Numbers 16:13
in Numbers 16Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Must you also appoint yourself as ruler over us?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, but thou must needs make thyself also a prince over us?
KJV
Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us?
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This verse in Numbers 16
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
With perverse contempt for the promises, Dathan and Abiram designate Egypt by the terms appropriated elsewhere to the land of Canaan.
This site's exposition
Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram
on Numbers 16:12-14
Dathan and Abiram refuse with We will not come at verse 12 and again at verse 14. They give Egypt the Torah's title for Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey, which Albert Barnes calls a perverse contempt for the promise. Barnes reads the clause about gouging out the eyes of these men as blinding them to broken promises, and others take it literally.
This site's exposition
Must you also appoint yourself as ruler over us?
The charge of making himself ruler repeats the words thrown at Moses in Egypt at Exodus 2:14, before he ever led the people out. Moses had asked God to send another man at Exodus 4:13. Dathan and Abiram accuse him of seizing an office he tried to refuse.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey?....
Onions, and garlick, and fish, they had indeed plenty of in Egypt, but it never pretended to milk and honey; only they would thus banter the promise of Canaan. Ungrateful wretches, to represent that as an injury to them which was really the greatest favour that ever was bestowed upon any people!
A solemn appearance of the pretenders to the priesthood before God, according to order, and a public appearance of the glory of the Lord, which would have consumed the whole congregation if Moses and Aaron had not interceded,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
They refused to obey the summons; and their refusal was grounded on the plausible pretext that their stay in the desert was prolonged for some secret and selfish purposes of the leader, who was conducting them like blind men wherever it suited him.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
THAT THOU [Moses] WOULDST MAKE THYSELF A PRINCE OVER US ‘GAM HISTAREIR’ — [the repetition of this phrase — literally ‘also to rule’ means]: ‘also many forms of lordship.’ Or.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Now Dathan and Abiram were the instigators of this controversy as much as Korach was, as Scripture states, Now Korach took … and Dathan and Abiram … and they rose up in the face of Moses with certain of the children of Israel etc., 84 Above, Verses 1-2.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הַמְעַ֗ט | hamat | ¿ [is it] small | H4592 → | 101 times |
| כִּ֤י | ki | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| הֶֽעֱלִיתָ֙נוּ֙ | heelitanu | you have brought up us | H5927 → | 890 times |
| מֵאֶ֨רֶץ | meeretz | from a land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| זָבַ֤ת | zavat | flowing of | H2100 → | 42 times |
| חָלָב֙ | chalav | milk | H2461 → | 44 times |
| וּדְבַ֔שׁ | udevash | and honey | H1706 → | 54 times |
| לַהֲמִיתֵ֖נוּ | lahamitenu | to kill us | H4191 → | 839 times |
| בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר | bamidbar | in the wilderness | H4057 → | 270 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| תִשְׂתָּרֵ֥ר | tistarer | you will make yourself ruler | H8323 → | |
| עָלֵ֖ינוּ | ʾaleinu | over us | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| גַּם־ | gam- | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| הִשְׂתָּרֵֽר׃ | histarer | really <make yourself ruler> | H8323 → |
הַמְעַ֗ט¿ [is it] small
hamatH4592 →101 times
כִּ֤יthat
kiH3588 →4482 times
הֶֽעֱלִיתָ֙נוּ֙you have brought up us
heelitanuH5927 →890 times
מֵאֶ֨רֶץfrom a land
meeretzH776 →2504 times
זָבַ֤תflowing of
zavatH2100 →42 times
חָלָב֙milk
chalavH2461 →44 times
וּדְבַ֔שׁand honey
udevashH1706 →54 times
לַהֲמִיתֵ֖נוּto kill us
lahamitenuH4191 →839 times
בַּמִּדְבָּ֑רin the wilderness
bamidbarH4057 →270 times
כִּֽי־that
ki-H3588 →4482 times
תִשְׂתָּרֵ֥רyou will make yourself ruler
tistarerH8323 →
עָלֵ֖ינוּover us
ʾaleinuH5921 →5755 times
גַּם־also
gam-H1571 →769 times
הִשְׂתָּרֵֽר׃really <make yourself ruler>
histarerH8323 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Exodus 2:14But the man replied, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you planning to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “This thing I have done…
it leads to
- Luke 12:14
But Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed Me judge or executor between you?”
- Luke 19:14
But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want this man to rule over us.’
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Matthew 21:23
When Jesus returned to the temple courts and began to teach, the chief priests and elders of the people came up to Him. “By what authority are You doing these things?” they asked. “And…
- Luke 12:14
Through
Luke 19:14But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want this man to rule over us.’
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 8:7
And the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as…
- Acts 7:51–52
You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
- Acts 3:14–15
You rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.
- 1 Samuel 8:7
Through
Exodus 16:3“If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt!” they said. “There we sat by pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, but you have brought us…
it leads to
- Numbers 11:4–5
Meanwhile, the rabble among them had a strong craving for other food, and again the Israelites wept and said, “Who will feed us meat?
- Numbers 11:4–5
Through
Numbers 11:5We remember the fish we ate freely in Egypt, along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic.
it leads to
- Exodus 16:3
“If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt!” they said. “There we sat by pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, but you have brought us…
- Exodus 16:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
On this verse
On this chapter
About Numbers
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.