Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not stands in the second numbering of Israel, taken at the end of the forty years of wandering just before entering Canaan, about forty years after the first numbering soon after leaving Egypt. That second numbering belongs at the close of the forty years to be compared with the numbering in chapter 1 at the beginning. The comparison shows how the tribes changed in number, with some falling off and declining while others increased and grew.
The verse records that the children of Korah died not, surviving when Korah died in his rebellion against God and in the judgment upon him and those who joined him. They were spared because they did not fully share his rebellious spirit but left him alone when the people were told to move away from the tents. The second numbering shows that of all who were numbered the first time only Caleb and Joshua were still alive, while every other person had fallen in the wilderness, so that not one man of those who had rebelled remained alive.
In this the numbering proves that God fulfills His threatened judgments, for because the people were wicked and broke out in open rebellion He by solemn oath excluded them from the land and doomed them to die in the wilderness. It warns those upon whom the ends of the world are come, whose hopes of entering the kingdom and whose tokens of favor and presence are no greater than Israel's at the first numbering, that they can still come short of the promise, for sin carried in the heart inevitably brings ruin.
Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not stands in the second numbering of Israel, taken at the end of the forty years of wandering just before entering Canaan, about forty years after the first numbering soon after leaving Egypt. That second numbering belongs at the close of the forty years to be compared with the numbering in chapter 1 at the beginning. The comparison shows how the tribes changed in number, with some falling off and declining while others increased and grew.
The verse records that the children of Korah died not, surviving when Korah died in his rebellion against God and in the judgment upon him and those who joined him. They were spared because they did not fully share his rebellious spirit but left him alone when the people were told to move away from the tents. The second numbering shows that of all who were numbered the first time only Caleb and Joshua were still alive, while every other person had fallen in the wilderness, so that not one man of those who had rebelled remained alive.
In this the numbering proves that God fulfills His threatened judgments, for because the people were wicked and broke out in open rebellion He by solemn oath excluded them from the land and doomed them to die in the wilderness. It warns those upon whom the ends of the world are come, whose hopes of entering the kingdom and whose tokens of favor and presence are no greater than Israel's at the first numbering, that they can still come short of the promise, for sin carried in the heart inevitably brings ruin.