Who opposed Moses in the Bible?

But after such comforting thoughts as these there comes out something still more tremendous than ever in Numbers 16. It is not complaint now, nor murmuring; it is not merely unbelief because of the difficulties of the wilderness, nor is it the casting of a bad character on God's gift and choice in the land which their unbelief was reluctant to go up and take in the name of Jehovah. There is a conspiracy under the fairest pretensions possible. This does not mend matters. The basest things sometimes put on the most pious guise. No man should be deceived by sound. The Christian is meant to judge things according to God. The men who did so were not by any means such as we should have thought most likely to have joined themselves rebelliously against Jehovah. "Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi" (the most honourable portion among those who had the direct service of the sanctuary), "and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men." That is, there were those who belonged to the ministering class, and those that were chief men in the congregation, generally representatives of what people would call in modern days leading men in church and state. "And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown. And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and Jehovah is among them. Wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of Jehovah? And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face."

Korah was a Kohathite and therefore was blessed with the dignity of caring for the holy furniture of the tabernacle. But this was not enough for him. He enlisted three others, Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, Zebulonites, and On, a Reubenite, all of whom were willing to challenge Moses and Aaron as regards the authority God had given them. They were able also to influences 250 leaders of the congregation in resentment against Moses and Aaron (vs.1-2).

They came unitedly to Moses and Aaron and told them. "You take too much upon yourselves" (v.3). How little they understood that Moses had not wanted to be Israel's leader (Ex.3:10-11; 4:1-13), but God absolutely required him to be. The basis of their argument is that "all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them." Did Korah really care for all the congregation? No! He wanted to be the high priest himself (vs.10-11). He accused Moses and Aaron of exalting themselves (v.3) when it was plainly God who had exalted them. But Korah wanted to exalt himself, using his followers to this end.

The sons of Reuben, Dathan and Abiram, and On, besides two hundred and fifty, joined the revolt. Their attempt was a complete overthrow of the constitution which had been given to Israel and the establishment of another order and other leaders. They themselves sought recognition and Korah aimed at the priesthood of Aaron and would have it himself. Verses 8-10 indicate this. Korah and his associates aimed at God's appointed high priest. And Moses put this serious matter in the hands of the Lord.

They resisted the authority of Moses, and pretended to the priesthood when they were only Levites. Then the rod, Aaron's rod, leads through the wilderness and nothing else does.

Dathan, Abiram and On of the tribe of Reuben also attack, so to say, the civil authority of Moses, saying, “Is it a small thing that you … should keep acting like a prince over us?” (v. 13).

Numbers 16 relates the most serious difficulty faced by Moses during the forty years in the wilderness. Korah, a Levite of the family of the Kohathites, becomes puffed up. Rallying two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly to himself, he intends to seize religious power. He boldly asks, “Why is the priesthood reserved for the family of Aaron? Why do the Levites not have access to it? Since the entire assembly of Israel — all of them are holy and the Lord is in the midst of them, why do Moses and Aaron lift themselves up above the congregation of the Lord?”

"Now Korah, the son of Ishar, 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: and they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?" Verses 1-3.

Son of Izhar, a son of Kohath. He with Dathan and Abiram headed the rebellion against Moses and Aaron, saying that they took too much upon themselves, whereas all the people were holy. There were gathered to them two hundred and fifty princes of the congregation who were Levites. Dathan and Abiram were of the tribe of Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and were perhaps jealous of the ascendancy of the sons of Levi. Their complaint against Moses is different from that of the Levites, and insinuated that Moses aimed at being a prince over them. They were swallowed up with their families by an opening of the earth; whereas Korah and his company were devoured by the fire of the Lord. With these it was an ecclesiastical rebellion: "they strove against Jehovah" in His appointed priesthood. The whole rebellion was a type of opposition against the royalty and priesthood of Christ. Ex. 6:21, 24; Num. 16:1-49; Num. 26:9-11; Num. 27:3; 1 Chr. 6:22, 37; 1 Chr. 9:19.

One of the most serious features of the wilderness journey comes before us in Numbers 16. The fire of revolt that broke out in Numbers 14 was still smouldering and broke out afresh in a new way. It was not now the making of a captain and returning to Egypt, but prominent men in the congregation rising up to challenge the mediatorship of Moses and the priesthood of Aaron; thus challenging the Lord, who had appointed both. Korah, being a Kohathite, belonged to the most distinguished group of the Levites, short of being a priest. Dathan and Abiram sprang from Reuben, the eldest son of Jacob, who lost the leadership natural to the firstborn because of his sin. They therefore doubtless felt they had a grievance.

Moreover, if we refer to the order in which the tribes were to encamp round the tabernacle, as given in Numbers 2, and then turn to Numbers 3, which gives us similar details as to the Levites, we find that both the tribe of Reuben and the Kohathites were placed on the south side, and as a result of this were close together to discuss and foment their imagined grievances. In claiming that both Moses and Aaron were upstarts, who had presumed to elevate themselves above the congregation, they denied that they were what they were by Divine appointment, using a specious argument.

The next stage of decline is a revelation. Truly one may say, The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint. That very prophecy, which we have just now seen as the remedy for the existing evil, fails as it were in Miriam, who drags down Aaron, the head of priesthood, with her in her fall. "Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses." The human leader of Israel is assailed from another side, and where he is most accessible. The matter of accusation is in a Cushite wife that he has taken but the spirit of self-exaltation is manifestly in their murmurings: "Hath Jehovah indeed only spoken by Moses? hath He not also spoken by us?" Who had denied it? But the evident intention is, to put themselves on an equality with Moses, and thus depose him from the pre-eminent place of leadership which God had given him. The Cushite wife was clearly the proof to them that morally he was no higher than they, perhaps not so high. The effect is, to excuse themselves from obedience.