Korah
son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan
and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent and
rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community
leaders who had been appointed members of the council. They came as a group to
oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole
community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them.
Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s
assembly?” Numbers 16:1-3
In the story
of Korah and his family, God punished them for grumbling against Moses, the
leader God put into place. Korah’s party
felt they were superior and deserved to be put into position.
God had them
swallowed up in the earth, while consuming others with fire. Then, when the people were upset at God for
the way He handled Korah, God sent a plague that started to consume them.
Grumbling
splits unity and creates chaos. God
hates that. He wants people to follow
Him and that means following the people God has put into place. By grumbling, the people were saying they
didn’t trust God or the people He put into place. God needed to punish them quickly before the
disease of disunity spread too far.