and the sons of Eliab were Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. This is that Dathan and Abiram, summoned of the assembly, who contended against Moses and against Aaron in the band of Korah, when they contended against Jehovah.
A list of families counted for their inheritance stops on two names from Reuben's line. Why does a register of heirs remember a rebellion, and why does it call their quarrel with Moses and Aaron a quarrel with the LORD?
This verse sits inside the second counting of Israel, taken at the end of the desert years. One writer sums up its purpose:
The journey being now ended, God numbers afresh His people, and counts them by name, as heirs ready to take possession of the inheritance. He has kept them through everything, and brought them as far as Canaan; their clothes did not even wear out.
So the record of heirs also keeps the memory of two rebels.
Dathan and Abiram belonged to Reuben, whose family heads this list. One writer traces what happened to that tribe:
Reuben (Num. 1:20; Num. 26:5) heads the list. He was the firstborn, and so entitled by nature to the leadership. But because of sin, he was not to have the excellency. In these forty years of wandering his numbers dwindle — at the close we see him weaker than at the beginning. Looking at his history for a reason for this, we come to the rebellion of Dathan and Abiram, who were of this tribe (Num. 16:1). Wanting to be leaders, under the pretence of claiming the people's rights, they rebel against God's authority in Moses. … How many, like these children of Reuben, rebel against God's authority in pure self-will, and complain at the trials of the way! They only weaken themselves and their brothers. Instead of being lifted up by their independence, they are brought low.
The verse ends by saying they contended against the LORD. One writer explains how a complaint against two men reached God:
Korah and his company, therefore, were quarrelling with God and not with Moses and Aaron. God had called these two to fill a certain position and to do a certain work, and woe to them if they refused. It was not they who had aimed at the position or taken up the work; they were appointed by God. This ought to have settled the question… Their real object is to make themselves somebody. They talk loudly and very plausibly about the common rights and privileges of God's people. But in reality they themselves are aiming at a position for which they are in no way qualified. They are aiming at privileges to which they have no right.
These were not fringe figures. The verse calls them men chosen from the congregation. Older translations read "famous in the congregation."
There is a conspiracy under the fairest pretensions possible. This does not improve matters. The basest things sometimes put on the most religious appearance. No one should be deceived by sound. The Christian is meant to judge things according to God. The men who did this were by no means the sort we would have thought most likely to join themselves rebelliously against Jehovah.
Moses reminds the nation of these two men again. Notice who he names, and who he leaves out:
How soul-subduing the judgement on Dathan and Abiram and their households! How awful the thought of the earth opening its mouth and swallowing them up! And for what? For their rebellion against what God had appointed. In the history given in Numbers, Korah the Levite is the prominent figure; but here he is left out, and the two Reubenites are named — two members of the congregation. Moses does this to reach the whole body of the people. He sets before them the terrible result of self-will in two of their number — two ordinary members, as we would say, and not merely a privileged Levite.
The verse places Dathan and Abiram inside Korah's company. One writer sets out the two sides of Korah's sin:
The sin of Korah was twofold. On one hand he openly rebelled against Moses and Aaron. He said, "You have gone too far… why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?" On the other hand, he was not content with his own position. He took for himself the place of priestly intercession that belonged to Aaron alone (Num. 16:3, 9-10). He tried to drag Moses and Aaron down to the level of the congregation, and to lift himself up to the level of Aaron.
- Chosen — these were men of standing, picked out by the congregation. A holy-sounding plea can hide a rotten aim.
- Contended — the target looked like two men, Moses and Aaron. The real opponent was God, who had given them their place.
- Company — Korah wanted Moses and Aaron dragged down to his level, and himself lifted to Aaron's. Joining him cost Dathan and Abiram everything.
- Counted — the note sits inside a list of heirs. Grasping at a place God never gave loses the inheritance He did give.
- Consequence — Reuben heads the list, yet ends the desert years smaller than he began. Moses names the two men again so ordinary people would fear self-will.
And the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that band died, when the fire devoured the two hundred and fifty men; and they became a sign.
The second census on the edge of Canaan stops in the middle of a roll call of families to look back at an old judgment. The ground split open under Korah's company, fire took the 250 men, and the verse says they became a warning — a warning of what?
Korah's revolt had two sides to it. One writer names both.
The sin of Korah was twofold. On one hand, he openly rebelled against Moses and Aaron, saying, "You have gone too far!… Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?" On the other hand, not content with his own position, he took over the place of priestly intercession that belonged to Aaron alone (Num. 16:3, 9-10). He tried to drag Moses and Aaron down to the level of the congregation, and to raise himself up to the level of Aaron.
The verse remembers something the desert had never seen. One writer asks whether any ordinary cause can explain it.
"A new thing." This, then, was not a mere earthquake. Whatever causes earthquakes now, there was no natural cause for this. It was the direct act of God in a marked and special judgment. There is nothing so appalling as an earthquake. And this one bears the mark that it came when men first openly attacked the rights of Christ as King, in the person of Moses.
The verse joins two judgments: the earth swallowing and the fire. Only one of them was new, and that is the one that made the crowd run.
Fire consumed men of the priest's own family when they brought false fire to the LORD. How much more those who were not of that family, and not even of the tribe of Levi! But that judgment was nothing new. The earth opening and swallowing them up was both new and unexpected… They fled at the cry of those who went down alive into the pit, saying, "The earth might swallow us up too." But it made no change in them.
The verse ends by calling these men a warning. The same writer points to what Israel was left looking at, and to what the people did with it.
The broad plates made from the censers of the presuming princes are for a sign, or warning, that no strangers outside Aaron's family should come near to offer incense to the LORD. The people paid no attention to the warning. The next day the whole congregation grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying that they had killed the people of the LORD.
The warning did not end with the wilderness. One writer reads Korah's revolt as a picture of something still to come.
The rebellion of Korah and the large company with him stands for a dreadful revolt against Christ, both as Lord and as High Priest of His people. It stands also for the awesome judgment of God that follows. This is seen in 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." What a comment it is on the wickedness of man's heart! After so many great proofs of God's kindness, and so many warnings of His judgment against evil, men will still proudly reject His authority because they want to rule themselves.
The same record also notes who did not die. The surprise is where that mercy fell.
The children of Dathan, Abiram, and the rest were all swallowed up. But, astonishingly, there was an exemption. Where? Was it on some especially faithful person who had the misfortune to be closely tied to them? Not at all. The exception of grace was in the household of the very worst of them… the sons of Korah! — of Korah, the leader and organiser of the apostasy, who by his position as well as his conduct was the most guilty of all.
Commentators differ on why the sons of Korah lived. Kelly reads it as pure grace, falling where it was least deserved. Another writer suggests the sons themselves kept clear of the revolt: "Evidently they were not willingly linked with his rebellion and God knew how to preserve them alive" (Leslie M. Grant).
- Sin — Korah pulled God's appointed leaders down. He pushed himself up into a priesthood that was not his.
- Sign — the fire that took the 250 was a judgment Israel had seen before. The earth opening was new, and no natural cause explains it.
- Seen — the crowd ran from the cry of those going down alive, then went back to grumbling against Moses and Aaron. The sign made no change in them.
- Still — Korah's revolt pictures a revolt against Christ as Lord and High Priest. Jude 11 holds it up as a warning for readers long after Israel.
- Spared — the same record names survivors in the worst family of all. Grace fell on the household of the very worst of them.
But the children of Korah died not.
Numbers 16 records one of the most frightening judgments in Israel's history. Ten chapters later, one line in a census list tells us the ringleader's sons lived — and that family became the singers of Israel.
Read the account of the judgment on its own, and you would never guess that anyone in Korah's household escaped. The earlier chapters leave the question open. This verse closes it.
Numbers 26:10 seems to say that the earth swallowed up Korah. But Numbers 16:32 speaks only of "all the people who belonged to Korah." And in Deuteronomy 11:6 and Psalm 106:17-18 only Dathan and Abiram are named as swallowed up. So there was an exception in Korah's case: his children were not included in the punishment.
Another writer names what kept them alive:
Note that the sons of Korah did not perish. A careful reading of verses 27-33 brings out this fact. Chapter 26:11 settles it beyond doubt: "But the sons of Korah did not die." Sovereign grace saved the sons of Korah from the terrible fate of their father. Grace saved them from the pit. In wrath, God remembered mercy.
The families of Dathan and Abiram went down with their fathers. The one household spared belonged to the ringleader.
The earth swallowed up the children of Dathan, Abiram, and the rest. But, amazing to say, there was one exception. Where was it? Was it some especially faithful person who had the misfortune to be closely tied to them? Not at all. The exception of grace was in the household of the very worst of them. As man would have judged it, these people deserved least of all to be spared from destruction. Yet they were exactly the ones for whom God kept this special grace — the sons of Korah! Korah, the leader who organised the revolt against God.
Survival was only the start. Later records show what God gave this family.
You can see what grace gave them by reading these passages: 1 Chronicles 6:54-67; 9:19-32; 26:1-20; 2 Chronicles 23:3, 4, 19; 31:14-18. They had the cities of refuge. They kept the gates of the tabernacle. They were over the rooms and treasuries of the house of the LORD. The instruments of the sanctuary, the wine, the oil, and so on were in their charge. They were mighty men of valour, strong men. They were the royal guards. And more than that, the Holy Spirit inspired them to write some of the beautiful Psalms.
Several psalms carry their name. One writer lists them.
The following Psalms are dedicated to his sons or descendants, who took part in "the service of song": Psalms 42, 44-49, 84, 85, 87, 88.
Another writer asks who is better placed to sing than a rescued family.
It is enough here to recall the terrible crisis in Israel's history when Korah's sons were saved, as it were, through fire. Compare Numbers 16 with Numbers 26:11. That day mercy triumphed over judgment. It will do so again in the future, when the power of evil looks so overwhelming that judgment seems the only possible outcome... And who is better suited to sing than the rescued sons of the rebellious Levite?
Generations later, a godly man in Israel worshipped, knowing where he came from.
This godly Israelite was a descendant of the rebellious Korah. (See 1 Chronicles 6:27, 34, 37.)... "But the sons of Korah did not die" (Numbers 26:11). He was "a debtor to mercy alone," and he had good cause to worship... He knew that the LORD's distinguishing grace had given him not only the blessings of his life, but his very existence, as a descendant of one of the spared children of Korah. Knowing grace, and acknowledging it, is what produces worship and obedience in a believer's life.
One writer sees our own story in theirs.
Sovereign mercy snatched them, as it were, from the very brink of destruction. Afterwards God brought them into His sanctuary and gave them places of honourable service there (1 Chronicles 26). How remarkably like our own case! We too were once standing on the brink of a worse destruction than theirs, but God has saved us in His grace.
- Spared — Judgment fell on Korah's company. This verse records the exception: his children did not die.
- Sovereign — The mercy landed where man would least expect it: on the family of the rebellion's leader. No one could call it earned.
- Settled — The earlier chapters leave the question open; Numbers 26:11 puts it beyond doubt.
- Serving — God later gave the spared family cities of refuge, charge of the gates and treasuries of His house, and places of honourable service.
- Singing — The family saved by mercy became the family that sang about it. Psalms still carry their name. Mercy received turns into worship offered.