John Gill Commentary Numbers 16:22

John Gill Commentary

Numbers 16:22

1697–1771
Reformed Baptist
John Gill
John Gill

John Gill Commentary

Numbers 16:22

1697–1771
Reformed Baptist
SCRIPTURE

"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?" — Numbers 16:22 (ASV)

And they fell upon their faces
That is, Moses and Aaron, in order to deprecate the wrath of God, and beseech him to avert the threatened judgment; and so the Targum of Jonathan has it, "they bowed themselves in prayer upon their faces;"

and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh;
the Maker of all men, as of their bodies, which are flesh, so of their souls or spirits, which are immaterial and immortal; hence he is called "the Father of spirits", (Hebrews 12:9) , who, as the Targum, puts the spirit in the bodies of men; or, as others, who knows the spirits of men; their thoughts, as Jarchi, the inward frames and dispositions of their minds; who knows who have sinned, and who not; and whether their sins proceed from weakness, and being misled, or whether from a malevolent disposition, presumption, and self-will:

shall one man sin:
meaning Korah, who was the ringleader: and will you be wroth with all the congregation?
who, through ignorance and weakness, and by artifice and imposition, are drawn in to join with him; the plea is much the same with that of Abraham, (Genesis 18:25) .