Mutiny

After the report of the spies, the people of Israel turn against Moses in the wilderness and propose to depose him and return to Egypt under a leader of their own choosing. The same refusal returns as open revolt under Korah (Num 16), and Jude makes it the apostolic warning.

Israel Against Moses

The proposal is stated openly: "And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt." (Num 14:4). The plan rejects both the leadership Moses holds and the destination toward which he has been bringing them, and substitutes a captain of the people's own choice to take them back the way they came. Joshua and Caleb alone counsel otherwise: "Only don't rebel against [the Speech of] Yahweh, neither be⁺ afraid of the people of the land …" (Num 14:9), and the congregation answers by ordering them stoned (Num 14:10).

Korah's Rebellion

What the people propose in murmuring, Korah executes as open revolt against the leadership Yahweh has set. "Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took [men]: and they rose up before Moses, with certain of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the congregation, called to the assembly, men of renown; and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, You⁺ take too much on yourselves, for everyone in the entire congregation is holy and Yahweh is among them: why then do you⁺ lift up yourselves above the assembly of Yahweh?" (Num 16:1-3).

Moses refuses to meet the revolt with his own authority and leaves the judgment to Yahweh: "But if Yahweh makes a new thing, and the ground opens its mouth, and swallows them up, with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol; then you⁺ will understand that these men have despised Yahweh." (Num 16:30). The word falls: "And it came to pass, as he made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground split apart that was under them; and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and all of man who belonged to Korah, and all their goods. So they, and all that belonged to them, went down alive into Sheol: and the earth closed on them, and they perished from among the assembly." (Num 16:31-33). "And fire came forth from Yahweh, and devoured the two hundred and fifty men who offered the incense." (Num 16:35). In the apostolic reading, the sin of Korah stands as the last warning in Jude's triad: "Woe to them! For they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for wages, and perished in the opposing of Korah." (Jude 1:11).