Dathan and Abiram Refuse to Respond to Moses' Summons (Numbers 16:12-14).
‘And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and they said, “We will not come up. Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, but you must necessarily make yourself also a prince over us?” '
So Moses, aware of what Yahweh had said too him, then sent for Dathan and Abiram so that he could discuss matter further with them. They were seen as the master minds in the rebellion. But they refused to come, in itself an act of rebellion. The message that they sent back emphasised their treason. They saw Moses as someone who with his false promises had brought them out ‘from a land of milk and honey', so as to kill them in the wilderness. It was in this sarcastic way that they described Egypt. With such cynicism did they describe what he had accomplished. This reflected how deeply they felt about the fact that they were doomed to wander in the wilderness until all were dead. They were never to enjoy the promises that had been given, and they considered that what they had was worse than what they had had in Egypt, the horror of which had now lessened in their minds. And having done this to them he now wanted to be accepted as Prince over them? But they had accepted him as Prince because he had promised them such good things. Now that those good things had failed they no longer considered him to be their Prince. They did not want him as prince over them. They rejected his claims to authority.
“Is it a small thing --?” Compare Numbers 16:9. The writer depicts Dathan and Abiram as in some sense aping Moses. But Moses was concerned about Yahweh's privilege given to His servants, Dathan and Abiram were concerned about the benefits the people had failed to receive. Moses looked heavenwards, Dathan and Abiram looked earthwards.
“ Moreover you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.”
For the fact was that Moses had not brought them into the land of milk and honey that he had promised them. He had not given them the inheritance of fields and vineyards that he had so vividly described. In their eyes he had clearly failed. And now they were doomed to wander in the wilderness. They did not consider that the problem lay in their own failure. Such people always blame someone else.
“Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.” ‘These men' may refer to their messengers, or to their fellow-conspirators, Korah and his band of Levites. The implication was that Moses intended evil towards them, and would act viciously towards them. They did not realise how he was trying to save then from the consequences of their folly. What fools men can be. They forgot what had happened to those who had opposed Moses in Egypt, even to Pharaoh himself. ‘Will you put out the eyes of these men?' It was common practise in those days to maim captured leaders in some way so that they could never again be a threat. See Judges 1:6-7; Judges 16:21; 2 Kings 25:7).
Their speech also is put in chiastic form (in the Hebrew).
We will not come up.
Brought us.
From a land of milk and honey.
To a land of milk and honey.
Not brought us.
We will not come up.