Korah’s Charisma

Korah’s Charisma

The Old Testament arch-villain Korah possessed a popular appeal among his fellow Hebrews that begs explanation

Few figures are so maligned in the Old Testament as Korah, leader of the failed rebellion against Moses at Sinai (Numbers 16). In punishment for his blasphemous audacity, Korah – together with his henchmen, Dathan and Abiram, their families, their followers, and all their possessions – were literally swallowed up by the earth.

“And Moses said: “By this you shall know that it was the Lord who sent me to do all these things; that they are not of my own devising: if these men die as all men do, if their lot be the common fate of all mankind, it was not the Lord who sent me. But if the Lord brings about something unheard-of, so that the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, you shall know that these men have spurned the Lord.” Scarcely had he finished speaking all these words when the ground under them burst asunder, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all Korah’s people and their possessions. They went down alive into Sheol, with all that belonged to them; the earth closed over them and they vanished from the midst of the congregation. All Israel around them fled at their shrieks, for they said, “The earth might swallow us!” (Numbers 16:28-34, Jewish Publication Society trans.)

Yet, as astounding as Korah’s dramatic demise was, just as astounding was his impressive rise to power: attracting the impassioned support of adherents who had only recently with their very own eyes witnessed God’s majesty.

Korah’s abortive challenge to Moses’ position as God’s spokesperson was fundamentally rooted in the hardship that obedience to Moses had demanded.

Induced by the tempting promise of life in “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8, 17; 13:5, 33:3; Leviticus 20:24; Numbers 14:8; and Deuteronomy 6:3, 11:9, 26:9, 15; and 27:3), the Hebrews were given anything but. Fresh from their escape from Egyptian bondage, the ex-slaves, discovering themselves in a barren wilderness, longed for the plentiful food they had previously enjoyed while under servitude.

 “And the mixed multitude that was among them felt a lusting; and the children of Israel also wept on their part, and said: ‘Would that we were given flesh to eat! We remember the fish, which we were wont to eat in Egypt for nought; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic; but now our soul is dried away; there is nothing at all; we have nought save this manna to look to.’” (Numbers 11:4-6)  

Indeed, Korah made that visceral argument the very basis of his appeal to the masses, contrasting the fertility of Egypt, which Moses had them abandon, with the sterility of the wilderness, which Moses now offered them in exchange (Numbers 16:13-14).

The authority with which Korah spoke and the spiritual basis for his challenge to Moses’ leadership derived in part from his belonging to the priestly tribe of Levi (Numbers 16:1), the very same tribe to which Moses and his brother Aaron belonged. Although Korah himself was a member of this elite class, in order to undermine Moses’ authority he and his co-conspirators cleverly took an anti-elitist, and thus populist, stance, asserting that Moses had unjustifiably set himself above the other members of his tribe (Numbers 16:3).

Although Korah himself was a former slave, the wealth he had come to possess lent him the respect of his community and added to his popular appeal. Notably, when Korah and the members of his family were swallowed up by the earth, scripture adds that their possessions were also swallowed up, underlining this fact not once but three times (Numbers 16:30-33). Such wealth had once been owned by the Hebrews’ Egyptian masters prior to the exodus (see Exodus 12:35-36; 32:1-3).

Persuaded by Korah’s appeal to their appetite, dazzled by his apparent affluence, and seduced by his speciously populist arguments, the Hebrews defied Moses’ leadership until God himself intervened.

Korah was one of the first charismatic demagogues in history to use the gullibility of the masses to advance his own selfish agenda. But, as recent American history shows, he was not the last.