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Context No. 283 of 4322 · Numbers

Context · Reflection

Numbers 16:1-7: in context

1Now 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. 2They rose up before Moses, with some of the children of Israel, two hundred fifty princes of the congregation, called to the assembly, men of renown. 3They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, “You take too much on yourself, since all the congregation are holy, everyone of them, and the LORD is among them! Why do you lift yourselves up above the LORD’s assembly?” 4When Moses heard it, he fell on his face. 5He said to Korah and to all his company, “In the morning, the LORD will show who are his, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to him. Even him whom he shall choose, he will cause to come near to him. 6Do this: have Korah and all his company take censers, 7put fire in them, and put incense on them before the LORD tomorrow. It shall be that the man whom the LORD chooses, he shall be holy. You have gone too far, you sons of Levi!”

This is the start of the most serious rebellion against Moses in the wilderness. Korah, a Levite, together with Dathan and Abiram and two hundred and fifty respected leaders of the community, rises up against Moses and Aaron with a challenge that sounds, at first, completely reasonable. You have gone too far, they say. The whole congregation is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. So why do you lift yourselves up above the assembly of the LORD?

The trap in it is that the opening claim is true. God had indeed called all Israel to be a holy people, and the LORD was indeed among them. Korah takes that real truth and bends it into something else, an argument that no one should hold any distinct calling, that any set-apart role is just self-promotion. And underneath the fine principle is a plainer thing. Korah is a Levite who already has a sacred office, and what he actually wants is the priesthood he was not given. The language of everyone is equal is doing the work of I want your place. Moses does not defend himself. He falls on his face, and then he hands the whole question over to God: tomorrow, let each man bring his censer, and the LORD will show whom he has chosen.

It is a warning about how a genuinely true idea can be picked up as a weapon by envy. We are all the same can quietly mean I resent that you were chosen for something and I was not. What fair-sounding principle have I argued, that was really about wanting a place I had not been given?

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