Thursday, February 25, 2010

Korah's "connections"

We just recently read in Numbers 16 about a man named Korah. I find it interesting that his story doesn't stop here. Even though he died from his rebellion against Moses, many of his descendants proved to be godly men such as Temple gatekeepers (1Chron 9:19), singers and musicians in the Temple choir (1 Chron. 6:31-47) and authors of several psalms.
See below:

Korah was the leader of a rebellion against Moses. He was the son of Izhar, grandson of Levi, and a first cousin to Moses. Korah headed a group of 250 prominent men, who challenged the leadership of Moses and Aaron while the Israelites were in the desert (Num 16:1-2).

Moses challenged Korah and his fellow rebels to a trial by ordeal. They all were to bring pans with incense and the Lord would choose who were to be his rightful leaders. A fire from the Lord then destroyed the conspirators, thus vindicating Moses and Aaron. When the earth opened to swallow the rebels (Num 16:31-35; 26:9-10), Korah's three sons -– Assir, Elkanah and Abiasaph (Ex 6:24) – were spared, intimating that they may not have participated in the revolt. Later rabbinic tradition explained that this earned them their place of prominence in the Book of Psalms where the authorship of several psalms (Ps 42; 44; 45; 47; 48; 49; 84; 85; 87; 88) is attributed to "the sons of Korah", a guild of Temple singers. Some of these psalms refer to events falling centuries later than the Mosaic era, such as the Davidic dynasty (Ps 45) and the destruction of the Temple (Ps 84; 85; 87). The Korahites are also named alongside of the Kohathites as singers in II Chronicles 20:19. In Jude verse 11 Korah is named as the rebel par excellence.

1 comment:

da momma said...

im a little behind...kind of how I am in most areas of my life right now :) But I have read Deuteronomy 27-30 a few times and I feel it speaking to me. Its simple...OBEY HIS COMMANDS and Blessings will POUR DOWN! The obeying commands part isnt hard if you truly LOVE the LORD and REMAIN in HIS Word! 28:45-48 is scary! WAKE UP world! Theres an old soulful camp song..."Get right church and lets go home" Serve Him with JOY and ENTHUSIASM!!! whit