John Calvin Commentary Psalms 106:16

"They envied Moses also in the camp, [And] Aaron the saint of Jehovah." — Psalms 106:16 (ASV)

And they envied He refers here very briefly to another transgression, and does so in such a way as to provide both himself and others ample reason for deep consideration.

For, as the people, by devising new ways of sinning from time to time, displayed so much cunning in their attempts to provoke God’s anger, so we should all the more be filled with fear on that account.

Moreover, when he says that they envied Moses and Aaron, his meaning is that, acting under the influence of diabolic pride, they had risen up against God and were attempting to throw off the yoke he had placed upon them, just as Moses also said:

What am I, and what is Aaron, that you murmur against us? (Numbers 16:11)

Since it was God's will to rule the people through Moses and Aaron, not submitting to their rule was, in effect, obstinately resisting God's own authority. Therefore, great importance is attached to the term envy; namely, that at the very time God was treating the children of Israel with the utmost kindness and care, they still were discontented with their lot and rebelled against Him.

Could such madness serve any other purpose than to show that, by casting off all further dependence on God's providence for their support, they aspired to rise above the very heavens?

In this sense, Aaron is called the saint of Jehovah, so that we would know that both he and Moses were equally identified with God. For the designation, though applied to one, refers to both, and in this way the prophet shows that they had been divinely invested with the authority they were exercising.

Therefore, in renouncing their authority and, to the utmost of their power, dishonoring these saints, Dathan and Abiram were rebelling not against men, but against God.