20 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

21 Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in

a moment.

22 And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?

23 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

24 Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram

25 And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him.

26 And he spake unto the congregation saying, Depart. I pray you from the seme of these wicked men and touch noting of their's, lest ve be consumed in al ther s

27 So they gat up from the tabernace of Korah, Dathan and Abram or TE C and Dathan and Abiram came out and sood in the door of their tents and they wires and their sons, and ther me thiren.

28 And Moses si Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of

(BC 1471 35 And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense,

36 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

the priest, that he take up the censers out 37 Speak unto Eleazar the son of Aaron of the burning, and watter thou the fire yorder: for they are hanowed.

38 The censers of these winners against their own solus, let them make them broad Fates for a covering of the star for they cfered them before the Lox, the fores ther are hallowed: and they an unto the eluaren of Israci

39 And Lazer the priest wok the braser censers, where try tost wage burnt had offered: and they mass marins irvad puses for a covering of the ***

4. 7 be a memorate the de Israel that in stranger. W weet of Aaron come near the win the Los that he be the Kors, and a compart as the Lans ons W

1 ant of Muset

gation of the entitiren of Israel murmurd ¶ bir on the moron al te souger against Moses and against Aaron aying Ye have killed the people of the Lons

gregation was gathered against Muse and against Aaron that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation aut bebold, the cloud covered it, and the go of the LORD appeared

42 And it came to pase when the con

43 And Moses and Aarul cats before

the tabernacle of the congregalat

44 And the Low spar un Miones,

Verse 1. "Korah...Dathan and Abiram...ond On."-On seems to have afterwards withdrawn from the conspiracy, as he is not subsequently mentioned as involved in the consequences. This sad affair seems to have originated in the jealousy with which Korah, himself of the same branch of the same tribe, and a near relative of Moses and Aaron, regarded the appointment of the family of Aaron to the hereditary priesthood, while the Levites were but their servants. That the other principal men, mentioned by name, were exclusively Reubenites, is a remarkable circumstance. We observe that the camp of Reuben was on the same side with that of the Kohathites; and this must have facilitated their intercourse. Probably Korah, who is described by the Jewish writers as a person of great wealth and influence, induced them to join him from the reflection that, according to pa riarchal usage, which assigned the priestly functions to the firstborn, the hierarchy, if at all established, ought to have been taken from the tribe of Reuben rather than that of Levi. Korah may have flattered this feeling, to serve his own purposes, while, as himself a Levite, he probably thought more of his own fancied claims than of those of the tribe of Reuben. The discontent of the Reubenites may have been partly civil also, arising not only from the powers administered by Moses, but from the jealousy with which they might have seen the tribe of Judah advanced to the civil privileges of the firstborn. No

one can help feeling strongly for Moses in all these difficulties; but we seem to have little sympathy for Aaron, who had himself set the example of sedition. He had risen against his brother; now their cousin, with a strong party, rises against both.

17. "Two hundred and fifty censers.”—It is a question how such a number of censers were obtained. They certainly did not belong to Korah or the others in virtue of their Levitical character, it being exclusively the duty of the priest to offer incense, and the business in hand being, indeed, to try their right to officiate as priests in offering incense. Saurin remarks, that commentators produce on this occasion many passages out of profane history to prove that this kind of sacred utensil was very common in private families. In Egypt, Sicily, and Greece, they were so common that no house was without them. But it may be doubted whether interpreters have not taken pateræ, or libation-cups, for censers. Be this as it may, it is probable that the censers used on the present occasion were among the utensils which the Israelites obtained from the Egyptians. The censers were of brass, as we learn from verse 39; and were beaten into broad plates, as an additional covering for the brazen altar; thus forming a standing memorial of the judgment which befel those by whom the censers had been so presumptuously employed.

27. "The tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”-Had Korah removed his tent near to those of Dathan and Abiram? As a Kohathite, his tent could not properly be in the camp of Reuben, and still less could the tents of Reubenites be in the camp of the Levites. The present direction seems to imply that the tents were together; yet further on, we only read of Dathan and Abiram; and it does not from this chapter appear, unless by inference, that Korah's tent was swallowed up; and that it actually was not, would appear from the fact, that whereas the children of the Reubenite rebels perished with their parents, those of Korah did not. (See chap. xxvi. 11, and 1 Chron. vi. 22-38, where his genealogy is reckoned.) We therefore think that Moses here merely uses the names of the leaders to describe the rebellious party; but that Korah's tent remained in the Kohathite camp, and that he was himself afterwards destroyed with those that offered incense. As a Levite aspiring to priestly functions, that is the place where we should certainly expect to find him. It is true that he is not mentioned by name among those destroyed there; and it is equally true that the present Hebrew text of chap. xxvi. 10, describes Korah as swallowed up with the rest. But that obscure passage is differently read in the Samaritan, which expressly says that Korah was destroyed by fire, with the men that offered incense. With this the narrative of Josephus concurs; and the Psalmist, in his rapid view of the transactions in the wilderness, only mentions the Reubenites as being swallowed up. (Psl. cvi. 17.)

41. "Ye have killed the people of the Lord."-Josephus says that the result having been so favourable to Moses and Aaron, the people blamed them as having procured this punishment from God upon the rebels. It would certainly appear as if they thought that Moses might, as on former occasions, have averted the punishment if he had interceded with God; and that they considered him the cause of their death by having omitted to do so; and not only that, indeed, but by actually calling for, or at least declaring, the punishment which befel those whom the earth swallowed up. We can see that the case was one which required strong and summary measures; but the excited multitude would not see this.

46. "Take a censer."-On ordinary occasions incense could only be offered on the golden altar within the holy place; but on this extraordinary occasion an extraordinary remedy was provided, and Aaron went out into the camp with the incense, and placing himself between the part where the destruction raged and that which it had not yet reached, the plague ceased on his offering the incense and making an atonement. God might have stayed the plague without the intervention of Aaron; but, in this time of discontent, it pleased him to afford another convincing testimony that the high-priest was acting in his sacied office by his appointment, and under his direction. They must have been hardened indeed who could doubt the authority under which the high-priest acted, after such a striking evidence of the Lord's respect to his official intervention.

AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and
take of every one of them a rod according
to the house of their fathers, of all their
princes according to the house of their
fathers twelve rods: write thou every man's
name upon his rod.

3 And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi: for one rod shall be for the head of the house of their fathers.

4 And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, 'where I will meet with you.

5 And it shall come to pass, that the man's rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom and I will make to cease from me the

murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you.

of Israel, and every one of their princes 6 And Moses spake unto the children gave him a rod apiece, for each prince one, according to their fathers' houses, even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their rods.

7 And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness.

8 And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.

9 And Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD unto all the children of Israel: and they looked, and took every man his rod.

10 And the LORD said unto Moses,

1 Exod. 25. 22. 2 Heb. a rod for one prince, a r.d for one prince.

Heb. children of rebellion.

Verse 2. "Twelve rods."-Twelve, because when Levi was numbered with the tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh counted but as one-that is, as the tribe of Joseph. When Levi was omitted, the number twelve was completed by considering Ephraim and Manasseh as two tribes. Some, however, think that there were twelve rods besides Aaron's. The rods, or staves, were doubtless official ensigns of the authority with which the heads of tribes were invested. Hence the Scripture frequently uses the word "rod" as equivalent to "sceptre ;" and indeed the more modern use of sceptres is derived from this ancient custom. These staves were of course dry, and had probably been for years in use; and that such should blossom and bear fruit again, is such a moral impossibility, that the ancient heathen used to swear by their rods or sceptres with a view to that circumstance. Thus Achilles, in Homer, when enraged against Agamemnon, says"But hearken. I shall swear a solemn oath.

The king Latinus, in Virgil, confirms, by a similar oath, his covenant with Æneas. To preclude mistake or imposition in the present transaction, the name of each tribe was inscribed on the rod of its chief; and the question being to try the right to the priesthood, this method of settling the point seems to indicate that other tribes (probably that of Reuben in particular) had thought their claims, as tribes, as good or better than those of Levi. In the result, the other rods remained as they were; but that of Aaron "brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.” This miracle seems to have set the question at rest, as we hear of no more rebellious murmurings about the priesthood. The people, however, seem to have submitted to this evidence with a far less cheerful temper than Josephus describes. Their expressions, "Behold we die, we perish, we all perish!" (verse 12) savour more of fear than of cheerful acquiescence. The rod of Aaron was afterwards preserved in the tabernacle and Temple; and most commentators think that it continued to retain its leaves and fruit, the preservation of which indeed seems necessary to furnish a standing evidence of the miracle. Some learned writers are of opinion that the idea of the thyrsus, or rod encircled with vine branches, which Bacchus was represented to bear in his hand, was borrowed from some tradition concerning Aaron's rod; and others think the same with respect to the club of Hercules, which, according to the Greek tradition, sprouted again when it was put into the earth.

1 Chap. 3. 45.

have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to thy sons, by an ordinance for ever.

9 This shall be thine of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every oblation of their's, every meat offering of their's, and every sin offering of their's, and every trespass offering of their's, which they shall render unto me, shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons.

10 In the most holy place shalt thou eat it; every male shall eat it: it shall be holy

unto thee.

11 And this is thine; the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel: I have given them unto thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: every one that is clean in thy house shall cat of it.

12 All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto the LORD, them have I given thee.

13 And whatsoever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring unto the LORD, shall be thine; every one that is clean in thine house shall cat of it.

14 Every thing devoted in Israel shall be thine.

15 Every thing that openeth the matrix in all flesh, which they bring unto the LORD, whether it be of men or beasts, shall be thine: nevertheless the firstborn of man shalt thou surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem.

16 And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.

17 But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they are holy thou shalt sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shalt burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savour unto the LORD.

18 And the flesh of them shall be thine, as the 'wave breast and as the right shoulder are thine.

19 All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the LORD, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever it is a covenant of salt for

2 Levit. 10. 14. Exod. 30. 13. Levit. 27. 25.

4 Levit. 27. 28.

ever before the LORD unto thee and to thy seed with thee.

20 And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel.

21 And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.

22 Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin, and die.

23 But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance.

24 But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto the LORD, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.

25 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

say

26 Thus speak unto the Levites, and unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the LORD, even a tenth part of the tithe.

27 And this your heave offering shall be reckoned unto you, as though it were the corn of the threshingfloor, and as the fulness of the winepress.

28 Thus ye also shall offer an heave offering unto the LORD of all your tithes, which ye receive of the children of Israel; and ye shall give thereof the LORD's heave offering to Aaron the priest.

29 Out of all your gifts ye shall offer every heave offering of the LORD, of all the 10best thereof, even the hallowed part thereof out of it.

30 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, When ye have heaved the best thereof from it, then it shall be counted unto the Levites as the increase of the threshingfloor, and as the increase of the winepress.

31 And ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your housholds: for it is your reward

3 Heb. fat. Exod. 13. 2, and 22. 29. Levit. 27. 26. Chap. 3. 13. Chap. 3. 47. Ezek. 45. 12. 7 Exod. 29. 26. 8 Deut. 10. 9, and 18.2. Josh. 13, 14, 33. Ezek. 44, 28. 10 Heb fat.

9 Heb. to die.