NUMBERS 16

KORAH, DATHAN, + ABIRAM OPPOSE MOSES

One of the direct descendants of Levi and cousins of Moses, a man named Korah, rebells against Moses’ leadership. Although he is a Kohathite, responsible for carrying the holy elements of the tabernacle, he aspires to be more important, undermining who God appointed as priestly leaders. 

Korah enlists two Rubanites, Dathan and Abiram, to build an army of 250 people to try and oppose Moses’ leadership. Korah wants to have a different fate than inevitable death in the wilderness. 

Dathan and Abiram speak about Egypt, the place where they were enslaved, as the Promised Land. Their discontentment in the wilderness and distrust of God allows them to romanticize and distort the past. 

Because of their rebellion, and their absence at an incense offering at the tabernacle, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram are swallowed up by the earth and killed.