Bilangan 16:1-2

The Rebellion of Korah

16:1 ¹ Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, who were Reubenites, ²  took men ³  16:2 and rebelled against Moses, along with some of the Israelites, 250 leaders ⁴  of the community, chosen from the assembly, ⁵  famous men. ⁶ 

Bilangan 16:12-15

16:12 Then Moses summoned ⁷  Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come up. ⁸  16:13 Is it a small thing ⁹  that you have brought us up out of the land that flows with milk and honey, ¹⁰  to kill us in the wilderness? Now do you want to make yourself a prince ¹¹  over us? 16:14 Moreover, ¹²  you have not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey, nor given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you think you can blind ¹³  these men? We will not come up.”

16:15 Moses was very angry, and he said to the Lord, “Have no respect ¹⁴  for their offering! I have not taken so much as one donkey from them, nor have I harmed any one of them!”

Bilangan 16:25-34

16:25 Then Moses got up ¹⁵  and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel went after him. 16:26 And he said to the community, “Move away from the tents of these wicked ¹⁶  men, and do not touch anything they have, lest you be destroyed because ¹⁷  of all their sins.” ¹⁸  16:27 So they got away from the homes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram on every side, and Dathan and Abiram came out and stationed themselves ¹⁹  in the entrances of their tents with their wives, their children, and their toddlers. 16:28 Then Moses said, “This is how ²⁰  you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will. ²¹  16:29 If these men die a natural death, ²²  or if they share the fate ²³  of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. 16:30 But if the Lord does something entirely new, ²⁴  and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up ²⁵  along with all that they have, and they ²⁶  go down alive to the grave, ²⁷  then you will know that these men have despised the Lord!”

16:31 When he had finished ²⁸  speaking ²⁹  all these words, the ground that was under them split open, 16:32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, along with their households, and all Korah’s men, and all their goods. 16:33 They and all that they had went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed over them. So they perished from among the community. 16:34 All the Israelites ³⁰  who were around them fled at their cry, ³¹  for they said, “What if ³²  the earth swallows us too?”

[16:1]  ¹ sn There are three main movements in the story of ch. 16. The first is the rebellion itself (vv. 1-19). The second is the judgment (vv. 20-35). Third is the atonement for the rebels (vv. 36-50). The whole chapter is a marvelous account of a massive rebellion against the leaders that concludes with reconciliation. For further study see G. Hort, “The Death of Qorah,” ABR 7 (1959): 2-26; and J. Liver, “Korah, Dathan and Abiram,” Studies in the Bible (ScrHier 8), 189-217.

[16:1]  ² tc The MT reading is plural (“the sons of Reuben”); the Smr and LXX have the singular (“the son of Reuben”).

[16:1]  ³ tn In the Hebrew text there is no object for the verb “took.” The translation presented above supplies the word “men.” However, it is possible that the MT has suffered damage here. The LXX has “and he spoke.” The Syriac and Targum have “and he was divided.” The editor of BHS suggests that perhaps the MT should be emended to “and he arose.”

[16:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “princes” (so KJV, ASV).

[16:2]  ⁵ tn These men must have been counselors or judges of some kind.

[16:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “men of name,” or “men of renown.”

[16:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “Moses sent to summon.” The verb קָרָא (qara’) followed by the lamed (ל) preposition does not mean “call to” but “summon.” This is a command performance; for them to appear would be to submit to Moses’ authority. This they will not do.

[16:12]  ⁸ tn The imperfect tense נַעֲלֶה (na’aleh) expresses their unwillingness to report: “we are not willing,” or “we will not.” The verb means “to go up.” It is used in the sense of appearing before an authority or a superior (see, e.g., Gen 46:31; Deut 25:7; Judg 4:5).

[16:13]  ⁹ tn The question is rhetorical. It was not a small thing to them – it was a big thing.

[16:13]  ¹⁰ tn The modern scholar who merely sees these words as belonging to an earlier tradition about going up to the land of Canaan that flows with milk and honey misses the irony here. What is happening is that the text is showing how twisted the thinking of the rebels is. They have turned things completely around. Egypt was the land flowing with milk and honey, not Canaan where they will die. The words of rebellion are seldom original, and always twisted.

[16:13]  ¹¹ tn The verb הִשְׂתָּרֵר (histarer) is the Hitpael infinitive absolute that emphasizes the preceding תִשְׂתָּרֵר (tistarer), the Hitpael imperfect tense (both forms having metathesis). The verb means “to rule; to act like a prince; to make oneself a prince.” This is the only occurrence of the reflexive for this verb. The exact nuance is difficult to translate into English. But they are accusing Moses of seizing princely power for himself, perhaps making a sarcastic reference to his former status in Egypt. The rebels here are telling Moses that they had discerned his scheme, and so he could not “hoodwink” them (cf. NEB).

[16:14]  ¹² tn Here אַף (’af) has the sense of “in addition.” It is not a common use.

[16:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “will you bore out the eyes of these men?” The question is “Will you continue to mislead them?” (or “hoodwink” them). In Deut 16:19 it is used for taking a bribe; something like that kind of deception is intended here. They are simply stating that Moses is a deceiver who is misleading the people with false promises.

[16:15]  ¹⁴ tn The verb means “to turn toward”; it is a figurative expression that means “to pay attention to” or “to have regard for.” So this is a prayer against Dathan and Abiram.

[16:25]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “rose up.”

[16:26]  ¹⁶ tn The word רָשָׁע (rasha’) has the sense of a guilty criminal. The word “wicked” sometimes gives the wrong connotation. These men were opposing the Lord, and so were condemned as criminals – they were guilty. The idea of “wickedness” therefore applies in that sense.

[16:26]  ¹⁷ tn The preposition bet (בְּ) in this line is causal – “on account of their sins.”

[16:26]  ¹⁸ sn The impression is that the people did not hear what the Lord said to Moses, but only what Moses said to the people as a result. They saw the brilliant cloud, and perhaps heard the sound of his voice, but the relaying of the instructions indicates they did not hear the actual instruction from the Lord himself.

[16:27]  ¹⁹ tn The verb נִצָּבִים (nitsavim) suggests a defiant stance, for the word is often used in the sense of taking a stand for or against something. It can also be somewhat neutral, having the sense of positioning oneself for a purpose.

[16:28]  ²⁰ tn Heb “in this.”

[16:28]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew text simply has כִּי־לֹא מִלִּבִּי (ki-lo’ millibbi, “for not from my heart”). The heart is the center of the will, the place decisions are made (see H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament). Moses is saying that the things he has done have not come “from the will of man” so to speak – and certainly not from some secret desire on his part to seize power.

[16:29]  ²² tn Heb “if like the death of every man they die.”

[16:29]  ²³ tn The noun is פְּקֻדָּה (pÿquddah, “appointment, visitation”). The expression refers to a natural death, parallel to the first expression.

[16:30]  ²⁴ tn The verb בָּרָא (bara’) is normally translated “create” in the Bible. More specifically it means to fashion or make or do something new and fresh. Here the verb is joined with its cognate accusative to underscore that this will be so different everyone will know it is of God.

[16:30]  ²⁵ tn The figures are personifications. But they vividly describe the catastrophe to follow – which was very much like a mouth swallowing them.

[16:30]  ²⁶ tn The word is “life” or “lifetime”; it certainly means their lives – they themselves. But the presence of this word suggest more. It is an accusative specifying the state of the subject – they will go down alive to Sheol.

[16:30]  ²⁷ tn The word “Sheol” in the Bible can be used four different ways: the grave, the realm of the departed [wicked] spirits or Hell, death in general, or a place of extreme danger (one that will lead to the grave if God does not intervene). The usage here is certainly the first, and very likely the second as well. A translation of “pit” would not be inappropriate. Since they will go down there alive, it is likely that they will sense the deprivation and the separation from the land above. See H. W. Robinson, Inspiration and Revelation in the Old Testament; N. J. Tromp, Primitive Conceptions of Death and the Netherworld in the Old Testament (BibOr 21), 21-23; and A. Heidel, The Gilgamesh Epic, especially ch. 3.

[16:31]  ²⁸ tn The initial temporal clause is standard: It begins with the temporal indicator “and it was,” followed here by the Piel infinitive construct with the preposition and the subjective genitive suffix. “And it happened when he finished.”

[16:31]  ²⁹ tn The infinitive construct with the preposition lamed (ל) functions here as the direct object of the preceding infinitive. It tells what he finished.

[16:34]  ³⁰ tn Heb “all Israel.”

[16:34]  ³¹ tn Heb “voice.”

[16:34]  ³² tn Heb “lest.”