And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab: which said, We will not come up: Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram - in a separate interview, the ground of their mutiny being different; because while Korah complained against the exclusive appropriation of the priesthood to Aaron and his family, they were opposed to the supremacy of Moses in civil power.
We will not come up, х lo' (H3808) na`ªleh (H5927)]. The phrase is used here not in a geographical or physical, but a moral sense, according to a Hebrew idiom, to denote an appearance before a judge or king (cf. Deuteronomy 25:7; Judges 4:5). They refused to obey the summons; and their refusal was grounded on the plausible pretext that their stay in the desert was prolonged for some secret and selfish purposes of the leader, who was conducting them, like blind men, wherever it suited him.
Verse 14. # Wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? х tªnaqeer (H5365)] - wilt thou bore, or scoop out the eyes? etc. Putting out the eyes was the Eastern punishment of treason and rebellion; and in this view the language of the rebels to Moses is very significant-Wilt thou subject so great a number of men to total and irreparable blindness?-q.d., 'Is it in thy power to punish so widespread a conspiracy as thou mightest a rebellious individual? We are too numerous for you to attempt such a mode of suppressing our dissatisfaction with thy arrogant and ambitious assumption of power.'