Who is…
Korah

Meaning: ice, hail

This was the name of two biblical men.

1. Korah, son of Esau

   He is the third son of Esau, by the wife Aholibamah (aka Oholibamah) (Genesis 36:14; 1 Chronicles 1:35).

   His full brothers are Jeush and Jalam (aka Jaalam or Yalam).

2. Korah, a Levite who led a wicked revolt against Moses, Aaron and God

   This Levite is a first–cousin of Moses and Aaron. He is a son of Izhar, the brother of Amram, the father of Moses and Aaron (Exodus 6:18-21). Korah’s brothers are Nepheg and Zichri, of which nothing is known.

   Korah’s lack of fear of the Lord, and prideful opposition to God’s instructions, as if they were merely those of Moses and Aaron, led to the death of thousands who participated in his rebellion.

   God’s institution of the Aaronic priesthood and the Levitical service at Sinai was a great religious revolution. The old priesthood of the heads of families passed away. This gave rise to murmurings and discontent, while the Israelites were encamped at Kadesh for the first time, which came to a head in a rebellion against Moses and Aaron, headed by Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

   250 princes, “men of renown” (i.e., well-known men from among the other tribes), joined this conspiracy.

   The whole company demanded of Moses and Aaron that the old state of things be restored (Numbers 16, alleging…

   You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and Yahweh is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of Yahweh? —Numbers 16:3 LSB excerpt

   The next morning Korah and his associates presented themselves at the entrance of the tabernacle, and “they each took his own censer and put fire on it, and laid incense on it.”

   God then opened up the ground swallowing Korah, his co-conspirators, and all their possessions. “So they and all that belonged to them went down to Sheol alive; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly” (Numb. 16:33).

   Then “fire also came forth from Yahweh and consumed the 250 men who were bringing near the incense” (Numbers 16:35).

   God had dramatically and unmistakably signified that these people were in opposition to His will, rather than the will of Moses and Aaron.

   The next day, many still grumbled against Moses and Aaron, still sympathizing in the rebellion, and God immediately sent a plague upon them killing 14,700 Israelites. This was only stopped when Moses told Aaron to go between the living and the dead, and make an “atonement for them” (Numbers 16:47).

   God permitted sons of Korah to live. He punished unrepentant participants, not mere relatives. The descendants of the sons of Korah who did not participate in the rebellion afterwards rose to eminence in Levitical service.

   Descendants of Korah are called Korahites, a name which appears on a number of the Psalms.

   Excavations by the archaeologist Yohanan Aharoni at Tel Arad (1962-1967) uncovered an 8th-century BC piece of pottery (ostracon) with an inscription that listed several family names, among which were “the sons of Korah.”