John Gill Commentary Numbers 16

Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of
Levi
A great grandson of Levi's, and own cousin to Moses and Aaron, being brothers children; for Amram the father of Moses and Aaron, and Izhar the father of Korah, were own brothers, both of them the sons of Kohath, and Amram the eldest, and Izhar the next, (Exodus 6:16Exodus 6:18Exodus 6:21); this man is mentioned first, being the contriver, and plotter, and ringleader of the following sedition, and which is called "the gainsaying of Core", (Jude 1:11); when this was made is not certain; Aben Ezra thinks this affair happened in the wilderness of Sinai, when the firstborn were exchanged, and the Levites were separated for holy service, (Numbers 3:1Numbers 3:6Numbers 3:12Numbers 3:14); but, according to the Targum of Jonathan, it was after the law concerning the fringes was given, from which it here follows, and was on that account; for it says, that Korah took his coat, which was all blue, and that the men with him rose up, and in the face of Moses taught the rite concerning the blue ribbon; when Moses declared he had it from God, that the fringe should be of white, and one thread of blue should be in it; but Korah and his company made their coats and fringes all of blue, which the Lord commanded not:

but what Korah is said to take is either himself, or men, or both, and not clothes, as follows:

and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth ,
sons of Reuben, took [men] ;
which men are described in (Numbers 16:2), even princes of the assembly or he, Korah, took himself, as Ben Melech, or divided himself, as Onkelos, separated himself from the congregation, and set himself at the head of a party he gathered together; and the "vau" or "and" before "Dathan" may be additional or superfluous, as Chaskuni observes, and so Abendana; and then the sense is, that Korah took Dathan, Abiram and On, apart by themselves, and entered into a consultation and confederacy with them against Moses and Aaron, with whom he was offended on account of the priesthood being bestowed on the latter by the former; and these men he associated to him, being the sons of Reuben, who would the rather listen to him, and join with him, because the right of the firstborn was taken from them, and the camp of Judah was placed before them; and with these men he could more easily commune, because the camp of Reuben and the Kohathites lay on the same side of the tabernacle, (Numbers 2:10) (3:29);

Eliab, the father of Dathan and Abiram, was the son of Pallu, the second son of Reuben, (Numbers 26:5Numbers 26:8); but as for On, no mention is made of him elsewhere, nor any more in this place; it is thought he separated from his company after he had heard what Moses said to them; and the Rabbins say, his wife delivered him out of their hands, as Abendana observes.

And they rose up before Moses
To his face, openly and publicly, in a bold and audacious manner; with impudence, as the Targum of Jonathan:

with certain of the children of Israel ;
some out of the several tribes, but perhaps chiefly of the tribe of Reuben, as Jarchi:

two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly ;
or "congregation" ^F9 , who were princes in the several tribes to which they belonged, heads of houses and families of their fathers, rulers of thousands, hundreds, &c.

famous in the congregation ;
or "called" ^F11 to the tabernacle of the congregation; who, when the great men among the people were gathered together to consult about any affair, were called, as Ben Melech observes:

men of renown ,
or "of name" ^F12 ; in high esteem among the people for their birth and rank, their wealth and riches, wisdom and prudence; and were so before they came out of Egypt, as Aben Ezra remarks; so that the persons concerned in this rebellion were not the mob and dregs of the people, but men of the greatest figure and fame, and therefore was likely to be of bad consequence.

FOOTNOTES:

• F9: (hde) "congregationis", Pagninus.
• F11: (yarq) "vocati", Montanus, Drusius.
• F12: (Mv yvna) "viri nominis", Montanus, Drusius.

And they gathered themselves together against Moses, and
against Aaron
They met together by appointment, and went up in a body to Moses and Aaron:

and said unto them, [you take] too much upon you ;
the one to be king, and the other to be priest; for they imagined that Moses took the civil government intohis hands, and Aaron the priesthood, of themselves, without any call of God to either; but the contrary ismost certain, (Hebrews 3:2) (5:4) ; the Israelites, those of the other tribes besides Levi and Reuben,thought that Moses took too much upon him of his own head, to take the Levites instead of the firstborn, andconfer a dignity on his own brethren, the sons of Kohath, who were near akin to him, and on all the sons ofLevi, as Aben Ezra observes; and the Levites they conspired against him, because they were given to Aaron andhis sons; and Dathan and Abiram entered into a conspiracy, as the same writer thinks, because he had removedthe birthright from Reuben their father, and had given it to Joseph; for it is probable they suspected him,because of Joshua his minister; and Jarchi conjectures that Korah was angry because Moses has conferred thegovernment of the Kohathites on Elizaphan, the son of Uzziel, the youngest son of Kohath, when he himself,Korah, was the eldest son of an elder son of Kohath:

or "it is", or "let it be enough for you" ^F13 ; or more than enough, as Jarchi; it is sufficient that you have had the government, both in things civil andreligious, so long as you have; it is time to give it up to others, who are as well qualified as yourselves.The time past may suffice for the exercise of your despotic and arbitrary power; though it seems to bechiefly levelled against Aaron, and his priesthood, which they thought Moses had conferred on his brother ofhimself, any instruction from God:

seeing all the congregation [are] holy, everyone of them ;
having all heard the words of the Lord on Sinai, as Jarchi notes; and were all fit to be priests, and tooffer sacrifice in and for their families, as they had used to do, before the separation of Aaron and hissons to the priesthood:

and the Lord [is] among them ;
in the tabernacle, to whom they could approach and offer their offerings without a priest to do it forthem:

wherefore then lift you up yourselves above the congregation of the
Lord ?
since they were all upon a level, everyone holy to the Lord, and might draw nigh unto him, and officiate aspriests; wherefore they represent it as great pride and vanity in them; in Moses to take upon him to disposeof the priesthood at his pleasure, and make Aaron the high priest of the people; and in Aaron to take thisoffice upon him, and to be an high priest, and not all the sons of Levi, but over all the children ofIsrael.

FOOTNOTES:

• F13: (br) "sat est vel satis sit", Pagninus, Vatablus, Drusius, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so Aben Ezra.

And when Moses heard [it]
What they said, their complaint against him, for setting up Aaron for an high priest, and against Aaron for taking this honour to himself:

he fell upon his face ;
through shame, as the Targum of Jonathan, blushing at their sin, in opposing the ordinance of God; and through fear of the divine displeasure, and of the wrath of God coming upon them for such wickedness; and in order to pray to God for them to make them sensible of their sin, and give them repentance for it, and pardon of it, and avert his judgments from them such a conduct called aloud for.

And he spoke to Korah, and to all his company The two hundred fifty princes that were with him; what follows was said to them apart from Dathan and Abiram, who seem not to be present at this time; and this was after Moses had finished his prayer to God, and had received instructions from him, by an impulse on his mind, what he should say to them, and was now risen up from the earth he fell upon:

saying, even tomorrow the Lord will show who are his ; his priests, whom he had chosen, and put into that office; this he would make known so clearly and plainly, that there would be no room left to doubt of it, and which was revealed to Moses while upon his face in prayer to God:

and who is holy ; or whom he has separated to such an holy office and service:

and will cause him to come near to him ; and do his work as a priest, without fear of danger, and without any hurt, which is suggested would befall others; and they may expect it, who intrude themselves into such an office, and engage their hearts in a bold audacious manner, to draw nigh to God in it:

even him whom he has chosen will he cause to come near to him : meaning Aaron with his sons, whom the Lord would make to appear that he had chosen, and put into the office of priesthood, and that it was not what Moses did of himself.