“The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram.”
And fire broke out in their congregation; the flame consumed the wicked. The fire consuming rebels (also part of the Korah narrative, Numbers 16:35) becomes another mode of judgment. The conjunction of earth-opening and fire creates multiple, simultaneous judgments, emphasizing divine determination to eliminate rebellion. This verse demonstrates that God's response to covenant-breaking escalates in intensity.
Church Fathers on Psalms 106:17
1. This Psalm also has the title Allelujah prefixed to it: and this twice. But some say, that one Allelujah belongs to the end of the former Psalm, the other to the beginning of this. And they assert, that all the Psalms bearing this title have Allelujah at the end, but not all at the beginning; so that they will not allow any Psalm which has not Allelujah at the end, to have it at the beginning; supposing that what seems to belong to the commencement, really belongs to the…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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