And Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, made bold, and [with him] Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, the sons of Reuben;
Numbers 16 opens with a list of names and a family line. That detail matters. The men behind this revolt were insiders, holding some of the highest privileges in Israel. So the verse raises the question the chapter goes on to answer. Why does a man who already stands near God reach for a place God never gave him?
Earlier chapters record grumbling and unbelief. This chapter records something organised, dressed in words no one could object to.
After such comforting thoughts as these, something still more terrible than ever comes out in Numbers 16. It is not complaint now, or murmuring. It is not just unbelief because the wilderness was hard. It is not even a bad report about God's gift and choice in the land. There is a conspiracy under the fairest pretensions possible. This does not make matters better. The basest things sometimes put on the most religious guise. The sound of it should fool no one. Some of these men belonged to the class that served the sanctuary; others were chief men in the congregation — what people today would call leading men in church and state.
The verse traces Korah's line in full: Izhar, Kohath, Levi. Dathan and Abiram come from another tribe, with a grievance of their own.
Korah was a Kohathite. That put him in the most distinguished group of the Levites, short of being a priest. Dathan and Abiram came from Reuben, the eldest son of Jacob. Reuben's sin cost him the leadership that belonged by nature to the firstborn. So these men no doubt felt they had a grievance.
Reuben's loss is not just family history. It follows a pattern that runs through Scripture.
Dathan and Abiram belonged to the tribe of Reuben. As the firstborn, Reuben would naturally have had the leadership. But here, as so often in Scripture, the natural — the firstborn — must give place to the spiritual, the new-born.
Korah's place was a gift from God. That gift became the ground of his discontent.
Unbelief shows itself constantly in this very form. If God puts an honour on a man, and the man does not receive it as coming from Him, the honour only becomes a stepping stone. He uses it to despise the God who gave it, while grasping after what He has never given. Nothing produces such dissatisfaction as a heart that fails to value what God has given it.
The verse names men from two tribes. Commentators point out that the two groups wanted different things.
Numbers 16 contains the open rebellion of Dathan and Abiram against Moses. Above all it contains the claim of the ministry in Israel to take priesthood to itself... Korah drew others in by flattering them, but his aim was to take hold of official priesthood. What Dathan and Abiram raised was a side question: the authority of Moses, and the word of God through him. Their judgment was a thing apart.
God called Moses and Aaron to the places they held.
Korah and his company, therefore, were quarrelling with God and not with Moses and Aaron. God had called these two to hold a certain position and to do a certain work, and it would be terrible for them if they refused... This is always the way with those who promote division or discontent. Their real object is to make themselves somebody. They talk loudly and very convincingly about the common rights and privileges of God's people. But in reality they are aiming at a position they are in no way qualified for.
One writer reads this old story as a live warning for anyone who claims a priestly place above other believers.
It is a solemn thing for ministers who profess Christ and claim a priestly place to weigh the warning of Jude 11, in case they perish in the rebellion of Korah. His sin, so ruinous to himself and his followers, was proud discontent with Levite service and an irreverent claim to the priesthood... Christian ministry is the exercise of a gift from the Lord, given to some for the good of all. But all saints are priests, made free equally of the true sanctuary. Some seize this nearness to God beyond, and in denial of, what grace has given to all the saints. Without knowing it, they misunderstand and cancel a prime blessing of Christianity.
- Place given. Korah held the highest Levite service short of priesthood. Dathan and Abiram came from the tribe that lost the firstborn's leadership. Every man named in this verse starts from a place God assigned.
- Place despised. An honour from God became a stepping stone for despising the Giver. The rebels grasped instead at what He never gave.
- Place disguised. The revolt came with the fairest excuses possible. The basest things sometimes put on the most religious dress.
- Place seized. The heart of the sin was ministry reaching for priesthood. Dathan and Abiram's attack on Moses' authority was a separate matter, judged on its own.
- Place still contested. Jude 11 makes this a warning to anyone who claims priestly nearness above others. All saints alike are priests in the true sanctuary.
and they rose up against Moses, with two hundred and fifty men of the children of Israel, princes of the assembly, summoned to the council, men of renown;
Numbers 16:2 shows a revolt gathering weight: Korah does not act alone, but brings 250 recognised leaders with him. Why would men this respected rise up against Moses and Aaron, when it was God who gave them their place?
These were not fringe figures. They came from Israel's most honoured circles.
There is a conspiracy here under the fairest pretensions possible. The basest things sometimes put on the most pious disguise. No one should be deceived by the sound of things. The men who did this were by no means the sort we would have expected to rebel against Jehovah. Korah belonged to the most honourable group among those who had the direct service of the sanctuary. Dathan, Abiram and On came from Reuben. So some of them belonged to the ministering class, and others were chief men in the congregation — the sort people today would call leading men in church and state.
Two of the ringleaders had a family reason to feel slighted.
Dathan and Abiram came from Reuben, Jacob's eldest son. Reuben lost the leadership that belonged naturally to the firstborn, because of his sin. So they doubtless felt they had a grievance.
The verse piles titles on these men — chiefs, chosen from the assembly, well known. That weight of reputation made the moment dangerous.
The rebellion is attributed to Korah, since he was the religious leader in it. He seems to have had enough influence to gather a large number of influential men around him — "princes, famous men, and men of renown." In short, this was a very formidable and serious rebellion. We shall do well to look at its source and moral features closely.
Their rank is what emboldened them. Their claims reached even to the censer, the pan used to burn incense before God.
They were princes, great men, and so they had rights that Jehovah should not dispute — at least, that is what they dreamed. And great men in the world do claim, in astonishing ways, rights even to the censer — rights that in reality belong only to the Great High Priest in heaven.
The 250 did not invent this grievance. One restless leader shaped discontent that was already there.
Every assembly holds material that can be worked on. It only takes some restless master spirit to rise up, work on that material, and fan the fire smouldering in secret into a devouring flame. Once the flag of revolt is raised, hundreds and thousands are ready to flock around it — people who have neither the vigour nor the courage to raise it themselves.
Korah already held a high place from God. That was the problem.
Unbelief shows itself constantly in this very form. Suppose God puts an honour on a man, and the man does not receive it as from Him. Then the honour becomes only a stepping stone for despising the God who gave it, while he grasps after what God has never given. Nothing causes such dissatisfaction as a heart that fails to value what God has given us.
Moses and Aaron had not applied for their posts. So the attack passed straight through them.
Korah and his company, therefore, were quarrelling with God and not with Moses and Aaron. God had called these two to take a certain place and do a certain work, and woe to them if they refused. They had not aimed at the position or taken up the work themselves. God ordained them. That should have settled the question. It would have settled it for everyone except restless, self-absorbed rebels, who wanted to undermine God's true servants and so exalt themselves.
This rebellion is not only Israel's history.
- Appointed: Moses and Aaron never sought their places. God ordained them, so opposing them meant opposing God.
- Appointment despised: Korah held the highest place of service at the sanctuary. He used that honour as a stepping stone towards what God never gave him.
- Appointment envied: Dathan and Abiram came from Reuben. He was the firstborn who lost his leading place through sin, so they nursed a grievance.
- Appointment outvoted: 250 well-known chiefs made the revolt look respectable. Reputation stood massed against God's choice.
- Appointment final: the censer belongs to the Great High Priest alone. Jude names this rebellion as the path that ends in ruin.
and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, It is enough; for all the assembly, all of them are holy, and Jehovah is among them; and why do ye lift up yourselves above the congregation of Jehovah?
Korah and his company confront Moses and Aaron with a charge that sounds like a defence of the whole people. Their words are religious and the men are respected. So the question is whether the charge is true, and what these men really wanted.
This uprising is not like the earlier grumbling in the wilderness. Its language is polished, and the men behind it hold high place.
There is a conspiracy under the fairest pretensions possible. The basest things sometimes put on the most pious appearance. No one should be deceived by the sound of words. The Christian is meant to judge things according to God. The men who did this were not at all the sort we would have thought most likely to join themselves rebelliously against the Lord. Korah came from Levi — the most honourable portion among those who had the direct service of the sanctuary. Dathan, Abiram, and On came from Reuben. So there were those who belonged to the ministering class, and those who were chief men in the congregation — what people today would call leading men in church and state.
Every word about the people's holiness and God's presence was true. The error was in the conclusion they drew from it.
It was quite true that all the people were "holy". That is, they were a people that God had set apart for Himself. Yet in practice they were constantly denying that fact. It was true that the Lord was among them, as the people were very quickly to see in the judgment that followed. They did not realise that in challenging the leaders whom God had chosen, they were challenging God, who had chosen them.
The accusation of self-promotion collapses the moment Moses' own record is examined.
"You take too much upon you." Such was their charge against "the meekest man in all the earth." But what had Moses taken upon him? The briefest glance back over the history of that dear and honoured servant would convince any impartial person otherwise. Far from taking dignity and responsibility upon himself, he had shown himself only too ready to shrink from these things when they were offered. When they were laid on him, he sank under them.
One protest was made, but commentators see two different aims inside it.
Numbers 16 contains the open rebellion of Dathan and Abiram against Moses. Even more, it contains the claim of the ministry in Israel to take the priesthood for itself. The New Testament calls it the rebellion of Korah. He is the first man Moses addresses. The main point of the sin, as Moses presses it, was this taking too much upon them by the sons of Levi. Dathan and Abiram raised a side question about Moses' authority; Korah's claim of priesthood was bound up with open rebellion against God.
Levelling everyone to the same nearness sounds generous, yet Moses fell on his face at it.
With this "fair show" of piety, were they not claiming equal priestly privileges for all, and was not this right? But it filled Moses with horror, and he fell on his face. He saw that it was not only a refusal of Aaron. It also denied that, as a sinful people, they could stand before God only through the priest who offered the sacrifice.
Korah already had a place of honour near the sanctuary. That is what made his reach for more so serious.
Unbelief constantly shows itself in this very form. If God puts an honour on a man, and he does not receive it as from Him, that honour becomes only a stepping stone. The man despises the God who gave it, while grasping after what He has never given. Nothing produces such dissatisfaction as a heart that fails to value what God has allotted to us.
Commentators apply the argument in two directions. The first runs toward a teaching heard widely today.
Since all are holy, all are His congregation, and therefore all may approach Him; why then one high priest? ... Many pulpits and platforms teach that all men are holy in themselves. So, they say, all have the right to draw near to God with no need of the One High Priest, Christ Jesus. Yet only through Him, and only through His propitiation, is that access obtained.
The other runs the opposite way — toward a separate priestly class.
Let the reader note this carefully. To aim at any form of priesthood other than the Christian priesthood is, in principle, the sin of Korah. So is taking up any other priestly function. So is setting up a priestly class — men who act on behalf of their fellows, or carry out priestly service for them before God.
- Sound: The plea sounded pious and came from respected men — yet the sound of words proves nothing.
- Truth: Every statement in it was accurate; the people were set apart and the Lord was among them.
- Twist: The true words were bent into a challenge of the leaders God had chosen, which is a challenge to God.
- Aim: Behind the talk of shared holiness lay Korah's reach for the priesthood. It denied the one ground on which sinful people can stand before God.
- Root: Honour taken from God's hand keeps a man content. Honour he fails to value becomes a stepping stone to grasping at what God never gave.