Biblion Bible Commentary
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Korah, Dathan and Abiram
Numbers 16:1-35
1 Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took some men. · WEB
The rebels' slogan is true and their conclusion does not follow, and Moses proposes a test he cannot arrange.
The rebellion is led by a Levite and two Reubenites, with two hundred fifty princes of the congregation, called to the assembly, men of renown Numbers 16:2. This is not a mob; it is the leadership.
Their charge is two sentences and the first is true.
You take too much on yourself, since all the congregation are holy, everyone of them, and Yahweh is among them! Why do you lift yourselves up above Yahweh's assembly? Numbers 16:3.
The congregation is holy — God said so Leviticus 19:2 — and he is among them, which is what the whole camp arrangement declares. The premises are sound. What does not follow is that no distinction of office remains, and the argument has the shape of every argument since that reasons from a genuine equality to the abolition of a particular calling.
Moses' first act is to fall on his face Numbers 16:4, which is what he does at every accusation in this book.
The test he proposes puts the matter beyond human management: censers, incense, and Yahweh will show who are his, and who is holy Numbers 16:5. He is not defending his appointment; he is asking for it to be settled by somebody else.
And then he says something to Korah that goes to the root of it: is it a small thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself... and you seek the priesthood also? Numbers 16:9–10.
Korah is a Levite. He already has the position the whole nation was excluded from, and what he wants is the next one up. The complaint made in the name of universal holiness is a complaint about a promotion.
Dathan and Abiram refuse even to come, and their words are the exact inversion of the truth: they accuse Moses of bringing them out of a land flowing with milk and honey Numbers 16:13 — a description of Egypt.
Moses' defense of himself is one line and it is a fact anyone could check: I have not taken one donkey from them, neither have I hurt one of them Numbers 16:15.
Then the test he stakes his commission on: if these men die ordinarily, then Yahweh hasn't sent me Numbers 16:29. And the ground opens.
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