Numbers 16:29

If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not sent me.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Numbers 16:29. The death of all men — By a natural death. The visitation of all men — By plague, or sword, or some usual judgment. The Lord hath not sent me — I am content that you take me for an impostor, falsely pretending to be sent of God.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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 be separate. It was in answer to the prayer of Moses, that God stirred up the hearts of the congregation to remove for their own safety. Grace to separate from evil-doers is one of the things that accompany salvation. God, in justice, left the rebels to the obstinacy and hardness of their own hearts. Moses, by Divine direction, when all Israel were waiting the event, declares that if the rebels die a common death, he will be content to be called and counted an imposter. As soon as Moses had spoken the word, God caused the earth to open and swallow them all up. The children perished with their parents; in which, though we cannot tell how bad they might be to deserve it, or how good God might be otherwise to them; yet of this we are sure, that Infinite Justice did them no wrong. It was altogether miraculous. God has, when he pleases, strange punishments for the workers of iniquity. It was very significant. Considering how the earth is still in like manner loaded with the weight of man's sins, we have reason to wonder that it does not now sink under its load. The ruin of others should be our warning. Could we, by faith, hear the outcries of those that are gone down to the bottomless pit, we should give more diligence than we do to escape for our lives, lest we also come into their condemnation.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Stood in the door of their tents - Apparently in contumacious defiance.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

28-34. Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works—The awful catastrophe of the earthquake which, as predicted by Moses, swallowed up those impious rebels in a living tomb, gave the divine attestation to the mission of Moses and struck the spectators with solemn awe.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

i.e.

If these men die by a natural death, or by plague, or sword, or some usual judgment, I am content that you take me for an impostor, falsely pretending to be sent of God. This he might well say, because he was inspired by God to say this, and infallibly assured by God that this should be done.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

If these men die the common death of all men,.... Or "as every man dies" (r), or the generality of men, who for the most part die of one disease or another, as a fever, and the like, or through old age:

or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; with such visitations as men in all ages for their sins are visited with, meaning public calamities, such as pestilence, famine, and sword:

then the Lord hath not sent me; it may be concluded that I had no mission nor commission from the Lord to do what I have done, but may be reckoned a deceiver and an impostor; and I am content to be accounted so, should either of the above things be the case of these men.

(r) "ut moriuntur omnes homines", Pagninus; "reliqui homines", Junius & Tremellius; "alii homines", Piscator.

Geneva Study Bible

If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not sent me.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 29. - If they be visited after the visitation of all men. פָקַד is of somewhat doubtful meaning; it seems to answer to the ἐπίσκεψις and ἐπισκοπὴ of the Septuagint,, and to our "oversight," or "visitation" (German, heimsuchung. Thus it may mean practically the providence of God for good, i.e., in the way of protection, or for evil, i.e., in the way of judgment. In either sense providence showed itself in no ordinary form towards these men. Numbers 16:29

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The congregation obeyed; but Dathan and Abiram came and placed themselves in front of the tents, along with their wives and children, to see what Moses would do. Moses then announced the sentence: "By this shall he know that Jehovah hath sent me to do all these works, that not out of my own heart (i.e., that I do not act of my own accord). If these men die like all men (i.e., if these wicked men die a natural death like other men), and the oversight of all men take place over them (i.e., if the same providence watches over them as over all other men, and preserves them from sudden death), Jehovah hath not sent me. But if Jehovah create a creation (בריאה בּרא, i.e., work an extraordinary miracle), and the earth open its mouth and swallow them up, with all that belongs to them, so that they go down alive into hell, ye shall perceive that these men have despised Jehovah."