Electronic Bible Stories From Exodus

Soon after their return to the desert, Korah of the tribe of Levi that God had chosen to do His work, and Dathan and Abiram of the tribe of Reuben, along with two hundred and fifty other leaders, their families and followers came forward and opposed Moses. They said to Moses, "You have gone too far. The whole congregation is Holy; why do you set yourselves above the people?"

As is often the case with people who want power, these men weren't concerned for the people, but wanted to be the leaders themselves. They had no right to take over Moses and Aaron's job, even had they had the best interest of the people at heart, which was highly unlikely. They craved authority and wanted to exercise power over the people. Moses had shown by his actions that he was highly concerned with the welfare of the people. When God had said He would destroy all the people and make a great nation of Moses' descendants, Moses had pleaded with God not to do so, and even offered to have his own name removed from God's book of life, in order to save the people.

When Moses heard the accusation of Korah and his followers he bowed down before God and prayed for all concerned. While he was praying God gave him a message for Korah and the others. "Tomorrow morning God will show who belongs to Him and is holy and will serve Him. In the morning all of you take censers and put incense in them and light them before the Lord - the man the Lord chooses will be the one who is holy.

"God has chosen you Levites and separated you from the rest of Israel for the honor of serving Him, to work at God's tabernacle and to minister to all the people. He has brought you all very near to Him but that's not enough for you, you want the priesthood too. Who is Aaron that you should try to usurp him - it is God Himself you have banded together to oppose!"

Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram who were not of the tribe of Levi but of Reuben, but they would not come. "We will not come!" they said, "You have brought us out of a land of plenty into the desert to kill us, and now you want to lord it over us. You haven't brought us into the land flowing with milk and honey as you promised or given us fields and vineyards! Will you next make us all your slaves? No, we will not come!"

When he heard this Moses became very angry and said to God, "Do not accept their offerings! I have not taken a thing from any of them, not so much as a donkey, nor have I wronged any of them."

Then he went to Korah again and told him to come to the tabernacle in the morning with his two hundred and fifty followers, every one with a censer. Korah and Aaron would stand before the tabernacle and God would show who He would choose.

The next morning everyone gathered at the tabernacle with censers of burning incense. The pillar of fire and cloud, the glory of the Lord, appeared and God said to Moses and Aaron, "Get away from this whole assembly of Israel so that I can destroy them right now!"

But Moses and Aaron fell on their faces and prayed to God, "O God, Lord of the spirits of all mankind, will you be angry at everyone for the sins of one man?"

Then God said to Moses, "Tell the people to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram."

So Moses went to the areas where these men were camped and warned all those camped nearby to move back and to not touch anything that belonged to the rebels or they too would be swept away. For once the people listened and obeyed Moses.

Korah, Dathan and Abiram had gone back to their tents and were standing there when Moses said to all within earshot, "If these men and their families die a natural death such as happens to all men then you will know that God has not sent me. But if the Lord sends a new kind of death to them, if the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up, then you will know that these men have treated God with contempt."

As soon as Moses had finished saying these words, the ground under the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram split apart and they and all their families, their tents and their possessions went down into the ground and the earth closed on them. The people round about fled in terror shouting, "The earth is going to swallow us too!"

Then fire came from God and devoured the two hundred and fifty men who were offering incense.

God told Moses, "Have Eleazar, Aaron's son, gather together the censors that the two hundred and fifty men used, for because these censors were used to offer incense before me, they have become holy. Hammer the censors into a sheet to cover the altar." This was done to remind the people that if any except the descendants of Aaron ever offered incense before God as the followers of Korah had done, they would suffer a fate such as Korah's.

Now you might think this would be the end of the matter; that the people would have developed some respect for God and Moses. But the next day most of the people grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, "You have killed God's people." As if Moses and Aaron had the power to open the earth and swallow up those specific people!

Again the glory of God came to the tabernacle and God again, for the fourth time, said to get away from the people so he could destroy them. But again Moses asked for God's mercy. But this time God sent a plague. Moses told Aaron to quickly get a censer, put incense in it and light it from the coals on the altar and go into the midst of the people and make an atonement for their sins. Aaron did so and stood between the living and those who had already died from the plague. God stopped the plague, but not before fourteen thousand seven hundred of the people had died.

God knew that there would be continuing confrontations like this if He did not make His will known specifically. So He had Moses gather the heads of each of the twelve tribe together. Each one was told to carve their name on their staff. Then Moses was to take them, including Aaron's, into the tabernacle and leave them there overnight. God said, "The staff that belongs to the man I choose will sprout and I will rid Myself of this constant grumbling about the leadership of Moses and Aaron."

The next morning Moses brought out the rods and the one with Aaron's name carved on it had sprouted and had buds, blossoms and ripe olives on it. Each man, except Aaron, took his staff. God told Moses to put Aaron's staff back in the tabernacle as a continual sign against those who would grumble against God.

Now the people complained to Moses, "We will die! We are all lost; anyone who comes near the tabernacle will die! We are all going to die!" And of course during the next forty years they all did die.

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