12Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab; but they said, “We will not come! 13Is it too little that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also lord it over us? 14It is clear you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Would you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come!”
15Moses was very angry and said to the LORD, “Pay no attention to their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed any one of them.” 16And Moses said to Korah, “As for you and all your company, be present tomorrow before the LORD, you and they and Aaron; 17and let each one of you take his censer, and put incense on it, and each one of you present his censer before the LORD, two hundred fifty censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer.” 18So each man took his censer, and they put fire in the censers and laid incense on them, and they stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. 19Then Korah assembled the whole congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And the glory of the LORD appeared to the whole congregation.
20Then the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying: 21Separate yourselves from this congregation, so that I may consume them in a moment. 22They fell on their faces, and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one person sin and you become angry with the whole congregation?”
23And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 24Say to the congregation: Get away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. 25So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram; the elders of Israel followed him. 26He said to the congregation, “Turn away from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, or you will be swept away for all their sins.” 27So they got away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrance of their tents, together with their wives, their children, and their little ones. 28And Moses said, “This is how you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these works; it has not been of my own accord: 29If these people die a natural death, or if a natural fate comes on them, then the LORD has not sent me. 30But 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.”
31As soon as he finished speaking all these words, the ground under them was split apart. 32The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, along with their households—everyone who belonged to Korah and all their goods. 33So they with all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol; the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. 34All Israel around them fled at their outcry, for they said, “The earth will swallow us too!” 35And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the two hundred fifty men offering the incense.
36c Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 37Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to take the censers out of the blaze; then scatter the fire far and wide. 38For the censers of these sinners have become holy at the cost of their lives. Make them into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they presented them before the LORD and they became holy. Thus they shall be a sign to the Israelites. 39So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers that had been presented by those who were burned; and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar—40a reminder to the Israelites that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, shall approach to offer incense before the LORD, so as not to become like Korah and his company—just as the LORD had said to him through Moses.
41On the next day, however, the whole congregation of the Israelites rebelled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the LORD.” 42And when the congregation had assembled against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the tent of meeting; the cloud had covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared. 43Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, 44and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 45“Get away from this congregation, so that I may consume them in a moment.” And they fell on their faces. 46Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire on it from 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.” 47So Aaron took it as Moses had ordered, and ran into the middle of the assembly, where the plague had already begun among the people. He put on the incense, and made atonement for the people. 48He stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stopped. 49Those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died in the affair of Korah. 50When the plague was stopped, Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
next chapter
* * *
a Cn: Heb and they confronted Moses, and two hundred fifty men…well-known men
b Heb his
c Ch 17.1 in Heb
16.1–40 In this section on the revolt of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, there is some mixing of traditions: the complaints are against Moses or Aaron or both; the complaints are about secular or sacred leadership; either Levites or Reubenites or even the whole community are the rebels; the rebels are swallowed whole or are burned by fire from the Lord. Commentators have divided these stories into two major strands (with subplots within them): a Priestly strand with the story of Korah’s rebellion and an old epic strand with a secular rebellion led by Reubenites (see Introduction). The two strands are combined by vv. 1, 24, 27a, 32b. Cf. Deut 11.6; Ps 106.16–18.
16.1 For Korah ’s genealogy, see Ex 6.16–21. See also the titles to Pss 42; 44–49; 84–85; 87–88. Korah is apparently the eponymous ancestor of a group of temple singers (1 Chr 6.16–38).
16.2 Well-known men, lit. “men of name.” A similar phrase is used in Gen 6.4, there translated “warriors of renown” 1 Chr 5.24; 12.30. In Job 30.8, the “disreputable brood” are “those without name” in Hebrew.
16.3 There are actually two levels of priestly conflict in this Korah narrative: on one level, Korah argues that all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them, thus denying any prerogatives the descendants of Levi might have, whether Aaronite priests or Levites. (See 5.3; 15.40; Ex 19.5–6; Deut 7.6; 14.2, 21a; 28.9; Isa 61.6). On this level, we assume Korah and his followers are not Levites (see 27.1–3, where a Manassite’s family feel they must defend their father against any suspicion that he was part of Korah’s group) and that the censer test is a matter of nonlevitical people using censers, something that had been a prerogative of the Levites. On a second level, however, Korah’s group is addressed as Levites attempting to usurp the prerogatives of the Aaronite priesthood (vv. 1, 7b, 8–11), and the test is one of lesser-ranked Levites using the censers of the Aaronite priesthood (see v. 40; 1 Chr 6.49; 2 Chr 26.16–21). With Korah’s complaint here, cf. 12.1–2. Exalt yourselves. See 16.13; cf. Ex 2.14.
16.4 Fell on his face. See 14.5; 16.22, 45; 20.6.
16.5 Approach him, i.e., approach the altar.
16.6–7 The censers were apparently trays holding coals onto which incense could be placed (see Ex 25.38; 27.3; 37.23; 38.3; Lev 10.1–2; 16.12). Before the LORD, at the entrance to the tent of meeting; see vv. 18–19.
16.9 On the Levites’ prescribed duties, see 1.47–54; 3; 4; 8.
16.10 You seek the priesthood as well! See 3.5–10; 8.5–22, esp. vv. 19, 22.
16.11 What is Aaron…him? Cf. Ex 16.8.
16.12–14 The Reubenites’ complaint. It is logical that Reubenites should lead a civil revolt since they had once been the preeminent tribe; see Gen 35.22–26; 49.3–4.
16.13–14 This is a typical complaint narrative; see note on 11.1–3. Here it is Moses’ leadership on the march that is in question.
16.13 Land…milk and honey, here used anomalously of Egypt instead of Canaan; see 13.27. Lord it over us. See 16.3; Ex 2.14.
16.14 Put out the eyes, i.e., deceive them. Cf. the modern phrase “pull the wool over the eyes.
”
16.15 Pay no attention to their offering, a metaphor for withholding favor; see the rejection of Cain in Gen 4. I have not…them. Cf. 1 Sam 12.1–5.
16.16–17 These verses repeat the information in vv. 6–7, but the addition of Aaron moves the story from the level of congregation vs. Levites to Levites vs. Aaronite priests; see note on 16.3.
16.16 Before the LORD, i.e., at the entrance to the tent of meeting; see vv. 18–19.
16.19 The glory of the LORD. See note on 9.15–16.
16.21 The Lord threatens to consume the congregation; see also 16.45; 14.11–12. In a moment. This generation will die in the desert, 14.28–30, but here the Lord threatens to kill them immediately.
16.22 Fell on their faces, see 16.4; 14.5. The God of the spirits of all flesh is used elsewhere only in 27.16. But the Hebrew word for “spirit” also means “breath,” and the Lord is frequently described as the giver and taker of human breath. See Gen 2.7 (with a different Hebrew word for “breath”); Isa 42.5. Shall one person sin. Dathan and Abiram are not at issue here in this strand of the narrative. Cf. Abraham’s intercession in Gen 18.23–33. On prophetic intercession, see 11.10–15.
16.24 The number of the punished is reduced to the rebels and their families, in response to Moses and Aaron’s intercession (v. 22). The word for dwellings (singular in Hebrew) here and in v. 27 is the same as the word commonly used for the Lord’s tabernacle and is elsewhere never used in the singular to mean a secular dwelling. Commentators have suggested that this part of the text has been disturbed by the attempt to connect Korah and his followers to the story of the punishment of Dathan and Abiram.
16.25 On the elders who accompany Moses, see 11.16–30.
16.26 The people are told to touch nothing that belongs to the rebels because their sins are polluting. Elsewhere, similar commands convey the belief that holiness itself is dangerous, that improper contact with it is polluting and life-threatening; see Ex 19.12–13; Num 4.15; 2 Sam 6.6–7; 1 Chr 13.9–10. Even seeing holy things can be dangerous: Num 4.20; cf. the Hebrew of 1 Sam 6.19.
16.27–33 These verses express the belief incorporate guilt and in the family as the extension of the (usually male) head of the family; see Josh 7.24–26.
16.30, 33 Sheol is the underworld home of the dead (see Gen 37.35; 1 Sam 28.11–14; Isa 14.9–11). In Isa 5.14 Sheol opens its mouth to eat the doomed.
16.32 Dathan and Abiram are not mentioned here; instead we have only everyone who belonged to Korah. Commentators have assumed this phrase displaced the mention of Dathan and Abiram in an editor’s attempt to combine the two strands; cf. Deut 11.6; Ps 106.17. This verse does not say that Korah himself was killed, but cf. 16.40; 26.10–11.
16.35 The two hundred fifty, who are elsewhere “the company of Korah,” are killed separately by fire from the Lord; see 11.1. Cf. Lev 10.1–2. In Num 16.17, it is assumed that the two hundred and fifty are Levites; each has his own censer. V. 2, however, implies they came from all the tribes; see 27.1–3.
16.37–39 It is Eleazar instead of Aaron who has contact with the censers, perhaps because of a rule like the one in Lev 21.10–11. See also Num 19.3. Become holy…lives. The censers are holy because they were presented before the Lord, but since they were offered by those who were not qualified to offer incense, the offering was at the cost of those men’s lives. These verses present an etiology of the bronze covering of the altar that is different from that in Ex 27.1–2; 38.1–2.
16.40 This event has served to reinforce the prerogatives of Aaron and his descendants; thus, commentators have assumed that the Korah narrative reflects conflicts in later rival priestly groups, with Aaronite priests claiming supremacy based on this story and others like it (see notes on 16.3; 12.2).
16.41–50 Revolt of the whole congregation; see note on 11.1–3. Since it is the whole congregation that is at fault, the intercession in 16.22 is no longer valid. The complaint this time concerns the deaths of Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and their families and followers.
16.41 You have killed the people of the LORD. Due to an extra pronoun “you” for emphasis in the Hebrew, one might translate “It is you who have killed the people of the LORD,” i.e., Moses and Aaron, not God.
16.42 On tent, cloud, and glory, see 7.89; 12.5; note on 9.15–16.
16.45 On the Lord’s consuming the congregation, see 16.21. Fell on their faces. See 16.4; 14.5.
16.46 The priest makes atonement; see 15.25. Incense is not the usual medium of atonement, but it is fitting in this story; cf. 5.21; 21.6–9. On the Lord’s wrath and plague, see 11.33.
16.48 See Lev 21.10–11; such an instruction underlines the seriousness of Aaron’s act here.
16.49 Those who died…Korah, i.e., the two hundred and fifty (v. 35).
NUMBERS 17a
The Budding of Aaron’s Rod
1The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2Speak to the Israelites, and get twelve staffs from them, one for each ancestral house, from all the leaders of their ancestral houses. Write each man’s name on his staff, 3and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each ancestral house. 4Place them in the tent of meeting before the covenant,b where I meet with you. 5And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout; thus I will put a stop to the complaints of the Israelites that they continually make against you. 6Moses spoke to the Israelites; and all their leaders gave him staffs, one for each leader, according to their ancestral houses, twelve staffs; and the staff of Aaron was among theirs. 7So Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the tent of the covenant.c
8When Moses went into the tent of the covenantd on the next day, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted. It put forth buds, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds. 9Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the LORD to all the Israelites; and they looked, and each man took his staff. 10And the LORD said to Moses, “Put back the staff of Aaron before the covenant,e to be kept as a warning to rebels, so that you may make an end of their complaints against me, or else they will die.” 11Moses did so; just as the LORD commanded him, so he did.
12The Israelites said to Moses, “We are perishing; we are lost, all of us are lost! 13Everyone who approaches the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Are we all to perish?”
next chapter
* * *
a Ch 17.16 in Heb
b Or treaty, or testimony; Heb eduth
c Or treaty, or testimony; Heb eduth
d Or treaty, or testimony; Heb eduth
e Or treaty, or testimony; Heb eduth
17.1–13 Another proof that the tribe of Levi and Aaron as their leader are chosen above the rest of the community in ritual affairs, necessary because of the renewed rebellion in 16.41–50.
17.2 The staff referred to here is a symbol of a leader’s authority (see Jer 48.17) and as the symbol of a tribal leader had come itself to mean “tribe,” as in 1.16 and elsewhere. The double meaning of the word is appropriate here since the staff/tribe that buds is the one chosen by the Lord. Leaders. See 16.2, where they were part of the rebellion.
17.2–3 The command to Moses to write each man’s name on his staff assumes Moses was literate (see also Ex 17.14; 24.4; 34.27; Num 33.2; Deut 31.9).
17.3 For Aaron’s descent from Levi, see Ex 6.16–20. There is no hint here of the rivalry between Aaronite priests and other Levites; see notes on 16.3; 16.40.
17.4 In the tent…covenant, i.e., in front of the ark. See Ex 31.18; 34.29; also Ex 25.16, 21; 40.20; on the name “ark of the covenant,” see, e.g., Ex 30.26; 40.3; Num 4.5; 7.89. Where I meet with you. See 7.89.
17.5 The man whom I choose, i.e., to approach the Lord in ritual; see 16.5, 7. The immediate referent for the complaints is 16.41–50, but see note on 11.1–3 for the complaint stories in general.
17.6–7 Moses carries out the Lord’s commands, although the narrative does not report the writing of the names.
17.7 Before the LORD must mean “before the ark” here; see 17.4.
&n
bsp; 17.7–8 For tent of the covenant, see also 9.15; 18.2. For the tent in general, see notes on 1.1; 2.1–34.
17.8 For other stories of Aaron’s miraculous staff, see Ex 7.8–8.19. Narratives of blossoming staffs, clubs, or spears are found in many cultures.
17.10 The Hebrew word for warning is the same as the word translated sign in 16.38. Against me. Cf. v. 5 (“you,” plural in Hebrew); Ex 16.8.
17.12–13 The Israelites are convinced that only the tribe of Levi should approach the most holy parts of the tabernacle, but they take the warning in v. 10 so seriously that they become afraid that they will always be in danger of trespassing and dying. These verses serve as an introduction to ch. 18, where the Levites are said to guard the tent from trespass by unqualified persons (18.21–22).
HarperCollins Study Bible Page 71