Numbers 16: The Usual Suspects

National murmuring turns into outright rebellion in chapter 16 with Korach and his crew directly confronting Moshe. Their question is simple- why is Moshe the leader? Our questions are also simple: Why are they bringing this all up now? Perhaps they are motivated by a combination of a doomed generation and seeing Moshe throw up his hands in the face of constant complaining. (This motivation is vindicated by Moshe falling on his face yet again as his initial reaction to this complaint). Next, who are these conspirators? “Now Korah, son of Izhar son of Kohath son of Levi, along with Datan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—descendants of Reuben and two hundred and fifty Israelites, chieftains of the community…” (verses 2–3). וַיִּקַּח קֹרַח בֶּן־יִצְהָר בֶּן־קְהָת בֶּן־לֵוִי וְדָתָן וַאֲבִירָם בְּנֵי אֱלִיאָב וְאוֹן בֶּן־פֶּלֶת בְּנֵי רְאוּבֵן׃ וַיָּקֻמוּ לִפְנֵי מֹשֶׁה וַאֲנָשִׁים מִבְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל חֲמִשִּׁים וּמָאתָיִם נְשִׂיאֵי עֵדָה קְרִאֵי מוֹעֵד אַנְשֵׁי־שֵׁם׃ (Numbers 16:1–2)Korach is clearly the leader of the group and his complaint is with Moshe and Aaron. Korach was Moshe’s first cousin- the son of Moshe’s uncle. Moshe’s father Amram was the first born of Kehat, Levi’s son, so the complaint is not about a first born right. Korach probably felt that he was at least from the tribe of Levi and should have had a bigger leadership role. The 250 additional people are a mystery. This is the fourth group of “leaders” introduced in Numbers: the 12 princes of the beginning of the chapter, the 70 elders who were appointed to assist Moshe, and the 12 spies. 250 is a also a unique number in Tanach. Some commentators try to work out a mathematical split to say that Korach selected 23 from each tribe as 23 counts as the minimum number for a high court to assess capital cases. Others say that this group was mostly from Levi and Reuven- the two tribes of the main conspirators and was just a random group of people. Datan, Abiram and On, the other named co-conspirators are Reuven. These Reuven representatives must have felt they should have a larger leadership role as descendants of the first born. The tribe of Reuven was situated next to Korach’s family in the layout of the camp, so that could be another reason for their partnership. On is interesting as he never appears again. This leads the Midrash to explain that On either had cold feet or his wife got him drunk to keep him out of trouble later. The Torah must have named him in order to teach a lesson in teshuva. Datan and Abiram give the most chutzpah to Moshe and Aaron by even refusing to meet with them when Moshe summons them. Who are they? They do not appear anywhere else in the Torah. The Midrash speculates that they were the two Israelites whom Moshe tried to stop from fighting and who ratted Moshe out for killing the Egyptian. According to the Midrash, they were also responsible for much of the rabble rousing so far in the wilderness. The Midrash also explains that they were worse then Korach because at least Korach’s sons are saved and are included in Psalms. Datan and Abiram’s entire families are killed. This gives the Midrash license to blame all of the troubles of the past two years on these two troublemakers.