Difficulties with the Text of the Korah Story

The story of the rebellion of Korah, Datan and Abiram and the 250 elders is a classic example of an “unreadable” narrative. This may seem like a surprising claim to people who have been reading it for years but a careful look at the narrative uncovers many glitches that are difficult to explain.

Before looking at the story in detail, we would like to enumerate several questions that a first reading of the text elicits. Although it is possible to suggest creative answers for any one of these questions, the power of the models suggested by academic biblical scholarship is that they provide a single over-arching hypothesis about the composition of this unit that resolves many, if not all, of the questions. We will explore three main models that develop different understandings of the history of the composition of this passage in their attempt to address many of these questions:

1. The opening of the passage (v. 1) “Korah took,” seems truncated—what or who did he take?

2. How does the opening phrase (v. 1) “and Korah took” fit with the second verb in the phrase (v. 2) “they rose up against”?

3. What was bothering Korah and the chieftains? One verse (v. 3) says that they complained that all of Israel is holy, so why should Moses and Aaron be the leaders. Other verses (vv. 7-10) imply that this was about Korah and his fellow Levites objecting to the status of Aaron as a kohen (priest), a status they wanted themselves.

4. Were the chieftains Levites or Israelites?

5. Did they gather against Moses (v. 2) or Moses and Aaron (v. 3)?

6. If Datan and Abiram came with Korah, where did they disappear to such that Moses needs to call them (v. 12)?

7. Why is the complaint of Datan and Abiram (vv. 13-14) so different than the original complaint of the rebel group (v. 3)? Are they bothered by the failure to enter Israel or the arrogance of Moses and Aaron in making themselves leaders?

8. What made these Reubenites join the Levites and Chieftains in this rebellion (vv. 1-2)?

9. Why does the phrase “Korah and his group” appear in the 3^rd person (v. 6) if Moses is talking to Korah and his group at that moment?

10. Does the test with the fire-pans transpire immediately or the next day? Moses says tomorrow (vv. 5, 16) but the description of the event makes it sound as if it happens at the same time as the death of Datan and Abiram (vv. 18-22, 35).

11. Why does Moses finish his speech (vv. 5-7) only to begin another one (vv. 8-11)?

12. Why does Moses repeat the fire-pan test instructions (vv. 16-17)?

13. Why does Moses want Datan and Abiram to come to him (v. 12)? Are they supposed to have fire-pans as well but they refuse? Does he just want to talk to them? If so, why?

14. When Moses gets offended at Datan and Abiram’s speech, what does he mean by asking God not to take heed of their offering (v. 15)? They don’t make an offering!

15. Why does Moses mention that he didn’t take their donkeys (v. 15)? Datan and Abiram never said that he did take their donkeys.

16. Where is Moses during the fire-pan test (v. 35)? It seems that he was supposed to be there (v. 18) but he already went to Datan and Abiram’s camp (v. 25) and the text doesn’t indicate that he returned before the incense offerings began. Do the chieftains just show up and do the test? Was Aaron left in charge (v. 16)?

17. How is it the verse says there are only 250 fire-pans (v. 17)? Doesn’t Aaron have one (vv. 16-17)? What about Korah (ibid)? Shouldn’t the number be 251 or 252? Shouldn’t 251 people have been killed, assuming Korah also lit a fire-pan (v. 35)?

18. Where are the Israelites during all this? Are they watching the Datan and Abiram test (vv. 25-27, 34) or the fire-pan test (vv. 19-24) or both?

19. What happened to On (vv. 1, 27)?

20. When referring to Datan and Abiram’s abode, why does Moses use the singular “mishkan” (v. 24) and the plural “tents” (v. 26)?

21. Where was Korah in all this and how did he die? Some verses locate him with Datan and Abiram when the earth opened its mouth (vv. 24, 27, 32). Others seem to imply that he was to be one of the incense offerers (v. 16-17). Which is it?

Other References to the Story

Elements of this story are mentioned in other biblical texts, none of which agrees with the complete story found in Numbers 16:

• In Deuteronomy 11:6 only Datan and Abiram are mentioned as being swallowed by the earth. Korah is not mentioned at all.

• Psalm 106:16-18 refers to Datan and Abiram being swallowed by the earth and to rebels burning in flames, but not to Korah.

• In Num. 26:9-11, only Korah “and his band” are listed as one of those swallowed by the earth.

• In Num. 17. 5, Korah is said to have burned up in the flames along with the 250 chieftains.

• The daughters of Zelophchad refer to Korah only in Num. 27:3 as having died in a rebellion; no details are added.^[1]

The Broad Outline

The biblical text narrates a rebellion led by Korah, Datan, Abiram (and On), and 250 chieftains, against Moses and Aaron and the punishments they receive.

Many of the internal contradictions and inconsistencies and problems of narrative flow, as well as the contradictions between Numbers 16 and other tellings of the story were noted by classical rabbinic and medieval interpreters. In general, these sources offer ad hoc explanations to each difficulty. Modern academic biblical scholars have instead tried to address these issues by showing how the text that we now have was woven together from more than one source. But the devil is in the details. In the following sections, we will explore a few models, starting with the simplest and most famous, the Documentary Hypothesis.

Note: This case study is a work in progress. Over time, we hope to include other possibilities as appendices, including traditional and literary approaches, and analyze the pros and cons of each.

The Text