One day a man named Korah began to think wrong thoughts about Moses and about Aaron. As time went on, he allowed those wrong thoughts to grow in his mind until they became very wicked. He told others about his thoughts, and soon many people were thinking wicked-ly, too.
Korah belonged to the tribe of Levi, to which tribe Moses and Aaron also belonged. God had chosen that tribe, you remember, to take care of the tabernacle. And he had chosen Aaron, one of that tribe, to be high priest, and Aaron’s sons he had chosen to be priests. No other people except the high priest, the priests, and Moses were permitted to enter the tabernacle. And no other people except the Levites were supposed even to come near the tabernacle, because God had made the tabernacle a holy place and he had separated the Levites from the other tribes to take care of this holy place.
Korah thought, “I also am a Levite, and why am I not so good as Aaron?” And Korah envied Aaron. And two of Korah’s friends, Dathan and Abiram, who belonged to the tribe of Reuben, heard Korah tell about his thoughts, and they said, “We are just as able to be rulers as is this man Moses.” And they went with Korah and with two hundred and fifty other men who despised Moses and Aaron.
Finally all these men came to talk with Moses. They said, “You are lifting yourself above us as though you were some great person. We are just as good as you.” They spoke also against Aaron, for they envied both of these men. And Moses was grieved to hear their words. He knew that he had not set himself up above them as some great person. He knew God had chosen him to be their leader and he was only obeying God. He knew, too, that God had chosen Aaron to be the high priest. These men were not really talking against Moses and Aaron, but against God.
Moses told Korah and the men who were with him to bring cen-sers on the next day, with fire and with sweet incense in them, just as the priests brought censers before the Lord. He told Aaron to bring a censer also, and he said they should prove which man of them God had chosen to be their high priest.
Moses’ words were told through all the camp, and on the next day the rest of the Israelites came with Korah and his friends. And Korah brought them all before the door of the tabernacle. And he took Dathan and Abiram and the two hundred and fifty men and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and every one of them placed a censer before the Lord, and Aaron, too, placed his censer before the Lord. God was greatly displeased, and he told Moses to go quickly away from the people for he was going to destroy them at once. But Moses fell down on his face and cried to God to spare their lives. Because of this God said he would not destroy the Israelites if they would go away from Korah and his friends. When they heard this the people hurried away in every direction, leaving Ko-rah and his friends alone by their tents. Then Moses said, “Now we shall prove whether I have ruled these people by God’s command or whether I have chosen by myself to rule over them. If the ground opens up and swallows these men we shall know that God has called me to do this work.” No sooner had Moses finished speaking than the ground opened up under the feet of Korah and his friends and they fell scream-“to depths of the earth. The Israelites fled in terror when they heard the screams of those who perished, for they thought the earth might swallow them up also.
We might suppose that the people surely would be afraid to speak against the Lord any more, or against his true men. But on the very next day the Israelites began to say, “Moses and Aaron are to blame because Korah and all his friends were killed yesterday. Those were good people, too.”
God beard their words, and he said to Moses and Aaron, “Go away from these people because I am ready to destroy them. They do not deserve to live.” But Moses and Aaron fell down before the Lord again and prayed earnestly for the people. This time God would not hear their prayers. He sent a terrible sickness upon the people and they began to die everywhere in the camp. Moses was afraid they might all die. He told Aaron to take in a censer tire from the altar of burnt offering and burn sweet incense before God. And Aaron ran out among the people carrying the censer in his hand. He stood between those who had died and those who were yet alive. And God stopped the sickness that no more died of it.
Soon after this God commanded each of the twelve tribes to send Moses a rod. And he commanded Moses to write upon each rod the name of the tribe who had sent it. God said that Aaron’s name should be written upon the rod of the tribe of Levi. Then God told Moses to place these twelve rods in the tabernacle before the ark and to leave them there until the next day. And God said, “The man whose rod shall grow is the man whom I choose to be my priest.”
The next day Moses found eleven of the rods looking just the same as when he had placed them before the ark. But the one which had Aaron’s name on it was blossoming like a growing branch upon a tree. Moses showed these rods to the people, and they knew by the sign of Aaron’s blossoming rod that God had chosen him to be the high priest. God commanded Moses to keep Aaron’s rod in the tabernacle so that the people might never forget to honor Aaron and his sons as God’s chosen men for the priesthood.