Rebellion of Korah and his friends
16
📚Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men, 2 📚and rose up before Moses, with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the assembly, well-known in the congregation, men of reputation, 3 📚and they joined together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, “You take too much on yourselves; for the whole congregation is holy, each one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?”16:3 We often accuse others of what we ourselves do or want to do (Rom 2:1-3). It is true that in some ways all of God’s people are equal in His sight (1 Cor 12:13; Gal 3:28; Col 3:11). But it is also true that God has appointed leaders and teachers for His people’s good (1 Cor 12:28; Eph 4:11-13), and we should listen to them as long as they teach the Word of God and lead people according to it. In this regard we should realize also that no one on earth in this age of grace and the church has the same God-given authority Moses had. Christ alone is the head of the Church, and Moses is a type of Him. All that Moses was to Israel, that Christ is to His Church and far more than that (Heb 3:1-6).⚜
4 📚And when Moses heard this, he prostrated himself, 5 📚and he spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying, “Tomorrow the LORD will show who are his, and who is holy, and will have that one come near him; the one he chooses he will have come near him. 6 📚Do this: take censers for yourselves, Korah and all his company, 7 📚and put fire in them, and put incense in them in the presence of the LORD tomorrow; and the man whom the LORD chooses, he is the one who is holy. You sons of Levi take too much on yourselves”.
8 And Moses said to Korah, “Now listen, you sons of Levi. 9 📚Does it seem just a small thing to you, that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself to do the work of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to serve them? 10 📚And he has brought you near to him, and all your brethren the sons of Levi with you; and do you seek the priesthood also? 11 📚This is why both you and all your company have joined together against the LORD. Who is Aaron, that you complain against him?”
16:9-11 Rejecting the place of service God has appointed for us is sin against God. Desiring bigness and pre-eminence and someone else’s place of service is rebellion and wickedness. Their rebellion was actually against God, not merely against Aaron. Note at Num 12:2.⚜
12 📚And Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come. 13 📚Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land that flows with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness? Will you also make yourself a prince over us?
16:12-13 In their eyes Egypt, a land of bondage and affliction for them all, has become a land flowing with milk and honey! See Num 11:18 also. How perverted were the minds of these rebels! See Isa 5:20. And how perverted the thoughts of Christians who look back to the sinful world and long for its pleasures and are tempted to think it is a wonderful place! But the world is a place of hate for the truth (John 15:18), sin (John 16:8), tribulation (John 16:33), guilt (Rom 3:19), ignorance (1 Cor 1:21), blindness (2 Cor 4:4), bondage to Satan (Eph 2:2), darkness (Eph 6:12), corruption (2 Pet 1:4), lust and pride (1 John 2:16).⚜
14 📚What is more, you have not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey, or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of 📖 these men? We will not come!”
15 📚And Moses was very angry, and said to the LORD, “Do not have regard for their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I harmed one of them”. 16 📚And Moses said to Korah, “Tomorrow you and all your company be in the LORD’s presence, you and they and Aaron.
17 📚“And each man is to take his censer, and put incense in it, and each man is to bring his censer before the LORD, two hundred and fifty censers; you also, and Aaron, each of you bring his censer”. 18 And each of them took his censer, and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and stood in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation with Moses and Aaron. 19 📚And Korah gathered the whole congregation against them at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And the glory of the LORD appeared to the whole congregation.
20 And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 21 📚“Separate yourselves from this congregation, so that I may put an end to them immediately”.
22 📚And they prostrated themselves, and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh 📖, if one man sins 📖 will you be angry with the whole congregation?”
23 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 24 📚“Speak to the congregation, saying, Get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram”.
Punishment of Korah and his friends
25 📚And Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 📚And he spoke to the congregation, saying, “Please move away from the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything of theirs, so that you will not be consumed in all their sins”. 27 📚So on every side they got away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children with them.
28 📚And Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things; they have not come from my own heart. 29 📚If these men die like all men die, or if they suffer the fate of all men, then the LORD has not sent me.
16:1-2 This was a very serious rebellion against Moses, referred to several times in the Bible (Num 26:9-10; 27:3; Deut 11:6; Ps 106:17; Jude 11). Rebellion against Moses, God’s appointed leader, was the same as rebellion against God Himself. Note at 12:1-2. The rebellion was from two tribes, Levi and Reuben, and was against both the religious and administrative leadership of Moses. Korah was a first cousin of Moses and Aaron (Ex 6:18-21).⚜
30 📚But if the LORD does a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up, with all that they have, and they go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have treated the LORD with contempt”.
16:28-30 God Himself reveals His appointed leaders and gives proof of their calling and position. Compare John 5:31-32, 36; Acts 2:22; 2 Cor 12:12. “Pit” (vs 30,33) – in Hebrew Sheol. See the note at Gen 37:35.⚜
31 📚And it came about when he had finished speaking all these words, that the ground under them split apart, 32 📚and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all Korah’s men and all their goods.
16:32 The sons of Korah did not die with them (Num 26:11; Deut 24:16). Eleven of the Psalms were written by (or for) the descendants of Korah – 42,44-49,84,85,87,88.⚜
33 📚They, and everything they had, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed over them; and they perished from the congregation. 34 📚And at their cries all the people of Israel who had been around them fled. For they said, “The earth may swallow us up too”.
35 📚And a fire came out from the LORD and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who offered incense.
36 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 37 📚“Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to pick up the censers from the burned remains, and scatter the burning coals over there; 38 📚for the censers of these sinners against their own souls are holy. Let them be made into hammered sheets as a plating for the altar. For since they offered them in the presence of the LORD, they are hallowed. And they shall be a sign to the children of Israel”.
16:36-38 Consider this. Though offered by sinful men in a sinful rebellion they were still offered to God and so became holy! Can we then doubt that what we offer Him in sincerity of heart He accepts? (Rom 12:1-2).⚜
39 And Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned up had presented, and hammered them out as a plating for the altar, 40 📚to be a reminder to the children of Israel, that no outsider, who is not a descendant of Aaron, should approach to offer incense in the LORD’s presence, so that he does not become like Korah and his company. He did this just as the LORD had told him through Moses.
Israel complains and rebels again
41 📚But the next day the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the LORD’s people”.
42 📚And it came about while the congregation had joined together against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation, and saw that the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared. 43 And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tabernacle of the congregation. 44 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 45 📚“Get away from this congregation, so that I can consume them immediately”. And they prostrated themselves.
16:41-45 They forgot their fear (v 34), and once more complained and foolishly and unjustly accused Aaron and Moses. The result is the same as on previous such occasions – a display of God’s holy anger against their sin.⚜
46 📚And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a censer, and put fire in it from the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them, for anger has gone out from the LORD. The plague has begun”. 47 📚And Aaron took the censer as Moses commanded, and ran into the middle of the congregation, and saw that the plague had begun among the people; and he put on incense and made atonement for the people. 48 📚And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague stopped. 49 📚Now those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died because of Korah. 50 📚And Aaron returned to Moses at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; and the plague stopped.
16:46-50 The high priest of Israel stood between the dead and the living and made atonement for them. (Note on atonement at Ex 29:33). This is a beautiful picture of Christ as High Priest who by His prayers saves His people from God’s wrath against their sins (Rom 5:9-10; Heb 7:25; 1 John 2:1). Notes on God’s wrath at Num 25:3; Ps 90:7, 11.⚜