Numbers 16:27

So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(27) And Dathan and Abiram came out . . . —No mention is made of the position of Korah at this time, neither is any mention made of his sons, who, as we learn from Numbers 26:11, “died not” when the company of Korah died. His descendants are mentioned in 1Chronicles 6:22-38, and mention is made of “the sons of Korah” in the titles of eleven of the Psalms. Samuel the prophet and Heman the singer were of this family (1Chronicles 6:22; 1Chronicles 6:33).

Benson Commentary

Numbers 16:27. Stood in the door — An argument of their foolish confidence, obstinacy, and impenitence, whereby they declared that they neither feared God nor reverenced man.

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

27. the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram—Korah being a Kohathite, his tent could not have been in the Reubenite camp, and it does not appear that he himself was on the spot where Dathan and Abiram stood with their families. Their attitude of defiance indicated their daring and impenitent character, equally regardless of God and man.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Their tents were not far asunder, being both on the south side of the tabernacle, as appears from Numbers 2:10 3:29.

Stood in the door of their tents; an argument of their foolish confidence, pride, and impudence, obstinacy, and impenitency, whereby they declared that they neither feared God nor reverenced man, and made themselves ripe for the approaching judgment.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side,.... The place where they met together and made their general rendezvous; this it seems was encompassed on all sides by people out of the several tribes, who either wished them well in their undertaking, or were curious to know how it would issue:

and Dathan and Abiram came out; out of the tabernacle of Korah, and went to their own tents; and came out of them:

and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons,

and their little children; in an audacious manner, as not fearing God nor man; they carried their heads high, and were not in the least daunted at what they were threatened with; and by their looks and gestures bid defiance to Moses and the elders with him.

Geneva Study Bible

So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

27. the tabernacle of Korah &c.] Read the tabernacle of Jehovah. See on Numbers 16:24.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 27. - And Dathan and Abiram... stood in the door of their tents. To see what Moses would do. Nothing is said of Korah. Numbers 16:27

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."