Numbers 16:22 - Exposition

O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh. אֵל אֱלֹחֵי הָרוּחֹת לְךָ־בָּשָׂר . The ruach is the spirit of life which the Creator has imparted unto perishable flesh, and made it live. In some sense it belongs to beasts as well as to men ( Ecclesiastes 3:19 , Ecclesiastes 3:21 ); but in the common use of the word men only are thought of, as having received it by a special communication of a higher order ( Genesis 2:7 ; 1 Corinthians 15:45 ). Moses, therefore, really appeals to God, as the Author and Giver of that imperishable life-principle which is lodged in the mortal flesh of all men, not to destroy the works of his own hands, the creatures made in his own image. Here we have in its germ that idea of the universal fatherhood of God which remained undeveloped in Jewish thought until Judaism itself expanded into Christianity (cf. Isaiah 63:16 ; Isaiah 64:8 , Isaiah 64:9 ; Acts 17:26 , Acts 17:29 ). Shall one man sin. Rather, "the one man ( הָאִישׁ ) hath sinned," i.e; Korah, who had misled all the rest.