Far enough in Numbers 16

"Much to you"

There's an odd little idiom in Numbers 16, רב־לכם, rab lechem, "much to you", which seems to mean something like "you've gone far enough" or "that'll do". It's also in Deuteronomy (4x), 1 Kings (1x) and Ezekiel (3x).

In Numbers 16 it's first from the lips of the rebels: "You've gone far enough, Moses", and then in response Moses turns it back on them, "Yhwh can choose for himself; you've gone far enough, Korah."

"Too little for you?"

What's extra interesting is that where רב־לכם bookends the initial exchange (Num 16:3-7), there's a corresponding המעט מכם in 16:9 and just המעט in 16:13, which asks "is it too little [for you]?", that is, "is it not enough for you?"

In the first instance (Num 16:8-11) it's Moses asking if it's too little to be set aside as priests, while in the second (16:12-14) it's Korah's counterpoint, asking if it's too little for Moses to bring them into the wilderness and not into the land in order to kill them?

Framing

Like many instances of framing or bookending in the Hebrew Bible, these phrases aren't the first word or the last word of any paragraph, but their placement in these exchanges marks them off as structurally important.

That said, it can be at the actual beginning and end, as is the case with the second speech by Dathan and Abiram from the end of 16:12 to 16:14. The phrase לא נעלה, lo na'aleh, "we won't go up," is the first and last words of that speech, marking the beginning and ending of these words with their determination to not be subject to the adjudication.

But back to the two phrases which frame the two exchanges; they set up the hostility between these two groups, and ultimately it will be Yhwh who will adjudicate between them. I can't wait to find out what happens next!