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The Earth That Swallowed Korah Heard Him Confess from Below

Korah used a widow's grief to fuel his rebellion. The earth waited until he had made his choice, then swallowed him alive while he was still confessing.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. A Rebellion Born From a Widow's Grief
  2. What Korah Said and What He Meant
  3. The Ground That Opened
  4. The Voice From Below

A Rebellion Born From a Widow's Grief

There was a poor widow. She had a field, two daughters, and a single ewe-lamb. She fed the lamb from her own bread and let it drink from her own cup and raised it as one raises an animal that represents most of what you have. When the lamb grew and was sheared, Aaron came to claim the firstling of the fleece as the priests' due. The widow argued that the lamb was all she owned. Aaron invoked the law. The widow went to Korah and wept.

Korah confronted Aaron. Aaron refused to bend. When the ewe-lamb bore its first offspring, Aaron came for that too - the firstborn animal belongs to the priest. The widow came to Korah again. This time she was broken. She sacrificed the lamb in front of her daughters and ate it herself rather than surrender it. Aaron came for the parts that belong to the priest. She gave them. Aaron took them and left. The widow had nothing.

Korah used her grief as kindling. He went to the princes of every tribe and every great man of Israel and spent two months building his coalition, gathering two hundred and fifty men of renown, men with standing and names, and then he went to Moses and Aaron and told them they had taken too much.

What Korah Said and What He Meant

"All the congregation is holy," Korah said. "The Lord is among all of them. Why do you lift yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?" It was a speech that could be delivered as theology or as accusation, and Korah delivered it as both simultaneously. The whole congregation had been called holy at Sinai. Moses and Aaron had been elevated above the rest of the camp in ways that concentrated power in a single family. The tradition insists that Korah's error lay in the conclusion he drew: that the elevation of Moses and Aaron was their own doing, their own ambition, their own grasping after what should belong to everyone.

Moses fell on his face. Then he made a counter-proposal. "Tomorrow morning," he said, "the Lord will show who is holy and who belongs to the Lord. Bring fire pans before the Lord, all two hundred and fifty of you and Aaron too, and the man the Lord chooses will be the holy one. Come tomorrow."

The Ground That Opened

In the morning, Korah assembled the whole congregation against Moses and Aaron at the door of the Tent of Meeting. The glory of the Lord appeared to the whole congregation. The Lord told Moses and Aaron to separate from the congregation so he could consume them all in a moment. Moses and Aaron fell on their faces and prayed: "God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin and you be angry with the whole congregation?"

The Lord told everyone to move away from the tents of Korah and Dathan and Abiram. Moses went to those men and the elders of Israel followed him. He told the congregation: "If these men die the common death of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord creates something new - if the ground opens its mouth and swallows them and everything belonging to them and they go down alive into the pit - then you will know that these men have spurned the Lord."

The ground split open as he finished speaking. It swallowed Korah and Dathan and Abiram and their households and all the men who belonged to Korah and everything they owned. They went down alive into the pit and the earth closed over them.

The Voice From Below

The tradition that preserved this account did not let Korah disappear entirely. His sons did not die with him - the text of Numbers 26:11 notes this without explanation. The Psalms of the sons of Korah, a collection of eleven psalms in the Hebrew psalter, are attributed to the family that survived. And the tradition of the Mouth of the Earth - one of the ten things created at twilight on the eve of the first Shabbat - holds that the earth that opened at Korah's rebellion was not simply geological. It was appointed. It had been waiting since before Sinai for this exact use.

The Chronicles of Jerahmeel preserves the tradition that Korah confessed from below, that his voice could be heard in the pit acknowledging Moses as true and his own teaching as false. The earth had swallowed him alive and he was still alive in it and the thing he had spent two months building - the case against Moses - he was dismantling with his own voice from inside the ground.

KorahMosesRebellionWildernessJasherMidrashGinzberg
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From the tradition

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The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Jasher 84Book of Jasher

The ancient Israelites certainly did! And this chapter of the Book of Jasher throws us right into the middle of their long, winding journey.

Remember Korah's rebellion? The Book of Jasher reminds us that it was a pretty big deal. Korah, a Levite, challenged the leadership of Moses and Aaron, and the consequences were… well, let's just say the earth wasn't happy. The earth opened up and swallowed Korah and his followers, along with their homes and belongings. Yikes! After that, according to Jasher, God made the people wander "by the way of Mount Seir for a long time."

Speaking of wandering, there's a whole lot of not fighting going on here. God tells Moses, explicitly, several times, "Don't mess with these people!" Specifically, the descendants of Esau, who lived in Mount Seir. God says, "I will not give to you of any thing belonging to them, as much as the sole of the foot could tread upon, for I have given Mount Seir for an inheritance to Esau." (Jasher 84:4). The Israelites are told to buy food and water from them, and to generally be good neighbors. It's a stark reminder that even divinely ordained journeys can have… complicated neighborly relations.

The Israelites then spend nineteen years going around the wilderness of Moab. Again, God's instructions are clear: "besiege not Moab, and do not fight against them, for I will give you nothing of their land" (Jasher 84:12). It’s interesting, isn't it? That even with a promised land in sight, there were boundaries, both physical and divine, that couldn't be crossed.

So, what did happen during all this wandering? Well, according to Jasher, King Latinus of the Chittim (often associated with Cyprus or other Mediterranean regions) died after a 45-year reign, and Abimnas took over. More significantly, the text details a fascinating conflict between Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Moab. It's like a mini-drama unfolding on the sidelines of the Israelite journey!

Sihon, apparently feeling ambitious, hires Beor and his son Balaam (yes, that Balaam!) to curse Moab. We know Balaam from the Book of Numbers as the prophet who couldn't curse Israel. But here, in Jasher, he's cursing Moab on behalf of Sihon. The result? Sihon defeats Moab, takes their cities, including Heshbon, and expands his territory. The Book of Jasher even includes a little ditty, a parable, about the rebuilding of Heshbon. "Come unto Heshbon," it says, "the city of Sihon will be built and established."

All this conquering nets Balaam and his dad a hefty reward of silver and gold, and they head back to Mesopotamia.

Finally, after all that meandering, the Israelites circle back to Edom. Moses sends messengers, asking for passage through their land. But Edom, remembering past conflicts or simply being unwelcoming, refuses. Again, the Israelites are commanded not to fight. They're stuck wandering again, this time around Edom.

Eventually, they arrive at Mount Hor. And here, we reach a somber moment. God tells Moses that his brother, Aaron, will die there. Aaron ascends the mountain and passes away at the age of 123. It’s a powerful reminder of the human cost, even for those closest to God, of this long and arduous journey.

So, what do we take away from this chapter of Jasher? It's a reminder that even with a grand destination, the journey can be circuitous, filled with detours, and encounters with others. It highlights the importance of boundaries, both physical and divinely ordained, and the need to navigate a complex world even when you're on a sacred mission. And ultimately, it reminds us that even in the midst of a nation's journey, individual lives, with their own beginnings and endings, continue to unfold.

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Bamidbar Rabbah 18:11Bamidbar Rabbah

Bamidbar Rabbah turns to The Earth Opened and Swallowed Korah's Entire Assembly.

The people, understandably, were terrified. They feared that God's wrath would extend to the entire community, even those who hadn't participated in the rebellion. And that's where our text from Bamidbar Rabbah 18 comes in. Bamidbar Rabbah is a Midrash, a collection of rabbinic interpretations and elaborations on the Torah. It takes the biblical text and expands upon it, giving us deeper insights into the stories and the characters.

In (Numbers 16:22), we read: "They fell on their faces, and said: God, God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and You will rage against the entire congregation?" It's a desperate plea, a cry for justice. The people are prostrate, begging God not to punish everyone for the sins of a few.

Bamidbar Rabbah really digs into the meaning of this verse. It imagines the people saying to God: "Master of the universe, a flesh and blood king against whom a province rebelled… he sends his legions there and introduces chaos among them and kills the good with the wicked, because he does not identify who among them rebelled." for a second. The Midrash is pointing out a fundamental difference between human justice and divine justice. A human king, limited by his own understanding, might punish indiscriminately. He might not be able to tell who is truly guilty and who is innocent. But God? Ah, that's a different story.

As the Midrash continues, "But You, who knows a person’s thoughts and what the heart and the kidneys counsel, You understand the inclinations of Your creations, You know who sinned and who did not sin, who rebelled and who did not rebel, and You know the spirit of each and every one of them.’ That is why it is stated: “God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin…?”"

The phrase "God of the spirits of all flesh" is key here. It emphasizes God's intimate knowledge of each individual. God isn't just dealing with a faceless mass of people; He knows each person's heart, their intentions, their very spirit. He knows who is truly culpable and who is not. As the commentator Rashi notes, this phrase highlights God's understanding of every individual's unique temperament and motivations.

And God's response? According to the Midrash, He says to them: "You have spoken well. I will divulge who has sinned and who has not sinned." It's a reassurance that justice will be served, that the innocent will not suffer for the guilty. God will reveal the truth.

So, what does this all mean for us? It reminds us that even when faced with collective responsibility, we are still individuals in the eyes of God. Our intentions, our actions, our very spirits are known to Him. And while we may sometimes feel the weight of others' mistakes, we can take comfort in the knowledge that ultimate justice rests with a God who sees and understands everything. It's a powerful message of hope and reassurance, isn't it?

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Midrash Aggadah, Numbers 16:19Midrash Aggadah

"And Korach assembled against them" (Numbers 16:19). They said about Korach that he was a great scoffer. He began to say to the whole congregation: Do you not know what Aaron his brother did to you at the command of Moses? See, there was a certain widow among our neighbors who had a single ewe, and she came to shear it. Aaron came and said to her: Give the first of the fleece. She arose and gave it to him. When the ewe gave birth to a male, Aaron came and said to her: The firstborn is mine. She immediately gave it to him. The woman said: Since it is so, that I cannot be saved, I will slaughter it, and Aaron will have no portion in it. She arose and slaughtered it. Immediately Aaron came and said to her: Give me the foreleg and the cheeks and the maw. She said: I cannot be saved from your hand; behold, let whoever would benefit from it be under the ban (ḥerem). Aaron said to her: From now on it is wholly mine, as it is written, "Everything devoted in Israel shall be yours" (Numbers 18:14), and he took the whole of it. And the poor woman was left empty-handed, having derived no benefit from it at all. Thus do they expound for themselves to take the wealth of Israel, which the Holy One, blessed be He, did not command them.

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Midrash Aggadah, Numbers 16:30Midrash Aggadah

"But if the LORD creates a creation" (Numbers 16:30). What did Moses see [that led him] to say so? He knew that God created everything; rather, [he meant] to bring near the mouth of the earth. Another interpretation: "But if the LORD creates a creation." If an opening to Gehinnom has [already] been created, well and good; and if not, let the LORD create [it].

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