrew particle eth may? be here the note of a nominative case, as it is 2Ki 6:5; Neh 9:19; Jer 38:16; Eze 39:14; 43:7, and there may be a defect of a verb, which is most frequent; and so the place may be rendered thus,

and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, to wit, Dathan and Abiram, Num 26:9, and Korah, or, and as for Korah, he died (which verb is easily understood out of the following noun, of which ellipsis there are many instances in Scripture, some whereof have been given before, and more will follow in their places) in the death of that company, or when that company died, what time the fire devoured the two hundred and fifty men. And so this place, and Num 16:35, explain one another; and whereas there. is mention only of two hundred and fifty men consumed by that fire, Korah is here added to the number.

They became a sign, i.e. God made them a monument or example, to warn others not to rebel against God nor against magistracy, nor to usurp the priestly office.

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

10. Together with Korah — The Samaritan text does not intimate that Korah was swallowed up, but that he was burned. See Num_16:25, note; Psa_106:17. This view is sustained by Graves, Boothroyd, Bush, Geddes, Hervey, and Josephus. But Ewald, Keil, Kurtz, and Knobel, think that Korah was engulfed. They argue that he left the two hundred and fifty burning incense at the tabernacle and followed Moses, with the purpose of strengthening Dathan and Abiram in their contumacy; and, standing with them by their tents, was swallowed up. It is clear that he was not in his own tent, which must have been at some little distance, and seems not to have been destroyed.

Became a sign — A warning.

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

Swallowed them up together with Korah. jrqoAtaw lbTiy. Septuagint, katepein autou Kore . This distinct statement, which is not modified in the Targums, seems decisive as to the fate of Korah. If indeed it were quite certain from the detailed narrative in Nu 16 that Korah perished with his own company, and not with the Reubenites, then it might be deemed necessary to force this statement into accordance with that certainty; but it is nowhere stated, or even clearly implied, that he perished by fire, and therefore there is no excuse for doing violence to the obvious meaning of this verse. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were swallowed up, we are told, at the same time that Korah"s company were consumed by fire; that is a clear statement, and cannot be set aside by any supposed necessity for avenging the sacri1egious ambition of Korah by the element of fire. And they became a sign. The Hebrew properly means a banner or ensign, and is unusual in this sense. It exactly corresponds, however, to the Greek shmeion , and has no doubt the same secondary signification a something made conspicuous in order to attract attention and enforce a warning. (cf. Num_16:30, Num_16:38)

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

With Korah - According to this translation Korah was not consumed by fire with his two hundred and fifty men, but swallowed up by the earth. But others rather think he was devoured by the fire, and render these words, and the things of Korah, or belonging to Korah, namely, his tent and goods, and family, children excepted, as here follows. A sign - God made them a monument or example, to warn others not to rebel against God, or magistracy, nor to usurp the priestly office.

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

The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up

Here the earth is spoken of as if it were a person opening its mouth and eating something. AT: "Yahweh caused the earth to split open, and the men fell in the hole" (See: Personification)

fire devoured 250 men

Here the fire is spoken of as if it were a large animal devouring something. AT: "Yahweh caused a fire that killed 250 men" (See: Personification)

250 men

"two hundred and fifty men" (See: Numbers)

Korah's line

"all of Korah's family"

die out

"end"

translationWords

earth

die

fire

devour

sign

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

ויהיו לנס AND THEY BECAME A נס — a sign and a reminder in order that no stranger should bring himself near to raise further dispute concerning the priesthood (cf. Numbers 17:5).

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.