Numbers 16:15 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Moses was very wroth—I have not taken one ass from them— Moses pleads, in justification of himself, that so far from dealing arbitrarily, as they allege, (Numbers 16:13.) he had not exacted the smallest thing from them, nor done any one of them the least injury. He ruled the Hebrews, not like the kings of other nations, who took tribute of their subjects, and were accustomed to seize, at their pleasure, their men servants and their maid servants, their goodliest young men, and their asses and put them to work. 1 Samuel 8:16. Moses, on the contrary, declares before God, that he assumed no authority but that of a prophet, which consisted chiefly in putting in execution those orders which he received from God. In like manner, Samuel, clearing himself from the imputation of having acted in an arbitrary or oppressive manner, says, whose ass have I taken? 1 Samuel 12:3. Hence it appears, that this was a proverbial expression, to signify acts of oppression and tyranny in the general. Houbigant, however, greatly prefers the Samaritan reading, which the LXX follow: חמוד chemud; desiderabile, vel pretiosum: I have not taken any thing valuable from them. See his note.