קֹרַח  
Korach / To Remove One’s Covering
Numbers 16:1-18:32
1 Samuel 11:14-12:22
Romans 13:1-7

     This is the Parshat about rebellion. The story of Korach and his ability to rise up and take men of renowned stature to rebel against Moshe and Aaron is familiar to all of us. But there are some questions: why did Korach rise up, and how was it possible for him to take, persuade, or seduce men of importance to join him in his uprising?   And why did God use the earth to swallow him up?  This is the only time in Scripture that God uses that type of punishment. 
     Numbers 16:1-3 ‘Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men; 2 and they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown.’  Notice how Scripture tells us he took men, almost as if to steal. 
     Rebellion begins somewhere. It is born out of a motive for self and self-gratification: a hurt, an enabling attitude, but mostly jealousy. Jealousy was the beginning of the end for Cain, jealousy caused Miriam to be put out of the camp for seven days, the disciples argued among themselves because of jealousy, and jealousy was the demise of Korach. The spirit of jealousy began with HaSatan desiring to be like God and carries through to this day.  It is the self-portrait of our image that gives rise to jealousy. 
    Korach’s beginning complaint was much like that of Miriam’s. Numbers 16:3 ‘You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?’ And Miriam’s, Numbers 12:2 ‘So they said, 'Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?’
     Everyone can speak and pray to God, that wasn’t necessarily the debate, but it was Moshe whom God appointed to lead, and he was and is the example, Numbers 12:3. 
   So what birthed Korach’s insatiable jealousy? He was a man of importance, a Levite and responsible for carrying the Mishkan's vessels through the desert, as we read in Numbers 4:1-3 and specifically Numbers 4:15.  The entire chapter four details who was to cover the vessels in blue cloth and who was responsible for carrying the vessels.  Even though it is clear that the Kohath family (Korach) would carry the vessels, it was Aaron and his sons who would prepare the vessels for travel, Numbers 4:4-6. 
    Numbers 4:15 and 4:17-20 shows us the authority of Aaron over the Kohathites, specifically the second half of Numbers 4:19, where the Kohathites were even told their task. ‘Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint each of them to his service and his task.’ 
    If the family of Kohath even so much as saw the holy vessels, they would die – but Aaron, his sons and Moshe would not. Is that where the jealousy began?  If so, then why not just admit it? But, Numbers 16:2 states: Korach ‘rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown.’
    This is the Parshat about rebellion. The story of Korach and his ability to rise up and take men of renowned stature to rebel against Moshe and Aaron is familiar to all of us. But there are some questions: why did Korach rise up, and how was it possible for him to take, persuade, or seduce men of importance to join him in his uprising?   And why did God use the earth to swallow him up?  This is the only time in Scripture that God uses that type of punishment. 
     Numbers 16:1-3 ‘Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men; 2 and they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown.’  Notice how Scripture tells us he took men, almost as if to steal. 
     Rebellion begins somewhere. It is born out of a motive for self and self-gratification: a hurt, an enabling attitude, but mostly jealousy. Jealousy was the beginning of the end for Cain, jealousy caused Miriam to be put out of the camp for seven days, the disciples argued among themselves because of jealousy, and jealousy was the demise of Korach. The spirit of jealousy began with HaSatan desiring to be like God and carries through to this day.  It is the self-portrait of our image that gives rise to jealousy. 
    Korach’s beginning complaint was much like that of Miriam’s. Numbers 16:3 ‘You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?’ And Miriam’s, Numbers 12:2 ‘So they said, 'Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?’
     Everyone can speak and pray to God, that wasn’t necessarily the debate, but it was Moshe whom God appointed to lead, and he was and is the example, Numbers 12:3. 
   So what birthed Korach’s insatiable jealousy? He was a man of importance, a Levite and responsible for carrying the Mishkan's vessels through the desert, as we read in Numbers 4:1-3 and specifically Numbers 4:15.  The entire chapter four details who was to cover the vessels in blue cloth and who was responsible for carrying the vessels.  Even though it is clear that the Kohath family (Korach) would carry the vessels, it was Aaron and his sons who would prepare the vessels for travel, Numbers 4:4-6. 
    Numbers 4:15 and 4:17-20 shows us the authority of Aaron over the Kohathites, specifically the second half of Numbers 4:19 where the Kohathites were even told their task. ‘Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint each of them to his service and his task.’ 
    If the family of Kohath even so much as saw the holy vessels they would die – but Aaron, his sons and Moshe would not. Is that where the jealousy began?  If so, then why not just admit it? But, Numbers 16:2 states: Korach ‘rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown.’
     He came prepared with backup, ‘See? All these people agree with me!’ He spins it, as did Miriam – ‘We are all holy! No one should be the leader! We are all equal and all able to lead! We are all number 1!’
     This ideology gave muscle to his complaint among the followers as they swallowed the Kool-Aid.  Korach didn’t care about the others, just like Miriam didn’t care about the camp, as her murmuring made the camp immobile for seven days, revealing the true problem; herself.  Korach’s desire was to dismantle the leadership and loft his image to himself and others. 
    After the charge against Moshe, Korach, is given until the next day to ‘see who is holy’. Moshe plans through God to debunk the charges, Numbers 16:4-11. Eventually, Korach and his household are swallowed up by the earth, Numbers 16:31-33. The 250 men that rose up with Korach are consumed by fire, Numbers 16:35. But why swallow?
    Back to Numbers 4, when Aaron is told to cover the vessels, the Hebrew words are כְּסוּי֙   וְכִ֨סּוּ־בָ֔הּ   וְכִסּ֞וּ : to conceal, to cover. Until Numbers 4:20, the word is 
בַלַּ֥ע  b‘ l a which means to swallow. 
   The holy vessels are covered/swallowed. Korach’s claim was that he was holy/Kodesh, was he likening himself to the holy vessels and spinning the Word of God as he proclaimed in Numbers 16:3: “You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” 
    Korach’s arrogance is apparent right up to the bitter end in Numbers 16:19 as he doesn’t take the time to gather away from the Mishkan, but rather right in front of it. ‘And Korah gathered all the congregation against them at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.’ 
 Even though in Numbers 16:8-11, Moshe rebukes Korach, telling him about the position God had gifted him with, he still sought to exalt himself. 
     Since Korach was replacing the Mishkan of God in the wilderness with himself as a holy place, God referred to him in that way before he was swallowed.  In Numbers 16:23-24, God tells the people to get away from the tent of Korach. But the Hebrew words are: Mishkan of Korach, לְמִשְׁכַּן־קֹ֖רַח    
     Korach wasn’t concerned with the masses, only with himself. It is taught that he ‘fell into the trap of his distorted self-perception’. He couldn’t see how important his role was. But others could, which is why it was so easy for him to round up, or as Scriptures state, ‘to take’ renowned men. He convinced men to follow him, for he used the deception of ‘we are all holy’. When in truth he was out for himself. 
    Korach was a spiritual narcissist, believing that his spiritual wisdom made him more special than others. We see this when someone approaches us with ‘God gave me a word for you.’ The person saying this just tried to elevate themselves above you by stating that they had received a word directly from God about you, yet you were not in the loop.
     Korach is the spirit of division and the spirit of strife. God is, of course, the spirit of peace. The Spirit of Strife and the Spirit of Peace are two definite spirits; however, Numbers 16:22 states that God is the creator of all, “Then they fell on their faces, and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and You be angry with all the congregation?” The Hebrew is אל אלהי הרוחת לכל בשר El Elohey haruchoth lechol basar.    Ha- The   Ruchot- Spirits   Lechol- of all    Basar-flesh/meat.  This same Hebrew sequence is repeated in Numbers 27:16. 
    The spirit of strife plays on discontentment.  People with a grudge are more intent on overthrowing the current leader than on any constructive plan or action of their own. “Hate defeats rationality,” the sages teach.  Injured pride, the feeling that honor should have gone to them, has led to destructive and self-destructive action for as long as humans have existed on earth.  We see a picture of this type of jealousy when Peninnah would provoke Hannah, when Saul was against David, when the brothers assaulted Joseph, and when the Sanhedrin came against Yeshua.
    Micah 2:1 ‘Woe to those who scheme iniquity, who work out evil on their beds! When morning comes, they do it, for it is in the power of their hands.’
    Isaiah 5:21 ‘Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight!’
    God follows this spectacle of rebellion and death with confirmation of the leaders, Aaron and Moshe. Numbers 17:10-11 ‘And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Bring Aaron’s rod back before the Testimony, to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put their complaints away from Me, lest they die.” Thus did Moses; just as the Lord had commanded him, so he did.’