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Numbers 16:40

in Numbers 16

just as the LORD commanded him through Moses. This was to be a reminder to the Israelites that no outsider who is not a descendant of Aaron should approach to offer incense before the LORD, lest he become like Korah and his followers.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

to be a memorial unto the children of Israel, to the end that no stranger, that is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to burn incense before Jehovah; that he be not as Korah, and as his company: as Jehovah spake unto him by Moses.

KJV

To be a memorial unto the children of Israel, that no stranger, which is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to offer incense before the Lord; that he be not as Korah, and as his company: as the Lord said to him by the hand of Moses.

This verse in Numbers 16

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers

on Numbers 16:39-40

Eleazar does the work, and the plates go on the altar where every worshiper will see them. Their rule is one line: no outsider who is not a descendant of Aaron should approach to offer incense before the LORD. At 2 Chronicles 26:16-21 King Uzziah takes a censer, is rebuked by the priests and is struck with leprosy.

This site's exposition

no outsider who is not a descendant of Aaron

The word for outsider is the one Numbers 3:10 and 18:7 use for anyone outside the priestly family, and here it takes in Korah's own Levites. The warning carries Korah's name. The rule is fixed to the altar itself.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

To be a memorial unto the children of Israel,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

These censers were preserved in terrorem, that others might hear and fear, and do no more presumptuously. Thus God has provided that his wonderful works, both in mercy and judgment, should be had in everlasting remembrance, that the end of them may be answered, and they may serve for instruction and admonition to those on whom the ends of the world are come.

The words behind it

28 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • זִכָּר֞וֹןa reminder

    zikaronH2146 →24 times

  • לִבְנֵ֣יto [the] people of

    livneiH1121 →4930 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֗לIsrael

    yisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • לְ֠מַעַןso that

    lemaanH4616 →272 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֨רthat

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • לֹֽא־not

    lo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • יִקְרַ֜בhe may draw near

    yikravH7126 →280 times

  • אִ֣ישׁa man

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • זָ֗רstrange

    zarH2114 →77 times

  • אֲ֠שֶׁרwho

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • לֹ֣אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • מִזֶּ֤רַע[is] one of [the] offspring of

    mizera'H2233 →229 times

  • אַהֲרֹן֙Aaron

    ʾaharonH175 →347 times

  • ה֔וּאhe

    hu'H1931 →1879 times

  • לְהַקְטִ֥ירto make smoke

    lehaktirH6999 →116 times

  • קְטֹ֖רֶתincense

    ketoretH7004 →60 times

  • לִפְנֵ֣י<to> before

    lifneiH6440 →2123 times

  • יְהוָ֑הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • וְלֹֽא־and not

    velo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • יִהְיֶ֤הhe will be

    yihyehH1961 →3559 times

  • כְקֹ֙רַח֙like Korah

    khekorachH7141 →26 times

  • וְכַ֣עֲדָת֔וֹand like company his

    vekhaadatoH5712 →149 times

  • כַּאֲשֶׁ֨רjust as

    kaasherH834 →5497 times

  • דִּבֶּ֧רhe had spoken

    diberH1696 →1141 times

  • יְהוָ֛הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • בְּיַד־by [the] hand of

    beyad-H3027 →1618 times

  • מֹשֶׁ֖הMoses

    moshehH4872 →765 times

  • לֽוֹ׃to <the> him

    lo

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Numbers 1:51

    Whenever the tabernacle is to move, the Levites are to take it down, and whenever it is to be pitched, the Levites are to set it up. Any outsider who goes near it must…

    it leads to

    • Numbers 3:38

      Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons were to camp to the east of the tabernacle, toward the sunrise, before the Tent of Meeting. They were to perform the duties of the sanctuary as a service…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Numbers 3:10

      So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons to carry out the duties of the priesthood; but any outsider who approaches the tabernacle must be put to death.”

    • 2 Samuel 6:7

      And the anger of the LORD burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down on the spot for his irreverence, and he died there beside the ark of God.

    • 1 Samuel 6:19

      But God struck down some of the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the LORD. He struck down seventy men, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck them…

    • Numbers 18:22

      No longer may the Israelites come near to the Tent of Meeting, or they will incur guilt and die.

  • Through

    Numbers 3:10

    So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons to carry out the duties of the priesthood; but any outsider who approaches the tabernacle must be put to death.”

    it leads to

    • Numbers 1:51

      Whenever the tabernacle is to move, the Levites are to take it down, and whenever it is to be pitched, the Levites are to set it up. Any outsider who goes near it must…

    • Numbers 18:7

      But only you and your sons shall attend to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and what is inside the veil, and you are to perform that service. I am giving you the…

    • Romans 12:7

      if it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach;

Where this verse is studied

About Numbers

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.