Numbers 16:32-35
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 1 who were around them fled at their cry, 2 for they said, “What if 3 the earth swallows us too?”
16:35 Then a fire 4 went out from the Lord and devoured the 250 men who offered incense.
Numbers 16:41
16:41 But on the next day the whole community of Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people!” 5
1 tn Heb “all Israel.”
2 tn Heb “voice.”
3 tn Heb “lest.”
4 tn For a discussion of the fire of the Lord, see J. C. H. Laughlin, “The Strange Fire of Nadab and Abihu,” JBL 95 (1976): 559-65.
5 sn The whole congregation here is trying to project its guilt on Moses and Aaron. It was they and their rebellion that brought about the deaths, not Moses and Aaron. The Lord had punished the sinners. The fact that the leaders had organized a rebellion against the Lord was forgotten by these people. The point here is that the Israelites had learned nothing of spiritual value from the event.