The Censers and the Plague

The rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram did not begin with a whisper. It began with a public accusation leveled at Moses and Aaron in front of two hundred and fifty princes of the congregation, men of renown. The charge was precise: “Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” The claim was not that the leaders were corrupt, but that they were unnecessary. If all were holy, then the priesthood was an offense.

Moses did not argue the point. He fell on his face, then gave instructions for a test. The next morning, Korah and his company were to take censers, put fire and incense in them, and stand before the Lord. The Lord would show whom he had chosen. Moses pressed the question further to the sons of Levi: Was it a small thing that the God of Israel had separated them from the congregation, brought them near to himself, to do the service of the tabernacle and to minister to the congregation? Yet they sought the priesthood also. The rebellion was not against Moses and Aaron, Moses said. It was against the Lord.

Dathan and Abiram refused to come up when summoned. They accused Moses of bringing them out of a land flowing with milk and honey—Egypt, they called it—only to kill them in the wilderness and make himself a prince over them. They refused to be led. Moses was very wroth and told the Lord not to respect their offering. He had taken nothing from them, he said, and hurt no one.

The next morning, Korah assembled all the congregation at the door of the tent of meeting. The glory of the Lord appeared. The Lord told Moses and Aaron to separate themselves so he could consume the whole congregation in a moment. They fell on their faces and asked: “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?” The Lord answered by telling the congregation to get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

Moses went to Dathan and Abiram, with the elders following. He warned the congregation to depart from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs, lest they be consumed in all their sins. Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. Moses announced a sign: if these men died a common death, then the Lord had not sent him. But if the ground opened its mouth and swallowed them alive into Sheol, then the people would understand that these men had despised the Lord.

As soon as Moses finished speaking, the ground split open. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, and all the men that appertained to Korah, and all their goods. They went down alive into Sheol. The earth closed over them. All Israel fled at the cry of them, afraid the earth would swallow them too. Then fire came from the Lord and devoured the two hundred and fifty men who had offered incense.

The Lord told Moses to speak to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest. Eleazar was to take up the bronze censers out of the burning and scatter the fire yonder, because the censers had been offered before the Lord and were holy. They were to be beaten into plates for a covering of the altar, a memorial to the children of Israel that no stranger who was not of the seed of Aaron should come near to burn incense before the Lord, lest he be as Korah and his company.

But the next day, the whole congregation murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, “Ye have killed the people of the Lord.” The cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord appeared. The Lord told Moses and Aaron to get up from among the congregation so he could consume them in a moment. They fell on their faces. Moses told Aaron to take his censer, put fire from the altar and incense on it, and carry it quickly to the congregation to make atonement. Wrath had gone out from the Lord; the plague had begun.

Aaron did as Moses said. He ran into the midst of the assembly, put on the incense, and made atonement for the people. He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stayed. Those who died by the plague numbered fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died about the matter of Korah. Aaron returned to Moses at the door of the tent of meeting, and the plague was stayed.