Korah’s rebellion is the camp rising against the priesthood God had given.
You have gone too far.
For all in the congregation are holy,
every one of them,
and the Lord is among them.
Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?
The ground opens its mouth and swallows them up.
Moses has brought Israel out. Aaron stands in the priestly place God named. Korah, a Levite, and Dathan and Abiram of Reuben gather two hundred and fifty chiefs and call that place pride. All are holy, they say. Why should Moses and Aaron be over the assembly? The complaint sounds like equality. It is a grab for an altar God did not give them.
- God tells the congregation to get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Moses says if these men die the common death, the Lord has not sent him.
- The earth opens. Their households go down alive into Sheol. Fire comes out from the Lord and consumes the two hundred and fifty who offered incense.
- The next day the camp accuses Moses of killing the Lord’s people. A plague starts. Aaron runs with the censer and stands between the dead and the living.
The censers of the rebels are hammered into a covering for the altar, a sign that no outsider is to draw near. Aaron’s staff buds and is kept. The Levitical Priesthood is not a ladder the camp can vote on. Jude later names Korah with Cain and Balaam, men who perish in their rebellion. The story is a warning against taking a holy office God has not given.
All the congregation is holy.
That sentence was true,
and it was used to steal an altar.
The ground answered.
- Korah was already a Levite. Nearness to holy things did not authorize his incense.
- The slogan was equality. The aim was Moses’ place and Aaron’s altar.
- Moses puts the test in God’s hands. A common death would have cleared the rebels.
- The earth and the fire are the answer. Then the plague shows the camp still blamed Moses.
- Aaron stands between the dead and the living. The priest they rejected is the one who stops the plague.
- The censers become a covering for the altar, a memorial not to repeat it.
- Jude files Korah with Cain and Balaam. Rebellion against God’s order is an old path.
- The Men – Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and two hundred fifty chiefs.
- The Claim – All are holy; why are you over us?
- The Test – Censers before the Lord; a common death would have settled it.
- The Ground – It opens; households go down alive.
- The Fire – The two hundred fifty who offered incense are consumed.
- The Censer – Aaron stands between the dead and the living.
- The Sign – Hammered censers on the altar; a staff that buds.
- Numbers 16:3 – “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”
- Numbers 16:8-10 – “Hear now, you sons of Levi: is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel… and would you seek the priesthood also?”
- Numbers 16:28-33 – “If these men die as all men die… then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up… then you shall know.” … The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up.
- Numbers 16:35 – “And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men offering the incense.”
- Numbers 16:46-48 – “Take your censer… and make atonement for them… for wrath has gone out from the Lord.” … And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.
- Numbers 17:8 – “The staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.”
- Jude:11 – “Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion.”
- Psalm 106:16-17 – “They envied Moses in the camp, and Aaron, the holy one of the Lord. The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram.”
You have gone too far. All in the congregation are holy. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?
Is it too small a thing that the God of Israel has separated you, and would you seek the priesthood also?
If the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.
Aaron stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.
They perished in Korah’s rebellion.
Do not use a true word to take an office God did not give. Holiness is not a vote. The altar has a covering made from the censers of men who drew near uncalled. Come the way He named.
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