Korah's Rebellion

Numbers 16:1-50 NIV
(1) Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi,
and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and
On son of Peleth—became insolent
(2) and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite
men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed
members of the council.
(3) They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said
to them, "You have gone too far! The whole community is holy,
every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you
set yourselves above the LORD's assembly?"
(4) When Moses heard this, he fell facedown.
(5) Then he said to Korah and all his followers: "In the
morning the LORD will show who belongs to him and who is holy,
and he will have that person come near him. The man he chooses
he will cause to come near him.
(6) You, Korah, and all your followers are to do this: Take
censers
(7) and tomorrow put fire and incense in them before the
LORD. The man the LORD chooses will be the one who is holy.
You Levites have gone too far!"
(8) Moses also said to Korah, "Now listen, you Levites!
(9) Isn't it enough for you that the God of Israel has
separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and
brought you near himself to do the work at the LORD's
tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to
them?
(10) He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near
himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood too.
(11) It is against the LORD that you and all your followers
have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble
against him?"
(12) Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of
Eliab. But they said, "We will not come!
(13) Isn't it enough that you have brought us up out of a
land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the desert? And
now you also want to lord it over us?
(14) Moreover, you haven't brought us into a land flowing
with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and
vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we
will not come!"
(15) Then Moses became very angry and said to the LORD, "Do
not accept their offering. I have not taken so much as a
donkey from them, nor have I wronged any of them."
(16) Moses said to Korah, "You and all your followers are to
appear before the LORD tomorrow—you and they and Aaron.
(17) Each man is to take his censer and put incense in it—250
censers in all—and present it before the LORD. You and Aaron
are to present your censers also."
(18) So each man took his censer, put fire and incense in it,
and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of
Meeting.
(19) When Korah had gathered all his followers in opposition
to them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the glory of
the LORD appeared to the entire assembly.
(20) The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
(21) "Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an
end to them at once."
(22) But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, "O God,
God of the spirits of all mankind, will you be angry with the
entire assembly when only one man sins?"
(23) Then the LORD said to Moses,
(24) "Say to the assembly, 'Move away from the tents of
Korah, Dathan and Abiram.'"
(25) Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the
elders of Israel followed him.
(26) He warned the assembly, "Move back from the tents of
these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or
you will be swept away because of all their sins."
(27) So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and
Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing with
their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to
their tents.
(28) Then Moses said, "This is how you will know that the
LORD has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my
idea:
(29) If these men die a natural death and experience only
what usually happens to men, then the LORD has not sent me.
(30) But if the LORD brings about something totally new, and
the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything
that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the grave,
then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with
contempt."
(31) As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under
them split apart
(32) and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with
their households and all Korah's men and all their
possessions.
(33) They went down alive into the grave, with everything
they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and
were gone from the community.
(34) At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled,
shouting, "The earth is going to swallow us too!"
(35) And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men
who were offering the incense.
(36) The LORD said to Moses,
(37) "Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to take the
censers out of the smoldering remains and scatter the coals
some distance away, for the censers are holy—
(38) the censers of the men who sinned at the cost of their
lives. Hammer the censers into sheets to overlay the altar,
for they were presented before the LORD and have become holy.
Let them be a sign to the Israelites."
(39) So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers
brought by those who had been burned up, and he had them
hammered out to overlay the altar,
(40) as the LORD directed him through Moses. This was to
remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron
should come to burn incense before the LORD, or he would
become like Korah and his followers.
(41) The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled
against Moses and Aaron. "You have killed the LORD's people,"
they said.
(42) But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses
and Aaron and turned toward the Tent of Meeting, suddenly the
cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared.
(43) Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of
Meeting,
(44) and the LORD said to Moses,
(45) "Get away from this assembly so I can put an end to them
at once." And they fell facedown.
(46) Then Moses said to Aaron, "Take your censer and put
incense in it, along with fire from the altar, and hurry to
the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out
from the LORD; the plague has started."
(47) So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of
the assembly. The plague had already started among the people,
but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them.
(48) He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague
stopped.
(49) But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to
those who had died because of Korah.
(50) Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent
of Meeting, for the plague had stopped.

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Have you heard Christ died for our sins, and God raised Him
from the dead? Did you know God saves you from hell and
gives you eternal life through faith in this finished work alone,
not your merits (Jn. 3:16; 1 Cor. 15:1-3; Eph. 2:8-10; 2 Thess.
1:8-9)? This is so man cannot boast, and God alone gets the
glory (Eph. 2:8-9).
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