Chapter 16
Korah, several other Levites, and 250 of the elders of Israel, "well known men", rebel against the authority of Moses and Aaron, and challenge them. They say they are as holy as Aaron and Moses and they want to be priests. Moses asks them why being Levites, and in the tabernacle regularly, and chosen by God to be close to Him, is not enough? This verse:
9 is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the LORD and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, [Num 16:9 ESV]
2024 - There are some Reubenites here also though. Dathan and Aviram are brothers, sons of Elias. They along with On, are Reubenites. Korah and seems to be the only Levite,though perhaps a majority of the 250 were also Levites. Moses' words indicate that this was mostly a Levite uprising against Moses and Aaron.
2024 - In vs 12 Moses summons Dathan and Aviram but they won't come up. So perhaps it was only the those descended from Levi that confronted Moses and Aaron and the Reubenites wouldn't even show their faces?
The Levites had been set apart after the golden calf. They dispensed punishment to their own, and for this God rewarded them. And now they want more. I think the Levites also shared in the sacrifices that were offered. I didn't think this was just for the Aaronic priests hood - surely it is far too much for Aaron and his sons alone to consume. So much would be thrown away if it was that. MSB doesn't really say that this is the case, and points out that this was more about them wanting to take over the Aaronic priesthood than about them not getting their "share" of the sacrifices. Furthermore, they were using God's own words to justify their rebellion. This part of their argument is in vs 3:
3 They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, "You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?" [Num 16:3 ESV]
They believed they were as holy as Aaron and his sons, and that God had said so.
FB post here maybe: It is possible to so badly misinterpret what the Bible says that we can bring destruction on ourselves. Korah's interpretation was guided by his ambition, not by prayer and supplication. Korah's approach makes it clear that his desire is not to intimately know God's will, but to assert his own will.
This rebellion includes some of the Levites and some Reubenites. Reuben was the first born, but had forfeited that position in uncovering his father's nakedness. Jacob called Reuben "unstable as water". Levi, along with Simeon, was called violent. These two had avenged their sisters mistreatment, and seem to have indulged in the violence, enjoying the killing instead of avenging it. They were both to be scattered in Israel. So here they are - the one who lost the double portion of inheritance, and the ones who were to be scattered and so lack prominence, working together to overthrow the power structure God had set up.
2023 - Here is where they were getting their argument about equality: 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel." [Exo 19:6 ESV]
2021 - As I read this, it was only Korah and the Levites who went up to talk to Moses about all this. The Reubenites stayed in the camp, though perhaps On son of Peleth went up with Korah.
Moses tells them to come back tomorrow with censers and incense and God will choose the ones he wants in charge. Moses and Aaron will also have censers and incense. Dathan and his bunch refuse to even come up to confront Moses. They deny his authority completely. They stay in the camp.
Next day, the 250, and Korah, and Aaron, all show up with censers and incense at the door of the tent of meeting. God tells Moses and Aaron to step away from the congregation, because He is going to kill them all. The whole congregation. This implies that Korah and company had a lot more support than just the 250. Moses prays that God not kill them all over the revolt of these few.
2023 - Look at the specific prayer they prayed:
22 And they fell on their faces and said, "O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?" [Num 16:22 ESV]
They asked God not to take down the whole nation of Israel because of the revolt stirred up by one man, Korah. Many were standing with him, but this verse makes it plain that one man was behind the whole thing, and Moses and Aaron ask that the whole entire nation not die over this one man's ambition.
So God instructs the congregation to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Moses goes from the tabernacle to the tents of the two Reubenites, and they come to the doors of their tents with wives and children and families. And Moses says this:
30 But if the LORD creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the LORD." [Num 16:30 ESV]
Moses says if these die natural deaths, then God is not with him (Moses), but if vs 30...
A new thing. Taken down alive, in physical body, to Sheol. To the bad part of Sheol, the part where the rich man lifted up his eyes to see Lazarus. This was fire and torment, and they experienced it in the flesh. Surely it killed them, and then they continued to experience it in spirit.
The whole camp goes down to the tents of Dathan and his followers. Moses tells the people to move away lest they too be punished with them. Moses says if these men die natural deaths, then God has not chosen Moses to do his work. But if God does something new, and they go down alive to Sheol, then Moses chosen of God, and not of his own ambitions.
The earth opens up and swallows them, their families, and all their goods alive. Then fire from the Lord consumes the 250 elders and their censers before the people. Then God has Aaron's son Eleazar gather up those 250 censers, and scatter the fire far and wide, for all have become holy. Presumably because God's own fire consumed them.
MSB says the children were not so punished, they were not taken to Sheol. This is in Numbers 26:11. That verse says "But the sons of Korah did not die." But...didn't the families of Dathan and Abiram die? I don't see how you read that any other way, and it is difficult to know why Korah's children were spared.
2023 - I think the catch here is that at least Korah had the guts to go up and confront Moses. Dathan and Abiram were so scornful of Moses' authority that they wouldn't even go up to the tent of meeting, and then they refused to go up even when Moses called them. These were very high up in the hierarchy of this Korah-led rebellion. Moses goes to them, and these two, and all their families, come to the door of their tents, and go down into the earth alive. But Korah, I think, was standing with the 250 with the censers, and he dies with them. I don't think Korah's tents went down into the ground. Vs 27b is the key, where it says Dathan and Abiram came out. They were still in their tents. Dathan was with Moses. It is also possible that Korah's sons were with him, though not carrying censers, because they were not considered leaders and elders. In any case, it is not hard to see, once you have Number 26:11, that the fate of Korah's family could be different than the fate of Dathan's and Abiram's families.
2024 - Here is something interesting. The JSB ends Chapter 16 at vs 35 where the 250 are destroyed by fire. In the NASB, Chapter 16 goes on to vs 50. So in 2024, reading Numbers in the JSB, I stopped here today, and the following is in Chapter17.
Even after all this, the very next day, the people grumble because of those who were killed. Are they completely without logic? Can they not see the cause and the effect? What an amazingly stubborn and obstinate people! So they come to the tent of meeting and start whining. And Moses and Aaron come. And the glory of God comes and tells Moses and Aaron to get out of the way while he takes care of this. These verses:
46 And Moses said to Aaron, "Take your censer, and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the LORD; the plague has begun." 47 So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. 48 And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. [Num 16:46-48 ESV]
So another place where God uses a sickness/disease/plague to out and out punish the people. This wasn't really designed to bring them back into line. God's intent at the beginning of this was to kill the whole people. That might be the distinction for God using disease. It is not discipline, it goes further than that. It is pure punishment. I am only noticing these because of the corona virus. But this would be a really good study. A compare and contrast study of disease, snakes, the 10 plagues....how was each used and when exactly, and what was the purpose - discipline or death?
2021 - If corona is from God, as a punishment to this nation, a vaccine is not going to stop it. Only atonement - repentance - is going to stop it. There is no Moses today. There is no Aaron. So who will come among the people and stop the plague? NT says all the saved are a holy priesthood. So the saved, the body, the church, among the people sending up prayers as incense before the Lord, might be able to stop it. If it is a plague sent by God to take us out, that's the only way. I don't know how we tell the difference between a punishment not aimed at repentance and just sickness. And let's not forget that corona is worldwide. Not just this country. It is likely arrogant to think that corona is just about us.
The plague was stopped...after 14,700 have died.