Korah's Revolt

What usually happens to great armies, especially after a failure — that they are hard to please and hard to govern — now happened to the Jews. They numbered six hundred thousand, and because of their great numbers they were not readily obedient to their rulers even in good times; and now they were angrier than usual, both with one another and with their leader, because of the distress they were in and the hardships they were suffering. A revolt overtook them such as has no parallel among either Greeks or barbarians. It put them in danger of being destroyed altogether, but they were saved nonetheless by Moses, who chose not to remember that they had nearly stoned him to death. Nor did God fail to prevent their ruin. In spite of the insults they had offered their lawgiver and the laws, and their disobedience to the commandments he had sent them through Moses, he delivered them from the terrible disasters this revolt would have brought on them without his providential care. So I will first explain the cause of this revolt, then give an account of the revolt itself, and also of the arrangements made for their government after it was over.

Korah was a Hebrew of high standing, both by family and by wealth, a good speaker who could easily win the people over with his speeches. He saw that Moses held a very high position, resented it, and envied him for it. He was of the same tribe as Moses and related to him, and it galled him particularly, because he thought he deserved that honored post more, on account of his great wealth, and was not his inferior by birth. So he raised an outcry against Moses among the Levites, who were of the same tribe, and especially among his own relatives. It was a very sad thing, he said, that they should overlook Moses while he hunted after glory and paved the way to it for himself, getting it by underhanded methods under the pretense of God’s command. Against the laws, he had given the priesthood to Aaron — not by the common vote of the people but by his own, handing out honors like a tyrant to whomever he pleased. This hidden way of imposing on them, he added, was harder to bear than open force, because Moses was taking away their power not only without their consent but without their even knowing what he was plotting against them. Whoever knows in his heart that he deserves an honor tries to win it by persuasion, not by arrogant violence; but those who believe they cannot gain honors justly put on a show of goodness instead of using force, and grow wickedly powerful by cunning tricks. It was right, he said, for the people to punish such men while they still thought their designs were hidden, and not to let them gather strength until they had them for open enemies. Then he added: “What reason can Moses give for having bestowed the priesthood on Aaron and his sons? If God had decided to give that honor to one of the tribe of Levi, I am more worthy of it than he is, since I am Moses’ equal by family and his superior in both wealth and age. But if God had decided to give it to the eldest tribe, Reuben’s would have the best right to it, and then Dathan, Abiram and Peleth would have it; for these are the oldest men of that tribe, and powerful because of their great wealth too.” [a]

In saying this Korah wanted to seem concerned for the public good, but in reality he was trying to get the people to transfer that honor to himself. So he spoke to the men of his own tribe, with malice but in plausible words. As these words gradually spread to more people, and the listeners kept adding to the slanders cast on Aaron, the whole army became full of them. Two hundred and fifty men conspired with Korah, and leading men at that, eager to take the priesthood away from Moses’ brother and to bring him into disgrace. Even the common people were provoked to revolt. They tried to stone Moses, and gathered together in an unseemly way, with confusion and disorder. Now they were all raising a tumultuous outcry before the tabernacle of God, to bring the tyrant to justice and free the people from slavery to a man who laid harsh commands on them under color of God’s orders. For if it had been God who chose the man to serve as priest, they said, he would have raised a worthy person to that dignity, and would not have produced one inferior to many others or given him that office; and if he had judged it right to give it to Aaron, he would have left it to the people to bestow, and not left it to be bestowed by Aaron’s own brother.

Moses had foreseen this slander of Korah’s long before, and he saw that the people were stirred up; yet he was not frightened. He took courage, because he had given them sound advice about their affairs and knew that his brother had been made a sharer of the priesthood at God’s command and not by his own favor. He came to the assembly. To the crowd he said not a word, but he spoke to Korah as loudly as he could. He was very skilled at speaking, and had this natural gift, among others, that he could stir a crowd deeply with his words. “Korah, you and every one of these” — he pointed to the two hundred and fifty men — “seem to me worthy of honor. Nor do I deny that this whole company may be worthy of the same dignity, even if they are not as rich or as great as you are. I did not take this office and give it to my brother because he excelled others in wealth, for you surpass us both in the size of your fortune; nor because he was of a distinguished family, for God, by giving us the same common ancestor, has made our families equal; no, nor out of brotherly affection, which another man might still have justly acted on. Certainly, unless I had given this honor out of regard for God and his laws, I would not have passed over myself and given it to another, since I am nearer kin to myself than to my brother, and closer to myself than I am to him. Surely it would not be wise of me to expose myself to the dangers of wrongdoing, and then hand the fortunate post on that account to someone else. But I am above such base practices. Nor would God have overlooked this matter and let himself be despised in this way, or left you ignorant of what you must do to please him. He has himself chosen the one who is to perform that sacred office for him, and so freed us from any blame in the matter. [d]

“Still, so that Aaron may not seem to have received it as a favor from me rather than by God’s judgment, he lays it open to be contested by anyone who wants it. He does not claim it because he was preferred before and already holds it; he asks only to be allowed now to contend for it too. He prefers your peace, and your living without discord, to this honored post — though in truth it was with your approval that he received it. For what God gave, we would have done no wrong in taking even against your wishes. Yet it would have been impious not to take that honored post when God offered it; and again, it would be wholly unreasonable to claim to hold it for all time unless God made it secure for us. However, God himself will judge again whom he wants to offer sacrifices to him on our behalf and to have charge of matters of religion; for it is absurd that Korah, out of ambition for this honor, should deprive God of the power to give it to whom he pleases.

“So put an end to your revolt and disturbance over this. Tomorrow morning, every one of you who wants the priesthood is to bring a censer from home and come here with incense and fire. And you, Korah, leave the judgment to God, and wait to see on which side he will give his decision in this matter; but do not make yourself greater than God. Come too, so that this contest over the honored post may be decided. I suppose we may admit Aaron to this test without offense, since he is of the same lineage as you and has done nothing in his priesthood open to objection. Come together, then, and offer your incense in public before all the people. When you offer it, the man whose sacrifice God accepts will be ordained to the priesthood, and so will put an end to the slander about my brother, that I granted him the honor as a favor.”