Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Numbers

[Junior]

Why did moses keep mentioning Aaron?

[jimwalton]

The rebellion was against Moses as leader of the nation and against Aaron as high priest. Korah (Num. 16.1) was also a Levite, and so he thought someone else should be given the position instead of just the leader's brother (a bit of accusation of nepotism). The others were Reubenites (Jacob's firstborn), and so they thought they should be leaders. IN the ancient world, the position of leadership often fell to the firstborn. You can see they have a sense of entitlement to the positions filled by Moses and Aaron. They feel they have a certain right to privilege, power, and position, so they stage the coup.

You asked about Aaron in particular. You can see the setup.

• Korah is a Levite: Hey, I should get a turn!
• v. 3: "The whole community is holy." How come Aaron is the only one who gets the prime position? Power to the people!!
• v. 5. Moses is saying, "You claim to be holy like a priest, but you're doing a very unholy thing, here. Let God be the judge."
• v. 6-7. A censer was something a priest held when he came into the presence of God. This is a test for the legitimate priesthood: Aaron or Korah.
• v. 7. Putting coals and incense before the Lord was a priestly task. It was the holiest function of the priestly service—one that brought the priest into the immediate presence of God.
• v. 8: Moses: "You LEVITES!" He was calling out this hypocritical, ungodly insurrection. "Yeah, we'll see who the real high priest is here."
• v. 9-10: Moses: You should have been content with the elevated status God gave you as Levites. But no, you wanted a higher place."
• v. 11: Aaron didn't seize the priesthood for himself, and Moses didn't appoint him to it. It wasn't a power grab, as they are implying. God had called him to it.
• v. 13-14. Then the rebels start impugning Moses, too.
• vv. 6-17, the verses of your question. Aaron is singled out because he is the one they want to toss out of office. Korah is to come, and his whole band of rebels, and Aaron too.

It's about the legitimacy of Aaron in his position as high priest. That's why he's mentioned specifically.

[Junior]

Was Korah the only Levite mentioned to rebell?

[jimwalton]

There were approximately 250 who were part of the rebellion (Numbers 16.2), and we are not told their tribal affiliation. We are only told that they were well-known in the nation and members of (an apparently national) council of some sort. If any of them were Levites, Korah was obviously the figurehead and the mover-and-shaker of the coup (16.5).