What Does Numbers 26:9 Mean?
And the sons of Eliab were Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. These are Dathan and Abiram, those called of the assembly, who strove against Moses and against Aaron in the assembly of Korah, when they strove against the LORD.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the sons of Eliab; Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. This is that Dathan and Abiram, which were famous in the congregation, who strove against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they strove against the LORD:THE KEY
The word KJV renders “famous” means “called ones”: public recognition and resistance to the LORD occupy the same sentence.
THE MEANING
A recognized place within a community can coexist with resistance that reaches beyond its human targets to the LORD. The verse places public standing and the direction of opposition side by side, so reputation alone cannot tell you what that opposition serves.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being publicly recognized within a community proves that a person’s opposition is aligned with God.
THE ROOT
קְרוּאֵי
qeruʾei
GROWS FROM
קרא
Call, summon, or name.
“called of the assembly” in this verse is qeruʾei. The Hebrew calls them members of the assembly, rather than merely describing their reputation. The same root connects being called into public standing with the act of calling or naming.
ALSO GROWS
qārāʾ: Call, summon, or name.
קָרָא
The verse’s “called ones” carries this root’s sense of being summoned or designated.
miqrāʾ: Convocation or reading.
מִקְרָא
A convocation is a gathering called together, echoing the assembly named in this verse.
מֹשֶׁה
Mōšeh
GROWS FROM
משׁה
Draw out, especially from water.
Moses’ name carries the nature of one drawn out of water. The verse’s conflict with him gains another shade: the one standing before them bears a name tied to being drawn out.
ALSO GROWS
māšâ: Draw out.
מָשָׁה
This verb supplies the meaning carried by Moses’ name.
vāʾemšēhû: I drew him out.
וָאֶמְשֵׁהוּ
This is the form used in Exodus 2:10 as Moses’ name is explained.
THE PATTERN
Resistance directed at human representatives can reach beyond them to God.
And Moses said, This shall be, when the LORD gives you flesh to eat in the evening, and bread until you are filled in the morning, for the LORD hears your murmurings which you murmur against him. And what are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD.And the LORD said to Samuel, Hear and respond to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not spurned you, but they have spurned me, that I should not reign over them.But if it is of God, you cannot undo them, lest perhaps you be found even fighting against God.THE THREAD
These were the called ones of the assembly, the lifted ones of the staffs of their fathers, heads of thousands in Israel.The same Hebrew word, קְרוּאֵי (qeruʾei), describes the “renowned” leaders of the congregation here. That shared root shows public standing as a designation; the present verse places that standing beside the direction of their resistance.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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