Numbers 16:1-15
To this sad story of the people in the wilderness is now added an ominous page. The Epistle of Jude gives it this title, "the gainsaying of Core" (Judges 1:11). This incident shows just how far we can be led by the pride of which ch. 15 speaks: a veritable revolt against God. Korah was a Levite of the family of Kohath. Not satisfied with his noble service, he set his heart on the priesthood which the LORD had entrusted to Aaron and to his family. To accomplish the service of the tabernacle, "to stand before the congregation to minister unto them" (v. 9) is not enough for Korah and for his accomplices; they want to go higher. Alas! some Christians are equally discontented with the service the Lord has allocated to them. They want to have importance, to set themselves above others — total contrast with the One who "came not to be ministered unto, but to minister . . . "! (read Mark 10:45).
As for Dathan and Abiram, they dare to apply to Egypt the expression designating the land of Canaan: "a land that floweth with milk and honey" (v. 13). And Moses’s "rule" is to them intolerable (v. 13). These men represent civil rebellion, whereas Korah personifies religious apostasy.