Numbers - 16:28



28 Moses said, "Hereby you shall know that Yahweh has sent me to do all these works; for (I have) not (done them) of my own mind.

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Numbers 16:28.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
And Moses said: By this you shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all things that you see, and that I have not forged them of my own head:
And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that Jehovah has sent me to do all these deeds, for they are not out of my own heart:
And Moses saith, 'By this ye do know that Jehovah hath sent me to do all these works, that they are not from my own heart;
And Moses said, Now you will see that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and I have not done them of myself.
And Moses said: "By this shall you know that the Lord has sent me to do all that you discern, and that I have not brought these things out of my own heart:
Tunc dixit Moses, In hoc scietis quod Jehova miserit me, ut facerem omnia opera haec, et quod non de corde meo:

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know. Moses now begins more clearly to show wherefore he has brought the rebels to this open contest, viz., that God may sanction before the whole people, by a terrible exertion of His power, the system established by Himself. For it was no ordinary effort of confidence to concede the victory to His enemies, unless the earth should swallow them up alive. But, inasmuch as this was to be a most conspicuous judgment of God, he arouses their attention by the striking words he uses. If they should be cut off by a sudden death, he would have justly boasted that his cause was approved by God; but not content with this, he desires to be accounted a mere impostor, if they should die the common death of men. In order to express the strangeness of the miracle, whereby men's senses should be ravished, he employs the word create [1] emphatically; as much as to say, that the mode of their death would be no less unusual than as if God should add something to His creation, and change the face of the world. Thus David, when he prays that his enemies should go down alive into hell (infernos) or the grave, seems to allude to this history, (Psalm 55:23;) for although that descent be understood to mean sudden death overtaking the wicked in a moment in the midst of their happiness and security, still, he at the same time indicates by it this horrible retribution, which had occurred in times past, inasmuch as memorable punishments pass into proverbial instances of God's wrath.

Footnotes

1 - A.V., "Make a new thing;" margin, "Create a creature."

And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do all these works; for [I have] not [done them] of mine own (l) mind.
(l) I have not invented them from my own brain.

And Moses said, hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works,.... To bring the people of Israel out of Egypt, to exchange the firstborn for the Levites, to make Aaron and his sons priests, to give the Levites to them, and to set Elizaphan over the Kohathites, things which these men found fault with, and questioned his authority for doing them:
for I have not done them of my own mind; or "not out of my heart" (q); he had not devised them himself, and done them of his own head, and in any arbitrary way, without the will of God or any authority from him, as these men suggested.
(q) "quod non de corde meo", Pagninus, Montanus.

Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works--The awful catastrophe of the earthquake which, as predicted by Moses, swallowed up those impious rebels in a living tomb, gave the divine attestation to the mission of Moses and struck the spectators with solemn awe.

All these works - As the bringing of the people out of Egypt; the conducting of them through the wilderness; the exercising authority among them; and giving laws to them concerning the priesthood.

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