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Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire from the altar in it, lay incense on it, carry it quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from Yahweh! The plague has begun.”
Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the middle of the assembly. The plague had already begun among the people. He put on the incense, and made atonement for the people. He stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.
Numbers 16:46-48 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire from the altar in it, lay incense on it, carry it quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from Yahweh! The plague has begun.”
Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the middle of the assembly. The plague had already begun among the people. He put on the incense, and made atonement for the people. He stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed. Now those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, in addition to those who died about the matter of Korah. Aaron returned to Moses to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and the plague was stopped.
Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire from the altar in it, lay incense on it, carry it quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from Yahweh! The plague has begun.”
Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the middle of the assembly. The plague had already begun among the people. He put on the incense, and made atonement for the people.
He stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.
And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun.
And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people.
And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.
(17-11) And Moses said unto Aaron: 'Take thy fire-pan, and put fire therein from off the altar, and lay incense thereon, and carry it quickly unto the congregation, and make atonement for them; for there is wrath gone out from the LORD: the plague is begun.'
(17-12) And Aaron took as Moses spoke, and ran into the midst of the assembly; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people; and he put on the incense, and made atonement for the people.
(17-13) And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.
38 distinct cross-references across this passage (39 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv46–48 For it was not lawful to take any other…
For it was not lawful to take any other fire, but of the altar of burnt offering, Lev. 10:1.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv46–48 Num 16:46 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a…
Num 16:46 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun.
Ver. 46. For there is wrath.] Moses is quick sighted, and spies it at first setting out. By how much more faithful and familiar men are with God, so much earlier do they discern his wrath.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv46–48 Put on incense; which was a sign of intercession,…
Put on incense; which was a sign of intercession, Psa 141:2, and was to be accompanied with it, Luk 1:9,10.
Go quickly unto the congregation, with the incense, to stir up the people to repentance and prayer to prevent their utter ruin. This he might do upon this extraordinary occasion, having God’s command for his warrant, though ordinarily incense was to be offered only in the tabernacle.
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The plague is begun, in cutting off the people by a sudden and miraculous stroke.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv46–48 And Aaron took as Moses commanded,.... A censer with…
And Aaron took as Moses commanded,.... A censer with fire in it from the altar, and also incense:
and ran into the midst of the congregation: though a man in years and in so high an office, and had been so ill used by the people; yet was not only so ready to obey the divine command, but so eager to serve this ungrateful people, and save them from utter destruction, that he ran from the tabernacle into the midst of them:
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and, behold, the plague was begun among the people; he saw them fall down dead instantly in great numbers:
and he put on incense; upon the fire in the censer, which though it was not in common lawful to burn but in the holy place on the altar of incense, yet, upon this extraordinary occasion, it was dispensed with by the Lord, as it had been the day before when he offered it at the door of the tabernacle with the two hundred fifty men of Korah's company; and perhaps the reason of it now was, that the people might see Aaron perform this kind office for them, and give them a fresh convincing proof of his being invested with the office of priesthood from the Lord, or otherwise he could have done this in its proper place, the sanctuary:
and made an atonement for the people; by offering incense, which God smelt a sweet savour in, and accepted of, and his wrath was appeased and the plague stayed: in this Aaron was a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of his mediation, atonement, and intercession; wrath is gone forth from God for the sins of men, which is revealed in the law; and death, the effect of it, has taken place on many in every sense of it, corporeal, spiritual, and eternal: Christ, as Mediator, in pursuance of his suretyship engagements, has made atonement for the sins of his people by the sacrifice of himself; and now ever lives to make intercession for them, which is founded upon his sacrifice and satisfaction, his sufferings and death, signified by the fire in which the incense was put.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv46, 48 Incense - Which was a sign of intercession, and…
Incense - Which was a sign of intercession, and was to be accompanied with it. Go unto the congregation - He went with the incense, to stir up the people to repentance and prayer, to prevent their utter ruin. This he might do upon this extraordinary occasion, having God's command for his warrant, though ordinarily incense was to be offered only in the tabernacle.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv46, 48 Verse 46. The plague is begun.] God now punished…
Verse 46. The plague is begun.] God now punished them by a secret blast, so as to put the matter beyond all dispute; his hand, and his alone, was seen, not only in the plague, but in the manner in which the mortality was arrested. It was necessary that this should be done in this way, that the whole congregation might see that those men who had perished were not the people of the Lord; and that GOD, not Moses and Aaron, had destroyed them.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v48 Num 16:48. Between the dead and the living —…
Num 16:48. Between the dead and the living — Whereby it may seem that this plague, like that fire, (Num 11:1,) began in the uttermost parts of the congregation, and so proceeded destroying one after another in an orderly manner, which gave Aaron occasion and direction so to place himself as a mediator with God on their behalf. In this action Aaron was a most eminent type of Christ, and the effect of Aaron’s oblation of incense an expressive emblem of the efficacy and happy fruits of the interposition of our great High-Priest.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv46–47 A censer - Rather, the censer. i. e. that…
A censer - Rather, the censer. i. e. that of the high priest which was used by him on the great Day of Atonement: compare Lev 16:12; Heb 9:4.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v46 Take. Moses was inspired by God, on this extraordinary…
Take. Moses was inspired by God, on this extraordinary occasion, to pass over the common rules, which forbade the high priest to offer incense any where but in the tabernacle, and never to appear among the dead. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v48 he stood between the living and the dead--The plague…
he stood between the living and the dead--The plague seems to have begun in the extremities of the camp. Aaron, in this remarkable act, was a type of Christ.
Next: Numbers Chapter 17
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv46–48 46. Fire… off the altar — See Lev_6:13, note.
46. Fire… off the altar — See Lev_6:13, note.
Put on incense — The symbolism of incense is thus explained by Baehr: “Prayer among all Oriental nations signifies calling upon the name of God. The oldest prayers consisted in the mere enumeration of the several titles of God. The Scriptures place incense in close relationship to prayer, so that offering incense is synonymous with worship. Hence incense itself is a symbol of the name of God.” But to us it rather seems to be an emblem of that which makes prayer acceptable, the intercession of Christ. Rev_8:3.
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Atonement — This is the only place where atonement is made without blood. But here the incense-offering, embodying the high priestly prayer, does not secure pardon, but only a reprieve; it shields the sinner from instant destruction and prolongs the forfeited lives of many adult Israelites. Thus the people were furnished with a practical proof of the power and operation of the true and divinely-appointed priesthood.
There is wrath gone out — Since Moses and Aaron have been accused of killing the people, an invisible destroyer is sent forth into the camp whose work cannot be ascribed to any human origin. Now the hand of Jehovah only will be seen in sending and in staying the plague. Thus Moses and Aaron are vindicated.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On v46 46. make atonement for them] The offering of incense…
46. make atonement for them] The offering of incense was an unusual way of making atonement; the shedding of blood was generally required. But since the sin had been the burning of incense, the means for its atonement was similar. Cf. the bronze serpent (Num_21:6-9). A converse application of the same principle is seen in the laws of retaliation—‘an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’
there is wrath gone out] lit. the wrath has gone out. The divine wrath is thought of almost as an emanation; it has, so to speak, an existence independent of Jehovah, as soon as it proceeds from Him. Cf. 2Ch_19:2, where, however, ‘wrath’ is without the article.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv46–48 (46) Take a censer.—Better, the censer. The reference appears…
(46) Take a censer.—Better, the censer. The reference appears to be to the golden censer of the high priest. Incense was an emblem of prayer, and a figure of the intercession and mediation of Christ. (See Psa_141:2; Rev_8:3-4.)
And go quickly.—Or, and carry it quickly.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv46, 48 Take a censer. Rather, "the censer," i.e., the proper…
Take a censer. Rather, "the censer," i.e., the proper censer of the high priest, which he used upon the great day of atonement, (Lev_16:12) and which is said in Heb_9:4 to have been of gold, and to have been kept in the most holy place. It is not, however, mentioned amongst the sacred furniture in the Levitical books. And go quickly. Rather, "take it quickly." And make an atonement for them. There was no precedent for making an incense offering alter this fashion, but it was on the analogy of the rite performed within the tabernacle on the day of atonement (Leviticus 16). Whether Moses received any intimation that the wroth might be thus averted, or whether it was the daring thought of a devoted heart when all else failed, it is impossible to say. As it had no precedent, so it never serous to have been repeated; nor is the name or idea of atonement anywhere else connected with the offering of incense apart kern the shedding of blood.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v47 (See Scofield "Exo 29:33")
atonement
(See Scofield "Exo 29:33")
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v47 he put in the incense
he put in the incense
Putting the incense in the censer here represents burning it. AT: "he burned the incense" (See: Metonymy)
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the plague was stopped
This can be stated in active form. AT: "the plague stopped spreading" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
die
life
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v46 16:46-50 Moses and Aaron acted quickly to rescue the…
16:46-50 Moses and Aaron acted quickly to rescue the Israelites from God’s wrath. In an unusual procedure, Aaron carried an incense burner with burning coals among the people and thus stopped the plague.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.