The Two Men Who Opposed Moses From Egypt to the Grave

Korach's rebellion against Moses in (Numbers 16) is one of the most dramatic episodes in the Torah. The earth opens its mouth and swallows the rebels alive. Fire from heaven consumes 250 men who offered unauthorized incense. A catastrophe of biblical proportions. But Korach was not alone. Standing beside him, egging him on, were two men whose grudge against Moses was far older than Korach's: Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, from the tribe of Reuben (Numbers 16:1). The Torah treats them as supporting characters. The midrash reveals they were the main antagonists all along, enemies of Moses from the very first day, following him like shadows from Egypt to Sinai to the wilderness, opposing every move he made, until the ground beneath them finally gave way.

The rabbinic tradition, preserved across multiple sources including the Babylonian Talmud (redacted c. 500 CE), Bamidbar Rabbah (compiled c. 9th-12th century CE), Shemot Rabbah (compiled c. 10th century CE), and Louis Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews (published 1909-1938), constructs a complete biography of Dathan and Abiram that spans the entire Exodus narrative. They appear at every crisis point, always on the wrong side, always complaining, always undermining. Their partnership with Korach was not an opportunistic alliance. It was the culmination of a lifelong campaign.

Who Were the Two Men Who Fought?

The first appearance of Dathan and Abiram in midrashic tradition comes in (Exodus 2:13), long before Korach enters the story. Moses, having been raised as an Egyptian prince, goes out to see the suffering of his Israelite brethren. He witnesses an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Hebrew slave and kills the Egyptian, hiding the body in the sand (Exodus 2:12). The next day, Moses sees two Hebrew men fighting each other. He confronts the aggressor: "Why do you strike your fellow?" The man responds: "Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?" (Exodus 2:14). Moses realizes his secret is out. He flees to Midian.

The Torah does not name the two fighting men. The midrash does. Shemot Rabbah 1:29 identifies them as Dathan and Abiram. Rashi (1040-1105 CE), citing the Talmud in Nedarim 64b, confirms this identification. They were the ones fighting. And when Moses tried to intervene, it was Dathan (or Abiram, sources vary) who threw the murder of the Egyptian back in Moses' face. They did not merely witness Moses' act. They informed on him to Pharaoh. Shemot Rabbah 1:30 states explicitly that Dathan and Abiram reported Moses to Pharaoh's court, which is why Pharaoh sought to kill Moses (Exodus 2:15), forcing Moses to flee to Midian for 40 years. Moses' entire exile, 40 years as a shepherd in the desert, away from his family and his people, was caused by the informing of Dathan and Abiram.

Troublemakers in the Wilderness

Dathan and Abiram do not disappear after Egypt. The midrash traces their opposition through the wilderness period, finding them at every moment of crisis. When the Israelites stood at the edge of the Red Sea with Pharaoh's army behind them (Exodus 14:10-12), the people cried out to Moses: "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?" The Talmud in Sanhedrin 110a and Shemot Rabbah 24:1 identify Dathan and Abiram as the instigators of this complaint. They were the loudest voices of despair, the ones who whipped the crowd into panic, the ones who mocked Moses even as the sea was about to split.

Then came the manna. God rained bread from heaven to feed Israel in the wilderness (Exodus 16). Moses instructed the people to gather only what they needed for each day, one omer (עומר) per person, and not to leave any until morning (Exodus 16:19). Some people disobeyed. They hoarded manna overnight, and it bred worms and stank (Exodus 16:20). The Torah does not name these hoarders. The midrash in Shemot Rabbah 25:10 does: Dathan and Abiram. They were testing Moses, trying to prove his instructions wrong, hoping to undermine his authority by showing that the manna could be kept. The experiment backfired, but it did not stop them.

On Shabbat, Moses told the people there would be no manna; they should gather a double portion on Friday (Exodus 16:25-26). On Shabbat morning, some people went out to gather anyway and found nothing (Exodus 16:27). God was angry: "How long will you refuse to keep My commandments?" (Exodus 16:28). Shemot Rabbah 25:12 identifies the Shabbat violators as, again, Dathan and Abiram. Every act of defiance in the wilderness that the Torah leaves anonymous, the midrash attributes to the same two men. They are the perpetual thorns in Moses' side, the permanent opposition, the recurring antagonists who cannot stop opposing even when every episode ends in their humiliation.

Why Did They Join Korach?

When Korach son of Izhar, a Levite and Moses' own cousin, launched his rebellion against Moses and Aaron (Numbers 16:1-3), Dathan and Abiram joined immediately. Their grievances, though, were different from Korach's. Korach was driven by priestly ambition. He wanted the high priesthood that had been given to Aaron. Dathan and Abiram were driven by tribal resentment. They were Reubenites. Reuben was Jacob's firstborn son (Genesis 29:32), and the tribe of Reuben believed they had been denied the leadership position that was rightfully theirs by birth order.

Bamidbar Rabbah 18:2 explains the geography. In the wilderness camp, the tribe of Reuben camped to the south of the Tabernacle, directly adjacent to the Kohathite clan of the Levites, which was Korach's family. "Woe to the wicked, woe to his neighbor," the midrash observes. Physical proximity bred conspiratorial alliance. Dathan and Abiram had the long-standing grievance. Korach had the charisma, the Levitical credentials, and the theological argument ("the whole congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them; why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?" Numbers 16:3). Together, they assembled 250 community leaders for the most dangerous internal revolt in Israel's wilderness history.

Moses tried to reason with them. He sent a summons to Dathan and Abiram to come and talk (Numbers 16:12). Their response was astonishing in its defiance: "We will not come up! Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey," they called Egypt the land of milk and honey, inverting the phrase God used for Canaan, "to kill us in the wilderness, that you also make yourself a prince over us?" (Numbers 16:13). They refused to negotiate. They refused to appear. They sat in their tents and dared Moses to do something about it.

How Did the Earth Swallow Them?

Moses told the assembly to stand back from the tents of Korach, Dathan, and Abiram (Numbers 16:24). Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrance of their tents, with their wives, their children, and their infants (Numbers 16:27). Moses issued a challenge: "If these men die a common death, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them down alive into Sheol (שאול), then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord" (Numbers 16:29-30).

The moment Moses finished speaking, the ground split open beneath them. The earth opened its mouth, vatiftach ha-aretz et piha (ותפתח הארץ את פיה), and swallowed them alive, with their households, all of Korach's people, and all their possessions (Numbers 16:32). They went down alive into Sheol, the earth closed over them, and they perished from the assembly. The Punishment of Korah in our collection preserves the full midrashic expansion of this event. Bamidbar Rabbah 18:13 says the earth swallowed not only the people but their laundry, their needles, their smallest possessions. Everything they owned followed them into the abyss. Even a garment that had been lent to a neighbor and was in someone else's tent was pulled through the ground to join its owner in Sheol.

The Mishnah in Sanhedrin 10:3 (compiled c. 200 CE) records a debate about the eternal fate of Korach's assembly. Rabbi Akiva (c. 50-135 CE) held that they "have no share in the World to Come," citing (Numbers 16:33): "They perished from the assembly." Rabbi Eliezer disagreed, citing (1 Samuel 2:6): "The Lord kills and brings to life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up," suggesting even the swallowed rebels might eventually be restored. The debate was never resolved. The Talmud in Sanhedrin 110a adds a haunting image: the community of Korach continues to exist beneath the earth, sinking deeper and deeper, and every 30 days the earth churns them upward briefly, and they cry out: "Moses and his Torah are true, and we are liars."

What Does the Midrash Want Us to Learn?

The midrashic biography of Dathan and Abiram transforms them from minor characters into a sustained warning about the psychology of opposition. They were not driven by a single grievance. They were driven by a pattern, a reflexive, compulsive need to oppose authority, to undermine leadership, to interpret every act of salvation as an act of tyranny. Moses killed an Egyptian to save a Hebrew slave, and they informed on him. Moses led them out of Egypt, and they complained at the sea. Moses gave them manna, and they hoarded it. Moses offered to negotiate, and they refused. The same two men, at every crisis, chose the wrong side.

The Talmud in Sanhedrin 109b-110a presents this as a character study in machloket she-eino l'shem shamayim (מחלוקת שאינה לשם שמים), "dispute that is not for the sake of heaven." The Mishnah in Avot 5:17 (compiled c. 200 CE) uses Korach's rebellion as the paradigmatic example: "Any dispute that is for the sake of heaven will endure; any dispute that is not for the sake of heaven will not endure. What is a dispute for the sake of heaven? The disputes of Hillel and Shammai. What is a dispute not for the sake of heaven? The dispute of Korach and all his assembly." The key distinction is motive. Hillel and Shammai argued about truth. Korach, Dathan, and Abiram argued about power.

Rashi on (Numbers 16:1) notes something telling about Dathan and Abiram's tribal identity. They were Reubenites, descendants of Reuben, the firstborn who lost his birthright. Reuben lost the birthright because he "moved his father's bed" (Genesis 35:22), a cryptic transgression the rabbis interpreted as an act of overstepping boundaries. Dathan and Abiram inherited both Reuben's resentment and his tendency to overstep. The tribe that lost its leadership position produced two men who spent their lives trying to tear down the leader who replaced them. The grudge was generational. It was tribal. And it was bottomless.

Explore Rebellion and Authority in the Wilderness

Read The Punishment of Korah from our collection for the full midrashic account of the earth opening. Browse the Midrash Tanchuma on Korach (12 sections in our database) from Midrash Aggadah for the detailed rabbinic analysis of the rebellion. Explore Moses Declines the Mission and Moses Rescued by Gabriel from Legends of the Jews for the earlier chapters of Moses' leadership.

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