🔢WEB · Numbers 16:6
What does Numbers 16:6 mean?
"Do this: take censers, Korah, and all his company;"
— Numbers 16:6 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, “You take too much on yourself, since all the congregation are holy, everyone of them, and Yahweh is among them! Why do you lift yourselves up above Yahweh’s assembly?”
When Moses heard it, he fell on his face.
He said to Korah and to all his company, “In the morning, Yahweh will show who are his, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to him. Even him whom he shall choose, he will cause to come near to him.
Do this: take censers, Korah, and all his company;
and put fire in them, and put incense on them before Yahweh tomorrow. It shall be that the man whom Yahweh chooses, he shall be holy. You have gone too far, you sons of Levi!”
Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi!
Is it a small thing to you, that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do the service of Yahweh’s tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them;
Explanation
Numbers 16:6 records Moses speaking to Korah and the men who had joined his rebellion, instructing them to take censers — the small pans used for burning incense in worship — and prepare to bring them before the LORD. This single sentence is the opening move in a dramatic test Moses proposes to settle a dispute over who has the right to serve as priest before God.
The context is essential to understanding the verse. Korah was a Levite, a member of the tribe set apart for service in the tabernacle, but he was not from the priestly line of Aaron. Along with Dathan, Abiram, and On, and 250 prominent Israelite leaders, Korah organized a rebellion against Moses and Aaron, arguing that the whole congregation was holy and that Aaron's family had no special right to the priesthood alone (Numbers 16:1-3). This challenge came after years of wilderness wandering, grumbling, and previous uprisings, so it represented a serious threat to the order God had established. Moses answered not by asserting his own authority, but by proposing that God him
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