John Calvin on Numbers 16:28-33

28. And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know. Moses now begins more clearly to show wherefore he has brought the rebels to this open contest, viz., that God may sanction before the whole people, by a terrible exertion of His power, the system established by Himself. For it was no ordinary effort of confidence to concede the victory to His enemies, unless the earth should swallow them up alive. But, inasmuch as this was to be a most conspicuous judgment of God, he arouses their attention by the striking words he uses. If they should be cut off by a sudden death, he would have justly boasted that his cause was approved by God; but not content with this, he desires to be accounted a mere impostor, if they should die the common death of men. In order to express the strangeness of the miracle, whereby men’s senses should be ravished, he employs the word create A.V., “Make a new thing;” margin, “Create a creature.” emphatically; as much as to say, that the mode of their death would be no less unusual than as if God should add something to His creation, and change the face of the world. Thus David, when he prays that his enemies should go down alive into hell (infernos) or the grave, seems to allude to this history, (Psalm 55:23;) for although that descent be understood to mean sudden death overtaking the wicked in a moment in the midst of their happiness and security, still, he at the same time indicates by it this horrible retribution, which had occurred in times past, inasmuch as memorable punishments pass into proverbial instances of God’s wrath.