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The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:38
Bid them that they make them fringes. צִיצִת, probably tassels. It seems to signify something flower-like and bright, like the blooms on a shrub; the word צִיץ. is applied to the shining plate of gold upon Aaron's head-…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:39
That ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments. It was indeed a minute and apparently trivial distinction, and yet such an one as would most surely strike the eye, and through the eye the mind. It was like…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:41
GOD RECALLS A GREAT DEED AND THE PURPOSE OF IT I. GOD RECALLED A GREAT DEED. I brought you out of the land of Egypt."‘ 1. It was deliverance from a bitter bondage. The Israelites had been making light of it of late, but…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:41
I am the Lord your God. This intensely solemn formula, here twice repeated, may serve to show how intimately the smallest observances of the Law were connected with the profoundest and most comforting of spiritual truth…
Matthew Henry on Numbers 16:1-11
Pride and ambition occasion a great deal of mischief both in churches and states. The rebels quarrel with the settlement of the priesthood upon Aaron and his family. Small reason they had to boast of the people's purity…
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. (b. c. 1490.)
KORAH, DATHAN, AND ABIRAM. (B. C. 1490.) Here is, I. An account of the rebels, who and what they were, not, as formerly, the mixed multitude and the dregs of the people, who are therefore never named, but men of distinc…
Matthew Henry on Numbers 16:12-15
Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram to bring their complaints; but they would not obey. They bring very false charges against Moses. Those often fall under the heaviest censures, who in truth deserve the highest praise. Mo…
Matthew Henry on Numbers 16:12-22
Here is, I. The insolence of Dathan and Abiram, and their treasonable remonstrance. Moses had heard what Korah had to say, and had answered it; now he summons Dathan and Abiram to bring in their complaints (Numbers 16:1…
Matthew Henry on Numbers 16:16-22
The same glory of the Lord that appeared to place Aaron in his office at first, Le 9:23, now appeared to confirm him in it; and to confound those who set up against him. Nothing is more terrible to those who are conscio…
Matthew Henry on Numbers 16:23-34
The seventy elders of Israel attend Moses. It is our duty to do what we can to countenance and support lawful authority when it is opposed. And those who would not perish with sinners, must come out from among them, and…
Matthew Henry on Numbers 16:23-34
We have here the determining of the controversy with Dathan and Abiram, who rebelled against Moses, as in the next paragraph the determining of the controversy with Korah and his company, who would be rivals with Aaron.…
Matthew Henry on Numbers 16:35-40
A fire went out from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense, while Aaron, who stood with them, was preserved alive. God is jealous of the honour of his own institutions, and will not h…
Matthew Henry on Numbers 16:35-40
We must now look back to the door of the tabernacle, where we left the pretenders to the priesthood with their censers in their hands ready to offer incense; and here we find, I. Vengeance taken on them, Numbers 16:35.…
Matthew Henry on Numbers 16:41-50
The gaping earth was scarcely closed, before the same sins are again committed, and all these warnings slighted. They called the rebels the people of the Lord; and find fault with Divine justice. The obstinacy of Israel…
Matthew Henry on Numbers 16:41-50
Here is, I. A new rebellion raised the very next day against Moses and Aaron. Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and wonder, O earth! Was there ever such an instance of the incurable corruption of sinners? On the morrow…
Matthew Henry on Numbers 17:1-7
It is an instance of the grace of God, that, having wrought divers miracles to punish sin, he would work one more to prevent it. Twelve rods or staves were to be brought in. It is probable that they were the staves whic…
The Blossoming of Aaron's Rod. (b. c. 1490.)
THE BLOSSOMING OF AARON'S ROD. (B. C. 1490.) Here we have, I. Orders given for the bringing in of a rod for every tribe (which was peculiarly significant, for the word here used for a rod sometimes signifies a tribe, as…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 17:1-13
THE SIGN OF THE TRUE PRIESTHOOD In this chapter we have the testimony of God to the priesthood of his Anointed in a σημεῖον, a teaching miracle, setting forth the inner and hidden truths upon which the exclusive claims…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 17:1
And the Lord spake. Presumably upon the same day, since the design was to prevent any recurrence of the sin and punishment described above.
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 17:1-13
EXPOSITION AARON'S ROD THAT BUDDED (Numbers 17:1-13).
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 17:1-9
AARON'S ROD THAT BUDDED The priesthood of Aaron, as a solemn reality, and no mere arrogant pretence, had already been amply shown. It had been shown, however, in a way which left behind terrible associations. Those who…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 17:2
Take of every one of them a rod. Literally, "take of them a rod, a rod," i.e; a rod apiece, in the way immediately particularized. hsilgnE:egaugnaL מַטֶּה} is used for the staff of Judah (Genesis 38:18) and for the rod…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 17:3
Thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi. There was no tribe prince of Levi, and it is not probable that either of the three chiefs of the sub-tribes (Numbers 3:24, Numbers 3:30, 55) was called upon to bring a…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 17:4
The tabernacle of the congregation. "The tent of meeting." See on Exodus 30:26. Before the testimony, i.e; in front of the ark containing the two tables of the law (Exodus 25:21).