According to the Jehovistic tradition
the rebellion proceeds from the Reubenites, Dathan, and Abiram,
prominent members of the firstborn tribe of Israel, and is directed
against MOSES AS LEADER AND JUDGE OF THE PEOPLE. According to the
version of the main-stock of the Priestly Code (Q), the author of
the agitation is Korah, a prince of the tribe of Judah, and he rebels
not only against Moses, but against MOSES AND AARON AS REPRESENTING
THE PRIESTHOOD. In a later addition, which, to judge from its style,
belongs likewise to the Priestly Code, but not to its original
contents, the Levite Korah appears at the head of a revolt of the
Levites against AARON AS HIGH PRIEST, and demands the equalisation
of the lower with the higher clergy. Starting from the Jehovistic
version, the historical basis of which is dimly discerned to be the
fall of Reuben from its old place at the head of the brother-tribes,
we have no difficulty in seeing how the second version arose out of
it. The people of the congregation, i.e., of the church, having once
come on the scene, the spiritual heads, Moses and Aaron, take the
place of the popular leader Moses, and the jealousy of the secular
grandees is now directed against the class of hereditary priests,
instead of against the extraordinary influence on the community of
a heaven-sent hero.
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