(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Numbers 16:1–11, “Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men: And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, 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 congregation of the LORD? And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face: And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even to morrow the LORD will shew who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him. This do; Take you censers, Korah, and all his company; And put fire therein, and put incense in them before the LORD to morrow: and it shall be that the man whom the LORD doth choose, he shall be holy: ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi. And Moses said unto Korah, Hear, I pray you, ye sons of Levi: Seemeth it but a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them? And he hath brought thee near to him, and all thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee: and seek ye the priesthood also? For which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered together against the LORD: and what is Aaron, that ye murmur against him?”
There is always some jealousy when people are given leadership positions. This is true even if the people are elected to those positions. In this case, the Lord appointed Moses to lead Israel. He was from the tribe of Levi. Levi was Jacob’s third son. Reuben was the firstborn, followed by Simeon and then Levi (See Gen 29: 31-35). In the normal course of events, the leader should come from the tribe of Reuben. However, Reuben lost his place as the firstborn (Gen 49:3–4, “Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.”) Moses was adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter and should not have been in a position of leadership in Israel. Korah was also a member of the tribe of Levi and thought that he should be the leader. He gathered some other people who were also dissatisfied and they established a rebellion against Moses by talking to other people and seeking their support. Moses was a meek man and he didn’t fight for his own place, rather he prayed to the Lord. He was concerned for the integrity of the nation rather than his own position so He went to the Lord. Moses told them to come before the Lord and let the Lord show everyone who was the proper leader. They were not grumbling about Moses or Aaron, they were grumbling about the Lord. They were all to bring censers and see whose censer the Lord would light.
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