Who was Dathan in the Bible?

Son of Eliab the Reubenite: he joined with Korah and Abiram in rebellion against Moses and Aaron, and was with Abiram swallowed up by the earth. Num. 16:1-30; Num. 26:9; Deut. 11:6; Ps. 106:17. It was rebellion against God in His appointed servants: cf. Jude 11. See KORAH.

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.

Num. 26:10 seems to say that Korah was swallowed up by the earth; but Num. 16:32 speaks only of the "men that appertained unto Korah;" and in Deut. 11:6 and Ps. 106:17-18 only Dathan and Abiram are named as being swallowed up. There was an exception in the case of Korah, in that his children were not included in the punishment. Num. 26:11. In Jude 11 he is called CORE. To his sons or descendants, who took part in 'the service of song,' the following Psalms are inscribed: Ps. 42, Ps. 44 — Ps. 49, Ps. 84, Ps. 85, Ps. 87, Ps. 88.

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.

"Reuben (Num. 1:20; Num. 26:5) heads the list, — the first-born, and therefore entitled, according to nature, to the leadership; but because of sin, he was not to have the excellency. In these forty years' wanderings, 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). Desiring to be leaders, under pretense of claiming their rights for the people, they rebel against God's authority in Moses, turn back in heart to Egypt, and murmur at the trials of the way. Swift judgment overtakes them, — the earth opens and swallows them up, but the leaven of their example spreads among the people, and rebellion is only checked when fourteen thousand are slain by the plague. (Num. 16:49.) How many, like these children of Reuben, rebel against God's authority, in pure self-will, and murmur at the trials of the way, only to weaken themselves and their brethren, finding that, instead of being exalted by their independence, they have become abased!

The tribe of Reuben decreased in population from 46,000 (v.1:21) to 43,730 (v.7). Reuben was the firstborn of Israel, but because of his sin his natural primacy was taken from him. Also in the wilderness two Reubenites, Dathan and Abiram, were leaders in rebellion against the Lord (Num.16:1). they were swallowed up when the earth opened, but afterwards the people complained about this, and 14,000 were killed by a plague (Num.16:49).

The death of Dathan and Abiram is mentioned in verses 9 and 10, together with Korah, when the earth opened and swallowed them up, and when fire devoured 250 men who followed them. Yet it is mentioned here that the sons of Korah did not die at that time (v.11), indicating that they were not involved in his guilt.

The Reubenite princes, Dathan and Abiram, whose tents were in proximity to those of the Kohathites, while uniting with the religious party, cared little for Aaron's honours though much for Moses' rule; they had descended from Jacob's firstborn, and were supplanted.

Korah is the Leader of a grand conspiracy: a Levite of the family of Kohath, a son of Jitzhar, in that line of ministry which has to do with the most precious things of the tabernacle, yet in spirit dead to all, as his name — probably "ice" may intimate. His associates are in the first place the sons of Reuben, the rejected first-born, herein being a natural reason for their readiness to join the revolt against the divinely constituted leaders. Their names are Dathan, "laws, decrees," and Abiram, "my father is exalted." These are the sons of Eliab, "My God is Father." These meanings, while in themselves not evil, certainly suit well the pretensions which they support, which would have leveled priesthood and Levite ministry under the plea of the holiness of all the people. Dathan thus could speak of "laws" of ancient right, as that of the first-born, set aside in favor of the new restrictions. Abiram could point to his own father as exalted by this natural right. While their common parent's name might suggest that higher claim, which in fact they make, of equal relationship to God on all sides. They have a companion also, but who appears no more, — another Reubenite, whose name, "On," signifies "labor," or "distress," the son of Peleth, probably "separation," "distinction." In this, one might think that he heard the socialistic arguments of the present day.

Korah had his own special aim in the rebellion, though the instigator of it in others. In Dathan and Abiram we see the secular, as in the rebellious Levite the religious, aspect. Accordingly the words of Korah are rather against Aaron, while Dathan and Abiram speak against Moses. Both together typify the uprising of the world against Christ as Priest and King. Even now the prominent sin of Christendom is opposition to the priesthood of Christ, as seen in man pretending to be the channel of communication between God and the soul. All believers are priests for offering sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, yea as intercessors by prayer for the conversion and restoration of any. But there are those who pretend to forgive sins, as it were offering the blood over again. Such are repeating the sin of Korah, a Levite or minister, arrogating to himself the power which belongs to the High Priest alone, i.e. to Christ Himself. And, Korah-like, these always seek the aid of the secular power. The hour is coming when the religious and the secular power will unite in bolder opposition to the rights of Christ, to be followed by unsparing judgment (as in the wilderness upon Korah, Dathan and Abiram, and all that appertained to them.)

The words of Dathan and Abiram are in keeping with their position. They say nothing about the congregation being holy, but that Moses had not fulfilled his promise. It was a charge against God.

Mark the perversity of men. All God's care to keep them in remembrance of Him is apparently lost. Their rebellion is a greater sin than any before; the riband 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 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 wished to be a prince! — the man who said, "Blot me out!" rather than that Israel should be consumed! What a terrible advance in evil! This is no sin of ignorance, and the riband precluded forgetfulness. Moses, they said, had been deceiving them; but now they were awake to his designs; "Wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up." They were wilfully blind to the mercy that was leading them through the wilderness; and the mediator they hated.

Moses evidently had a message also for Dathan and Abiram and he sent to call them, but they responded haughtily, "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, and at the same time acting as a prince over them (vs.12-14). Of course these were totally unfair accusations: they had conveniently forgotten their own rebellion against entering the land of milk and honey, so are virtually blaming Moses for their own glaring evils.

Nor was it merely what Jehovah had done to Egypt and to Pharaoh that the people were called to remember, but also what He had done amongst themselves. How soul-subduing the judgement upon Dathan and Abiram and their households! How awful the thought of the earth opening her mouth and swallowing them up! And for what? For their rebellion against the divine appointment. In the history given in Numbers, Korah, the Levite, is the prominent character; but here he is omitted, and the two Reubenites are named — two members of the congregation, because Moses is seeking to act on the whole body of the people by setting before them the terrible consequence of self-will in two of their number — two ordinary members, as we should say, and not merely a privileged Levite.

In a word, then, whether the attention was called to the divine actings without or within, abroad or at home, it was all for the purpose of impressing their hearts and minds with a deep sense of the moral importance of obedience. This was the one grand aim of all the rehearsals, all the comment, all the exhortations of the faithful servant of God who was so soon to be removed from their midst. For this he ranges over their history for centuries, culling, grouping, commenting, taking up this fact and omitting that, as guided by the Spirit of God. The journey down to Egypt, the sojourn there, the heavy judgements upon the self-willed Pharaoh, the exodus, the passage through the sea, the scenes in the wilderness, and specially, the awful fate of the two rebellious Reubenites — all is brought to bear, with marvellous force and clearness, upon the conscience of the people, in order to strengthen the basis of Jehovah's claim upon their unqualified obedience to His holy commandments.