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The Beginning of the End
Korah and his co-conspirators were among those who went up
with Moses into the mountain and saw the divine glory. But they
had held onto a temptation, though small at first, until their minds
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were controlled by Satan. They first whispered their resentment to
one another and then to some of the leading men of Israel. At last
they really believed that they were driven by zeal for God.
They were successful in recruiting two hundred fifty princes.
With these influential supporters they felt confident of greatly im-
proving the administration of Moses and Aaron.
Jealousy had given rise to envy, and envy to rebellion. They
had deceived themselves and each another into thinking that Moses
and Aaron had themselves taken the positions they held, that these
two leaders had put themselves up into high positions by taking
the priesthood and government. They were no more holy than the
people, and it should be enough for them to be on a level with
their brethren, who were equally favored with God’s presence and
protection.
Korah’s Method: Praise the People
Korah and his associates appealed for the support of the congre-
gation. They declared that it was a mistake to say that it was the
complaining of the people that had brought God’s anger on them.
They said that the congregation were not at fault, since they desired
nothing more than their rights, but that Moses was an unfair and
unreasonable ruler—he had found fault with the people as sinners
when they were a holy people.
Those who listened to Korah thought they clearly saw that their
troubles might have been prevented if Moses had done things differ-
ently. Their exclusion from Canaan was a result of poor management
by Moses and Aaron. If Korah were their leader, and he encour-
aged them by dwelling on their good deeds instead of pointing out
their sins, they would have a very successful journey, and instead
of wandering in the wilderness they would proceed directly to the
Promised Land.
Korah’s success with the people increased his confidence. He
claimed that God had authorized him to make a change in the gov-
ernment before it was too late.