🔢WEB · Numbers 16:20
What does Numbers 16:20 mean?
"Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,"
— Numbers 16:20 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Each man take his censer, and put incense on them, and each man bring before Yahweh his censer, two hundred fifty censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer.”
They each took his censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense on it, and stood at the door of the Tent of Meeting with Moses and Aaron.
Korah assembled all the congregation opposite them to the door of the Tent of Meeting. Yahweh’s glory appeared to all the congregation.
Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
“Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment!”
They fell on their faces, and said, “God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?”
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
Explanation
Numbers 16:20 is a brief transitional statement: "Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying." On its own, this verse simply introduces a new word from God to two leaders. It does not contain content itself—it functions as the connecting phrase between what has just happened and what God is about to command. In the WEB translation, the sentence continues into verse 21, where God says, "Separate yourselves from among the congregation, that I may consume them in a moment." So this verse is the doorway into a specific, urgent divine instruction.
The context is essential to understanding why this moment matters. Numbers 16 recounts the rebellion of Korah, along with Dathan, Abiram, and 250 prominent leaders, against the God-appointed leadership of Moses and Aaron. Korah, a Levite, resented that Moses and Aaron held unique roles of leadership and priesthood, and he stirred up a broader revolt claiming that all the congregation was equally holy and deserving of priestly privilege. Moses called
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