And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; but they said, We will not come up!
Korah's revolt has two fronts, and verse 12 opens the second. Moses sends for Dathan and Abiram. They send back a flat refusal — the only reply they will give to the man God set over them.
Moses does not ignore these men; he calls them. Their answer is not an argument but a snub, and charges against Moses follow.
It seems Moses had a message for Dathan and Abiram too, so he sent to call them. But their reply was proud: "We will not come up." They accuse Moses of taking them from a land flowing with milk and honey to kill them in the wilderness. At the same time they accuse him of acting as a prince over them (vv. 12-14).
These two cared about rule, not about priesthood. Their family history gave them a reason.
Dathan and Abiram were princes of Reuben, and their tents stood near those of the Kohathites. They joined the religious party, but they cared little for Aaron's honours. They cared a great deal about Moses' rule. They had descended from Jacob's firstborn, and others had taken their place.
Their names, and their father's name, fit the case they were making.
Their names are Dathan, "laws, decrees," and Abiram, "my father is exalted." These are the sons of Eliab, "My God is Father." These meanings are not evil in themselves. Yet they suit well the claims they support. Those claims would have levelled the priesthood and the Levites' ministry, under the plea that all the people are holy. So Dathan could appeal to "laws" of ancient right, like the right of the firstborn, which the new restrictions had set aside. Abiram could point to his own father as exalted by this natural right. Their shared father's name might suggest the higher claim they do make: an equal relationship to God on every side.
Korah wanted Aaron's place; these men wanted Moses out of his. Commentators read the pair together as one picture.
Korah had his own special aim in the rebellion, though he was the instigator of it in others. In Dathan and Abiram we see the secular side, as in the rebellious Levite we see the religious. So Korah's words aim mainly at Aaron, while Dathan and Abiram speak against Moses. Both together picture the uprising of the world against Christ as Priest and King... The hour is coming when the religious and the secular powers will unite in bolder opposition to the rights of Christ, and unsparing judgment will follow, as it did in the wilderness on Korah, Dathan and Abiram.
The name they use belongs to Canaan. They give it to Egypt instead.
Notice how twisted men are. All God's care to keep them remembering Him seems to count for nothing. Their rebellion is a greater sin than any before it... They call Egypt a land flowing with milk and honey; in their words Egypt was as good as Canaan. They accuse Moses of deceit for not bringing them into the promised land. But God had brought them to it, and their own unbelief had shut them out. But Moses wanted to be a prince! — the man who said, "Blot me out!" rather than have Israel destroyed. They were willfully blind to the mercy that was leading them through the wilderness, and they hated the mediator.
Korah's group at least talked religion. These two drop that language and complain only about a broken promise.
The words of Dathan and Abiram match their position. They say nothing about the congregation being holy, only that Moses had not kept his promise. It was a charge against God.
He neither forces them nor drops the position God gave him. He hands the case to God and waits.
What will Moses do? As at many other times, he falls on his face, while Korah exalts himself. He leaves the decision to God: in the morning the LORD will show whom He chooses (v. 5). On the one hand, Moses relies on God's decision to confirm the position He has given to each one. On the other hand, he waits until the next morning. The situation is serious, but he does not want to rush. He would rather allow Korah and those with him enough time to repent.
- Refusal. Moses sends them a call. They answer with a flat no, and never hear what he had to say.
- Reversal. Egypt becomes the good land and Moses becomes the tyrant. Their own unbelief shut them out of Canaan, yet they blame him for it.
- Rejection. Korah's words aim at Aaron the priest, Dathan's and Abiram's at Moses' rule. Together they picture the world rising against Christ as Priest and King.
- Root. They say nothing about holiness, only that Moses broke his promise. That was a charge against God.
- Restraint. Moses does not force the issue. He falls on his face, leaves the verdict to God, and leaves them time to repent.
Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that thou must make thyself altogether a ruler over us?
Korah's revolt has two fronts, and this verse is the voice of the second. Moses calls Dathan and Abiram; they refuse to come, and they hand Egypt the name that belongs to Canaan — a land flowing with milk and honey.
Korah and these two men rebel together, but they do not aim at the same target. This verse attacks Moses and his right to lead, not Aaron and the priesthood.
Korah had his own special aim in the rebellion, though he stirred it up in others. In Dathan and Abiram we see the secular side, as in the rebellious Levite we see the religious side. So Korah's words strike more at Aaron, while Dathan and Abiram speak against Moses. Both together picture the uprising of the world against Christ as Priest and King.
The name "a land flowing with milk and honey" belonged to Canaan. Here they pin it on Egypt, the house of slavery.
Notice how twisted men can be. All God's care to keep them mindful of Him seems lost. Their rebellion is a greater sin than any before; the ribbon was to remind them that Egypt was a land of bondage and that God had brought them out. They call it a land flowing with milk and honey; Egypt was as good as Canaan. They accuse Moses of deceit for not bringing them into the promised land. They ignore two facts: God had brought them to it, and their own unbelief had shut them out.
Their memory keeps Egypt's food and drops Egypt's whip. One writer finds the same drift in us:
The people sigh after the land of Egypt, and cast longing looks back at its fruits and its cooking pots. They say nothing about the whip of the slave-driver and the hard labour at the brick kilns. They remember nothing now except the things by which Egypt fed the appetites of nature. How often this is the case with us! The heart can lose its freshness in the divine life. Heavenly things can start to lose their taste. First love can decline. Christ can stop being a satisfying and altogether precious portion for the soul. The word of God and prayer can lose their charm and turn dull and mechanical. When that happens, the eye wanders back toward the world, the heart follows the eye, and the feet follow the heart.
They blame Moses for their dying in the wilderness. Yet they were the ones who had refused to go into the land.
Moses clearly had a message for Dathan and Abiram too. He sent to call them, but they answered with pride: "We will not come up." Of course these accusations were totally unfair. They had conveniently forgotten their own rebellion against entering the land of milk and honey. So in effect they are blaming Moses for their own glaring evils.
Their charge that Moses made himself a prince meets a plain answer. Look at what he had already done on the mountain, where none of them could see.
How ignorant they had been of everything that passed between the Lord and Moses on the top of Mount Horeb! They had been on the very edge of a terrible cliff. The intercession of Moses had saved them — the very man they had accused of taking too much upon him. How they had mistaken and misjudged him! They had accused this very man of self-seeking, and of wanting to make himself altogether a prince over them. Yet he had refused a God-given opportunity to become the head of a greater and mightier nation than they were. And this same man had begged that, if God would not forgive them and bring them into the land, his own name might be blotted out of the book.
This refusal is not just old history. Jude points back to it as a warning.
The rebellion of Korah and a large company with him points to a dreadful revolt against Christ as both Lord and High Priest of His people. It also points to the awesome judgment of God that follows. Jude 11 shows this: "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." What a comment this is on the wickedness of man's heart! God has given many great proofs of His kindness and many warnings of His judgment against evil. Still men will reject His authority with pride, because they themselves want to rule.
- Want to rule. One desire sits under the whole speech. They reject the authority God gave Moses, because they want the place themselves.
- Rename the past. That desire rewrites history. Egypt becomes the land of milk and honey, and the slave-driver's whip drops out of the story.
- Reassign the blame. Once they rewrite the past, the wilderness becomes Moses' crime. In truth it grew out of their own refusal to enter the land.
- Reverse the truth. The man they charged with making himself a prince had turned down a nation of his own. He asked God to blot out his own name instead.
- Reap the end. Dathan and Abiram strike at the ruler; Korah strikes at the priest. Together they picture the world rising against Christ as King and Priest — and it ends in judgment.
Moreover, thou hast not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up!
Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram. They refused to come, and sent back a list of grievances instead: no promised land, no fields, no vineyards, and a leader they accused of blinding them. Their charge raises the real question: who was to blame for the years in the desert?
Moses sent for these two men. Their answer came back as an accusation.
Moses clearly had a message for Dathan and Abiram too, so he sent to call them. They answered him proudly: "We will not come up." They accuse Moses of taking them out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill them in the wilderness, and of acting as a prince over them at the same time (vs.12-14). These accusations were completely unfair. They had forgotten their own refusal to enter the land of milk and honey, so they are really blaming Moses for their own obvious evils.
Notice which land they call good. They give Canaan's description to the country where they were slaves, and they blame Moses for the land they never reached.
Their rebellion is a greater sin than any before... They call Egypt a land flowing with milk and honey; Egypt was as good as Canaan. They accuse Moses of deceiving them by not bringing them into the promised land. They ignore the facts: God had brought them to it, and their own unbelief had shut them out. But Moses wanted to be a prince! — the man who said, "Blot me out!" rather than have Israel destroyed.
Their last question accuses Moses of blinding them. One writer ties it to the promises Moses had made.
Dathan and Abiram wanted nothing to do with the religious test. "We will not come up," they said. "You have brought us up out of the true land of milk and honey, Egypt, to kill us in the wilderness, and for what reason — unless you are making yourself a prince over us?" The milk and honey, the fields and vineyards Moses had promised were shadows — his promises, dust thrown in men's eyes.
The charge fits them better than it fits Moses:
They were deliberately blind to the mercy that was leading them through the wilderness, and they hated the mediator.
These two men demanded fields and vineyards. They came from Reuben, the first-born tribe, and their names match the claim they made.
His first allies are the sons of Reuben, the rejected first-born. That gave them a natural reason to join the revolt against the leaders God had appointed. Their names are Dathan, "laws, decrees," and Abiram, "my father is exalted."... So Dathan could speak of the "laws" of ancient right, such as the right of the first-born, set aside in favour of the new rules. Abiram could point to his own father as exalted by that natural right.
Korah and these two men wanted different things, so their words hit different targets.
Korah had his own special aim in the rebellion, though he stirred it up in others. In Dathan and Abiram we see the secular side; in the rebellious Levite, the religious side. So Korah's words are aimed against Aaron, while Dathan and Abiram speak against Moses. Both together picture the uprising of the world against Christ as Priest and King.
These men wanted their fields and vineyards at once, in the desert. The lesson runs the other way: look ahead to the inheritance while you cross the desert.
Finally, through all the testing, the trials, the conflicts, and even the mercies and privileges of the wilderness, we must keep our eyes fixed on what lies ahead... The green fields and vine-covered hills of the heavenly Canaan, the pearl gates and golden streets of the New Jerusalem are to fill the vision of our souls... When the sand of the desert wears us down, let the thought of Canaan cheer us.
- Refusal. Moses sent for them, and they answered with a proud "We will not come up."
- Reversal. Unbelief swapped the labels. Egypt became the land of milk and honey; Canaan became a promise Moses had failed to keep.
- Redirection. The charge was unfair. They had forgotten their own refusal to enter, so they blamed Moses for their own evils.
- Rejection. They said Moses was throwing dust in their eyes. In fact they were blind to the mercy leading them through the wilderness, and they hated the mediator.
- Reach. Korah's words struck at Aaron, these men's at Moses. Together they picture the world rising against Christ as Priest and King.
Then Moses was very wroth, and said to Jehovah, Have no regard to their oblation not one ass have I taken from them, neither have I hurt one of them.
In Numbers 16, Korah and his allies rise against Moses and Aaron. Here Moses reacts: he is angry, he asks God to refuse their offering, and he points to his own clean record as a leader.
Moses' anger has a cause: the message Dathan and Abiram sent back when he called for them. They refused to come. They charged him with deceit, and with wanting to be a prince over them. One writer shows how far that was from the truth.
They accuse Moses of deceit in not bringing them into the promised land, ignoring the facts that God had brought them to it, and that their own unbelief had shut them out. But Moses wanted to be a prince! — the man who said, "Blot me out!" rather than that Israel should be consumed. What a terrible advance in evil!... They were deliberately blind to the mercy that was leading them through the wilderness, and they hated the mediator.
The heart of Moses' reply is a claim about money and property. He had never enriched himself at Israel's expense, not by so much as a single animal. One writer names others with the same record, and makes it a test for all who serve God.
No one could charge Moses, Nehemiah or Paul with greed (Num. 16:15; Neh. 5:14-19; Acts 20:33-35). They served God for the honour of such a privilege. No one could fault their ministry for greed, gluttony or selfishness. They kept themselves pure... Honesty in handling what you are trusted with matters greatly — in your own affairs, in business, and with the church's funds.
Moses speaks to the Lord instead of arguing back. The rebels were aiming at more than a man.
It was true that the Lord was among them, as the people were very quickly to see in the judgment that followed. They challenged the leaders God had chosen. They did not realize they were challenging God, who had chosen them.
Korah claimed to speak for the rights of the whole people. One writer says that claim was a cover, and that it usually is.
To a casual observer it might not have appeared that Korah was seeking anything for himself. He seemed to be contending for the rights of the whole assembly. But Moses, by the Spirit of God, unmasks him. Under the believable cover of defending the common rights of the congregation, he was boldly seeking the priesthood for himself... You will usually find that loud talkers about the liberties, rights, and privileges of God's people are really seeking their own promotion and advantage... Nothing is more worthless than seeking a place for yourself. It is sure to end in disappointment and confusion. The great thing for each one is to fill his appointed place and do his appointed work — the more humbly and quietly, the better.
Commentators differ here. One defends the anger: the insult hit a message that was not Moses' own.
This bitter insult made Moses very angry, for the word he had given them was only the Lord's word.
Another writer says Moses did not need to ask this at all.
Moses was right to be angry at this bitter hostility. Yet he did not need to ask God to refuse their offering. God knew that Moses had never oppressed the people, and God would act in perfect righteousness.
Moses could have walked away from a people who insulted him and questioned his motives. He did not.
The ingratitude and rebellion Moses met might have made him walk away and leave the people to their fate. But he stays, aware of the responsibility of the place God gave him. He keeps his position of authority without losing his spirit of grace and humility.
- Charge. Dathan and Abiram blamed Moses for a wilderness their own unbelief had made. They also said he wanted to be a prince.
- Clean hands. Moses answers with facts: not one donkey taken, no one harmed. Nehemiah and Paul could say the same.
- Cover. Korah shouted for everyone's rights while seeking his own. Loud talkers often do the same.
- Contest. To reject the leaders God chose was to reject God. So Moses took the matter to Him.
- Caution. Commentators differ on the prayer. One defends the anger. Another says Moses never needed to ask: God knew he was innocent and would act in perfect righteousness.