suffer them to gain strength, till they have to the commandments which he had sent them by Moses, he delivered them from those terrible 'calamities which, without his providential care, had been brought upon them by this sedition: so I will first explain the cause whence this sedition arose, and then will give an account of the sedition itself, as also of what settle-more worthy of it than he is; as being equal ments Moses made for their government after it was over. Corah, a Hebrew of principal account, 'both by his family and by his wealth, one that was also able to speak well, and that could easily persuade the people by his speeches, saw that Moses was in an exceeding great dignity, and was uneasy at it, and envied him on that account: he was of the same tribe with to Moses, by my family, and superior to him both in riches and in age. But if God had determined to bestow it on the eldest tribe, that of Reubel might have it more justly; and then Dathan and Abiram, and On, the son of Peleth, would have it. For these are the oldest men of that tribe, and potent on account of their great wealth also." Now Corah, when he said this, wished to Moses, and of kin to him. He was particu- appear careful of the public welfare; but in larly grieved because he thought he better reality he was endeavoring to procure to have deserved that honorable post, as being more that dignity transferred by the multitude to 'opulent, and not inferior to him in his birth: himself. And thus did he, out of a malignant so he raised a clamor against him among the design, but with plausible words, discourse Levites, who were of the same tribe, and to those of his own tribe. And when these especially among his kindred, saying, that words did gradually spread to more of the it was a very sad thing that they should people, and the hearers still added to what overlook Moses, while he hunted after, and tended to the scandals that were cast upon paved the way to glory for himself, and by ill Aaron, the whole army was full of them. arts should obtain it under pretence of God's Now of those that conspired with Corah, command; while, contrary to the laws, he there were two hundred and fifty of the prinhad given the priesthood to Aaron, not by cipal men, who were eager to have the priestthe common suffrage of the multitude, but hood taken from Moses's brother, and to bring by his own vote, as bestowing dignities in a him to disgrace. Nay, the multitude themtyrannical way upon whom he pleased. He selves were provoked to be seditious, and atadded that this concealed way of imposing tempted to stone Moses: and gathered themon them was harder to be borne, than if it had selves together after an indecent manner, with been done by an open force upon them, be- confusion and disorder. And now they all cause he did not only take away their power were in a tumultuous manner, raising a clawithout their consent, but even while they mor before the tabernacle of God, to prosewere unapprized of his contrivances against cute the tyrant, and to relieve the multitude them; for whosoever is conscious to himself from their slavery under him, who, under that he deserves any dignity, afms to get it colour of the Divine commands, laid violent it c by persuasion, and not by an arrogant method injunctions upon them. For that had it been of violence. But those that believe it impos- God who chose one that was to perform the sible to obtain those honors justly, make a office of a priest, he would have raised a shew of goodness, and do not introduce force; worthy person to that dignity, and would not but by cunning tricks grow wickedly power- have produced such an one as was inferior to many others, nor have given him that office: and in case that he had judged it fit to bestow it on Aaron, he would have permitted ful. That it was proper for the multitude to punish such men, even while they think themselves concealed in their designs, and not * Evil example is peculiarly influential, because it strikes in with the corrupt propensities of human nature. When it is set in opposition to good pursuits, it is general ly most prevalent. This easily accounts for the success of the conspiracy of Corah. B. the the multitude to bestow it, and not have left it to be bestowed by his own brother. Now although Moses had long foreseen this calumny of Corah, and had seen that the people were irritated, yet was he not alarmed at it. But being of good courage, because he had given them good advice about their affairs and knowing that his brother had been made partaker of the priesthood at the command of God, and not by his own favor to him, he came to the assembly: and, as for the multitude, he said not a word to them, but spake as loud to Corah as he could; and being very eloquent, and having this natural talent among others, that he could greatly move the multitude with his discourses; he said, "O Corah, both thou, and all those with thee (pointing to the two hundred and fifty men), seem to be worthy of this honor. Nor do I pretend but that this whole company may be worthy of the like dignity: although they may not be so rich or so great as you are. Nor have I given this office to my brother, because he excelled others in riches; for thou exceedest* us both in the greatness of thy wealth: nor indeed because he was of an eminent family, for God, by giving us the same common ancestor, has made our families equal: nay, nor was it out of brotherly affection, which another might yet have justly done. For certainly, unless I had bestowed this honor out of regard to God, and to his laws, I had not passed by myself, and given it to another, as being nearer of kin to myself than to my brother, and having a closer intimacy with myself than I have with him. For surely it would not be a wise thing for me to expose myself to the dangers of offending, and to bestow the happy employment on this account upon another. "But I am above such practices: nor would God have overlooked this matter, and seen himself thus despised: nor would he have suffered you to be ignorant of what you were to do, in order to please him. But he hath himself chosen one that is to perform that sacred office to him; and thereby freed us from that care. So that it was not a thing that I pretended to give; but only according to the * Reland here observes, that although our Bibles say little or nothing of these riches of Corah, yet both the determination of God: I therefore propose it still to be contended for by such as please to put in for it; only desiring that he who has already been preferred, and has already obtained it, may be allowed now also to offer himself a candidate. He prefers your peace, and your living without sedition, to this honorable employment; although, in truth, it was with your approbation that he obtained it. For though God were the donor, yet do we not offend when we think fit to accept of it with your good will. Yet would it have been an instance of impiety, not to have taken that honorable employment when he offered it: nay, it had been exceedingly unreasonable, when God had thought fit any one should have it for all time to come, and had made it secure and firm to him, to have refused it. However, he himself will judge again, who it shall be whom he would have to offer sacrifices to him, and to have the direction of matters of religion. For it is absurd that Corah, who is ambitious of this honor, should deprive God of the power of giving it to whom he pleases. "Put an end, therefore, to your sedition and disturbance on this account, and to-morrow morning let every one who desires the priesthood bring a censer from home, and come hither with incense and fire. And do thou, O Corah, leave the judgment to God; and await to see on what side he will give his determination upon this occasion. But do not thou make thyself greater than God. Do thou also come, that this contest about this honorable employment may receive determination. And I suppose we may admit Aaron, without offence, to offer himself to this scrutiny; since he is of the same lineage with thyself, and has done nothing in his priesthood that can be liable to exception. "Come ye therefore together, and offer your incense in public before all the people: and when you offer it, he whose sacrifice God shall accept shall be ordained to the priesthood, and shall be clear of the present calumny on Aaron, as if I had granted him that favor because he was my brother." Jews and Mahometans, as well as Josephus, are full of it. † Numb. xiv. 6, 7. CHAP. III. But he came near, and lifted up his hands to heaven, and cried out with a loud voice, in order to be heard by the whole multitude; OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THOSE WHO FOMENTED THE SE- and said, "O Lord of the creatures that are DITION; AND OF THE DIVINE APPROVAL OF AARON'S WHEN in the heaven, in the earth, and in the sea: for thou art the most authentic witness to what I have done, that it has all been done by thy appointment; and that it was thou that affordedst us assistance when we attempted any thing, and shewed mercy to the Hebrews in all their distresses. Do thou come now, and hear all I say; for no action, nor thought, es HEN Moses had said this, the multitude left off the turbulent behaviour they had indulged, and the suspicion they had entertained of Moses; and commended what he had said; for those proposals were good, and were so esteemed of the people. At that time therefore they dissolved the as-capes thy knowledge; so that thou wilt not sembly. But on the next day they came to disdain to speak what is true, for my vindicathe congregation, in order to be present at tion; without any regard to the ungrateful imthe sacrifice, and at the determination that was putations of these men. As for what was to be made between the candidates for the done before I was born, thou knowest best: priesthood. Now this congregation proved as not learning them by report, but seeing a turbulent one, and the multitude were in them, and being present with them when great suspense in expectation of what was to they were done. But for what has been be done. And some of them would have been done of late, and which these men, although pleased if Moses had been convicted of evil they know them well enough, unjustly prepractices but the wiser sort desired that they tend to suspect, be thou my witness. When might be delivered from the present disorder I lived a private quiet life, I left those good and disturbance; for they were afraid, that things, which by my own diligence, and by if this sedition went on, the good order of thy counsel, I enjoyed with Raguel, my fathertheir settlement would be destroyed. But the in-law; and I gave myself up to this people, whole body of people do naturally delight in and underwent many miseries on their acclamours against their governors; and, by count. I also bore great labors; at first, in changing their opinions upon the harangues order to obtain liberty for them, and now in of every speaker, disturb the public tran- order to their preservation; and have always quillity. And now Moses sent messengers for Abiram and Dathan; and ordered them to come to the assembly, and wait there for the holy offices that were to be performed. But they answered the messengers, that they would not obey his summons; nay, would not overlook Moses's behaviour, who was growing too great for them by evil practices. Now when Moses heard this answer, he desired the heads of the people to follow him, and he went to the faction of Dathan, not fearing to go to these insolent people; so they made no opposition, but went along with him. But Dathan and his associates, when they understood that Moses, and the principal of the people, were coming to them, came out with their wives and children, and stood before their tents; and looked to see what Moses would do. They had also their servants at hand to defend them, in case Moses should use force. shewed myself ready to assist them in every distress. Now, therefore, since I am suspected by those very men, whose being is owing to my labors; come thou, as it is reasonable to hope thou wilt thou I say, who shewedst me that fire at Mount Sinai, and madest me to hear its voice, and to see the several wonders which that place afforded; thou, who commandedst me to go to Egypt, and declare thy will to this people; thou, who disturbedst the happy estate of the Egyptians, and gavedst us the opportunity of flying from our slavery under them, and madest the dominion of Pharaoh inferior to my dominion; thou who didst make the sea dry land for us, when we knew not whither to go, and didst overwhelm the Egyptians with those destructive waves which had been divided for us; thou who didst bestow upon us the security of weapons when we were naked; thou who didst make the And when thou hast inflicted punishment on those that have endeavored to deal unjustly with this people, bestow upon them concord and peace. Save this multitude that follow thy commandments, and preserve them free from harm: and let them not partake of the punishment of those that have sinned. For thou knowest thyself it is not just that, for the wickedness of those men, the whole body of the Israelites should suffer punishment." When Moses had said this with tears in his eyes, the ground was moved on a sudden; and the agitation that set it in motion was like that which the wind produces in waves of the sea. The people were all affrighted, and the ground that was about their tents sunk down at that terrible sound, and carried whatsoever was dear to the seditious into itself; who so entirely perished, that there was not the least appearance that any men had ever been seen there: the earth that had opened itself about them, closing again, and becoming entire as it was before; insomuch, that such as saw it afterward did not perceive that any such accident had happened. Thus did these men perish,* and became a demonstration of the power of God. And truly, any one would lament them, not only on account of this calamity that befel them, which the corrupted fountains to flow so as to be fit for drinking, and didst furnish us with water that came out of the rocks, when we were in the greatest want of it; thou who didst preserve our lives with quails, which was food from the sea, when the fruits of the ground failed us; thou who didst send us such food from heaven as had never been seen before; thou who didst suggest to us the knowledge of thy laws, and appoint us a form of government: Come thou, O Lord of the whole world, and that as such a judge and a witness to me as cannot be bribed; and show how I have never admitted of any gift against justice from any of the Hebrews; and have never condemned a poor man, that ought to have been acquitted, on account of one that was rich; and have never attempted to hurt this commonwealth: I am now here present, and am suspected of a thing the remotest from my intentions; as if I had given the priesthood to Aaron, not at thy command, but out of my own favor to him. Do thou at this time demonstrate, that all things are administered by thy providence, and that nothing happens by chance, but is governed by thy will, and thereby attains its end; as also demonstrate that thou takest care of those that have done good to the Hebrews. Demonstrate this, I say, by the punishment of Abiram and Da-yet deserves our commiseration; but also bethan, who condemn thee as an insensible being, and one overcome by my contrivances. This wilt thou do by inflicting such an open punishment on those men, who so madly fly in the face of thy glory, as will take them out of the world, not in an ordinary manner, but so that it may appear that they do not die as other men go out of the world: let that ground on which they tread open about them, with their families and goods. This will be a demonstration of thy power to all men; and this method of their sufferings will be an instruction of wisdom for those that entertain profound sentiments of thee. By this means I shall be found a good servant, in the precepts thou hast given by me. But if the calumnies they have raised against me be true, mayest thou preserve these men from every evil accident, and bring all that destruction on me, which I have imprecated upon them. Numb. xvi. 33. cause their kindred were pleased with their Moses now called for those that contended about the priesthood, that trial might be made who should be priest, and that he whose sacrifice God was best pleased with might be ordained to that function. So the two hundred and fifty men approached who indeed were honored by the people, not only on account of their ancestors, but also on account of their own power, in which they excelled the others. Aaron and Corah also came forth; and they all offered incense, in those censers which they brought with them, before * the tabernacle. Hereupon, so great a fire angry; and that this happened not so much shone out, as no one ever saw in any that is because of the wickedness of those that were made by the hand of man; neither in those punished, as because Moses procured the eruptions out of the earth, that are caused by punishment: and that these men had been subterraneous burnings; nor in such fires as destroyed without any sin of theirs, only bearise of their own accord in the woods, when cause they were zealous about the divine wor the agitation is caused by the trees rubbing ship: as also that he who had been the cause one against another; but this fire was very of this diminution of the people, by destroybright, and had a terrible flame, such as is ing so many men, and those the most excelkindled at the command of God; by whose lent of them all, besides his escaping any irruption on them all the company, and Corah punishment himself, had now given the priest himself, were destroyed, so entirely, that hood to his brother so firmly, that nobody their very bodies left no remains. Aaron could any longer dispute it with him: for no alone was preserved, and not at all hurt by one else could now put in for it, since he must the fire; because it was God that sent the fire have seen those that first did so to have miseto burn those only who ought to be burned.rably perished. Nay, besides this, the kindred Hereupon Moses, after these men were de- of those that were destroyed made great enstroyed, was desirous that the memory of this treaties to the multitude to abate the arrojudgment might be delivered down to pos-gance of Moses, because it would be safest for terity, and that future ages might be ac- them so to do. quainted with it; and he commanded Eleazar, the son of Aaron, to put their censers near the brazen altar, that they might be a memorial to posterity of what these men suffered, for supposing that the power of God might be eluded. And thus Aaron was no longer esteemed to have the priesthood by the favor of Moses, but by the public judgment of God; and he and his children peaceably enjoyed that honor afterward. CHAP. IV. OF WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HEBREWS DURING THIRTY- THE * It appears here, from the Samaritan Pentateuch, and in effect from the Psalmist, as also from the Apostolical Constitutions, from Clement's first Epistles to the Corinthians, from Ignatius's Epistle to the Magnesians, and from Eusebius, that Corah was not swallowed up with Moses, upon his bearing that the people were tumultuous, was afraid they would attempt some other innovation: and that some great and sad calamity would be the consequence. So he called the multitude to a congregation, and patiently heard what apology they made for themselves, without opposing them; and lest he should imbitter the multitude, he only desired the heads of the tribes to bring their rods, with the names of their tribes inscribed upon them; and he should receive the priesthood in whose rod God should give a sign. This was agreed to; so the rest brought their rods, as did Aaron also; who had written the tribe of Levi on his rod. These rods Moses laid up in the tabernacle of God. On the next day he brought out the rods, which were known from one another by those who brought them; they having distinctly noted them, as had the multitude also; and as to the rest, in the same form Moses had received them, in that they saw them still: but they also saw buds and branches grown out of Aaron's rod, with ripe almonds upon them; the rod having been cut out of that tree. The people were so amazed at this strange sight, the Reubenites, but burnt with the Levites, of his own Concerning these twelve rods of the twelve tribes of Israel, see St. Clement's account, much larger than that in our Bibles. 1 Epist. § 43. that |