Verse 18. - And a fire was kindled in their company (see Numbers 16:35, 40; Numbers 26:10). The flame burned up the wicked. Korah and his "company" were more "wicked" than Dathan, Abiram, and their followers, since they had received a favour from God which ought to have satisfied them (Numbers 16:9, 10), and since they ought to have been better instructed in the Law than ordinary Israelites. Hence Korah alone is mentioned in Jude 1:11.
106:13-33 Those that will not wait for God's counsel, shall justly be given up to their own hearts' lusts, to walk in their own counsels. An undue desire, even for lawful things, becomes sinful. God showed his displeasure for this. He filled them with uneasiness of mind, terror of conscience, and self-reproach. Many that fare deliciously every day, and whose bodies are healthful, have leanness in their souls: no love to God, no thankfulness, no appetite for the Bread of life, and then the soul must be lean. Those wretchedly forget themselves, that feast their bodies and starve their souls. Even the true believer will see abundant cause to say, It is of the Lord's mercies that I am not consumed. Often have we set up idols in our hearts, cleaved to some forbidden object; so that if a greater than Moses had not stood to turn away the anger of the Lord, we should have been destroyed. If God dealt severely with Moses for unadvised words, what do those deserve who speak many proud and wicked words? It is just in God to remove those relations that are blessings to us, when we are peevish and provoking to them, and grieve their spirits.
And a fire was kindled in their company,.... This seems to be the company of Korah, or however a part of it, the two hundred and fifty men that had censers, and so were of the Levitical race, as Korah was; this fire came from the Lord out of heaven.
The flame burned up the wicked; the two hundred and fifty men with censers, Numbers 16:35, this was an emblem of that fire which shall consume those that hurt the witnesses; or of that vengeance of eternal fire which wicked men will suffer for ever.
The flame burned up the wicked; the two hundred and fifty men with censers, Numbers 16:35, this was an emblem of that fire which shall consume those that hurt the witnesses; or of that vengeance of eternal fire which wicked men will suffer for ever.