How does Aaron’s action stop the plague after the people accuse Moses and Aaron?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

At Moses’ direction, Aaron takes altar fire and incense in a censer, runs among the people, offers incense and prays between the dead and the living. The plague ceases; 14,700 have died, besides those who perished in Core’s rebellion.

Chapter breakdown

Numbers 16 concerns Core’s rebellion and its punishment. Core is the son of Isaar, son of Caath, son of Levi. Dathan and Abiron are sons of Eliab, and Hon son of Pheleth is of Ruben’s children. They rise against Moses with 250 leading men of Israel’s assembly, called by name at its gatherings.

Challoner calls their crime schism and rebellion against God-established authority in the Church, and claiming the priesthood without being lawfully called and sent. He applies the same judgement to those he calls modern sectaries. This Church application belongs to the annotation.

They stand against Moses and Aaron, saying the whole multitude is holy and the Lord is among them, and asking why those two raise themselves above his people. Moses falls on his face. He tells Core and the multitude that in the morning the Lord will show who belongs to him, join the holy to himself, and let those he chooses approach. Core and his company must each take a censer, put fire in it tomorrow and incense before the Lord. The one chosen will be holy. Moses says the sons of Levi take too much upon themselves. He tells them to hear: is it a small thing that God spared them from the people, joined them to himself to serve in the tabernacle and stand and minister before the congregation? Did he bring Core and his Levite brethren near so they should claim the priesthood too and stand against the Lord? What is Aaron, that they murmur against him?

Moses summons Dathan and Abiron sons of Eliab, but they refuse. They ask whether it is a small matter that he brought them from a land flowing with milk and honey to kill them in the desert, besides ruling over them like a lord. They speak of his supposedly bringing them to a land flowing with rivers of milk and honey and giving fields and vineyards, then ask whether he will pull out their eyes. They repeat that they will not come. Very angry, Moses asks the Lord not to respect their sacrifices, saying he never took even a young ass from them or injured any of them.

Challoner explains Moses’ anger as zeal against sin and indignation at the affront to God, comparing it with his anger at the golden calf and citing Exodus 32:19. This explanation is the annotation.

Moses tells Core and his congregation to stand apart before the Lord tomorrow, with Aaron apart. Each must bring a censer with incense, offering 250 censers, while Aaron holds his own. They do this, with Moses and Aaron standing, and draw the multitude against them at the tabernacle door. The Lord’s glory appears to all. He tells Moses and Aaron to separate from the congregation so he may destroy it at once. They fall on their faces and ask the mighty God of the spirits of all flesh whether his anger will rage against all for one man’s sin. The Lord tells Moses to order the people away from the tents of Core, Dathan and Abiron.

Moses goes to Dathan and Abiron with Israel’s elders. He tells the multitude to leave these wicked men’s tents and touch nothing of theirs, lest they share their sins. The people move away; Dathan and Abiron stand at their tent entries with their wives, children and all the people. Moses says the coming sign will show the Lord sent him to do everything they see and that he did not invent it himself. If these men die an ordinary death or suffer the plague others suffer, the Lord did not send him. But if the Lord does a new thing, the earth opens and swallows them and all that belongs to them, and they go alive into hell, it will show they blasphemed the Lord. As he finishes, the earth splits beneath them, devours them, their tents and possessions, and closes over them as they go alive into hell. They perish from the people. Israel flees at their cries, fearing the earth may swallow them too. Fire from the Lord destroys the 250 incense offerers.

The Lord tells Moses to command Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to collect the censers from the burning and scatter the fire to either side. They are sanctified in the sinners’ deaths because incense was offered in them to the Lord. He must beat them into plates and fasten them to the altar as a sign and memorial for Israel. Eleazar does this with the bronze censers of those the fire consumed. They warn Israel that no stranger or person not of Aaron’s descendants must come near to offer incense, lest they suffer as Core and his congregation did, according to the Lord’s words to Moses.

The following day Israel’s whole multitude murmurs against Moses and Aaron, saying they killed the Lord’s people. Rebellion and tumult grow. Moses and Aaron flee into the tabernacle of the covenant; the cloud covers it and the Lord’s glory appears. He tells Moses to leave the multitude, which he will destroy at that moment. As they lie on the ground, Moses tells Aaron to take a censer, put altar fire and incense in it, and go quickly to pray for the people. Wrath has already gone out from the Lord, and the plague rages.

Aaron does this and runs among the multitude being destroyed by the burning fire. He offers incense and stands between the dead and the living, praying for the people. The plague ceases. The dead number 14,700, besides those who perished in Core’s rebellion. Aaron returns to Moses at the tabernacle of the covenant’s door after the destruction ends.

The story inside

The chapter gives the censers two distinct uses. Core’s company offers incense in them, and fire destroys the 250 offerers. The Lord then directs Eleazar to keep the sanctified censers as altar plates warning those outside Aaron’s descendants against offering incense. The following day the people accuse Moses and Aaron, and another plague begins. Moses directs Aaron to use altar fire and incense in his censer and pray among them. Aaron stands between dead and living, and the plague stops. The contrast follows recorded actions and commands, without an invented account of political motives or a general doctrine about every sacred object. The earth-swallowing account retains its wording without assigning Core a personal location or manner of death that these verses do not separately name.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The accusation and reply are specific. The rebels say the multitude is holy; Moses points to the Levites’ existing service and asks why they also claim priesthood, before setting the stated morning test.
2
The plates preserve a named warning. The censers become a sign that those outside Aaron’s descendants must not approach to offer incense; the account gives both the material and the command it recalls.
3
The plague’s end includes action and prayer. Aaron follows Moses’ instruction, runs to the people, offers incense and prays between dead and living, with the deaths counted separately from Core’s rebellion.

Test your recall

How does Aaron respond to Moses’ instruction during the plague, and what happens when he prays between the dead and living?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 15978–15988
Numbers Chapter 16 The schism of Core and his adherents: their punishment. 16:1. And behold Core the son of Isaar, the son of Caath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiron the sons of Eliab, and Hon the son of Pheleth of the children of Ruben, 16:2. Rose up against Moses, and with them two hundred and fifty others of the children of Israel, leading men of the synagogue, and who in the time of assembly were called by name.
Lines 15990–15994
Rose up.... The crime of these men, which was punished in so remarkable a manner, was that of schism, and of rebellion against the authority established by God in the church; and their pretending to the priesthood without being lawfully called and sent: the same is the case of all modern sectaries.
Lines 15996–16027
16:3. And when they had stood up against Moses and Aaron, they said: Let it be enough for you, that all the multitude consisteth of holy ones, and the Lord is among them: Why lift you up yourselves above the people of the Lord? 16:4. When Moses heard this, he fell flat on his face: 16:5. And speaking to Core and all the multitude, he said: In the morning the Lord will make known who belong to him, and the holy he will join to himself: and whom he shall choose, they shall approach to him. 16:6. Do this therefore: Take every man of you your censers, thou Core, and all thy company. 16:7. And putting fire in them to morrow, put incense upon it before the Lord: and whomsoever he shall choose, the same shall be holy: you take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi. 16:8. And he said again to Core: Hear ye sons of Levi. 16:9. Is it a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath spared you from all the people, and joined you to himself, that you should serve him in the service of the tabernacle, and should stand before the congregation of the people, and should minister to him? 16:10. Did he therefore make thee and all thy brethren the sons of Levi to approach unto him, that you should challenge to yourselves the priesthood also, 16:11. And that all thy company should stand against the Lord? for what is Aaron that you murmur against him?
Lines 16029–16042
16:12. Then Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiron the sons of Eliab. But they answered: We will not come. 16:13. Is it a small matter to thee, that thou hast brought us out of a land that flowed with milk and honey, to kill us in the desert, except thou rule also like a lord over us? 16:14. Thou hast brought us indeed into a land that floweth with rivers of milk and honey, and hast given us possessions of fields and vineyards; wilt thou also pull out our eyes? We will not come. 16:15. Moses therefore being very angry, said to the Lord: Respect not their sacrifices: thou knowest that I have not taken of them so much as a young ass at any time, nor have injured any of them.
Lines 16044–16046
Very angry.... This anger was a zeal against sin; and an indignation at the affront offered to God; like that which the same holy prophet conceived upon the sight of the golden calf, Ex. 32.19.
Lines 16048–16072
16:16. And he said to Core: Do thou and thy congregation stand apart before the Lord to morrow, and Aaron apart. 16:17. Take every one of you censers, and put incense upon them, offering to the Lord two hundred and fifty censers: let Aaron also hold his censer. 16:18. When they had done this, Moses and Aaron standing, 16:19. And had drawn up all the multitude against them to the door of the tabernacle, the glory of the Lord appeared to them all. 16:20. And the Lord speaking to Moses and Aaron, said: 16:21. Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may presently destroy them. 16:22. They fell flat on their face, and said: O most mighty, the God of the spirits of all flesh, for one man’s sin shall thy wrath rage against all? 16:23. And the Lord said to Moses: 16:24. Command the whole people to separate themselves from the tents of Core and Dathan and Abiron.
Lines 16074–16110
16:25. And Moses arose, and went to Dathan and Abiron: and the ancients of Israel following him, 16:26. He said to the multitude: Depart from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be involved in their sins. 16:27. And when they were departed from their tents round about, Dathan and Abiron coming out stood in the entry of their pavilions with their wives and children, and all the people. 16:28. And Moses said: By this you shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all things that you see, and that I have not forged them of my own head: 16:29. If these men die the common death of men, and if they be visited with a plague, wherewith others also are wont to be visited, the Lord did not send me. 16:30. But if the Lord do a new thing, and the earth opening her mouth swallow them down, and all things that belong to them, and they go down alive into hell, you shall know that they have blasphemed the Lord. 16:31. And immediately as he had made an end of speaking, the earth broke asunder under their feet: 16:32. And opening her mouth, devoured them with their tents and all their substance. 16:33. And they went down alive into hell, the ground closing upon them, and they perished from among the people. 16:34. But all Israel, that was standing round about, fled at the cry of them that were perishing: saying: Lest perhaps the earth swallow us up also. 16:35. And a fire coming out from the Lord, destroyed the two hundred and fifty men that offered the incense.
Lines 16112–16131
16:36. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 16:37. Command Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers that lie in the burning, and to scatter the fire of one side and the other: because they are sanctified 16:38. In the deaths of the sinners: and let him beat them into plates, and fasten them to the altar, because incense hath been offered in them to the Lord, and they are sanctified, that the children of Israel may see them for a sign and a memorial. 16:39. Then Eleazar the priest took the brazen censers, wherein they had offered, whom the burning fire had devoured, and beat them into plates, fastening them to the altar: 16:40. That the children of Israel might have for the time to come wherewith they should be admonished, that no stranger or any one that is not of the seed of Aaron should come near to offer incense to the Lord, lest he should suffer as Core suffered, and all his congregation, according as the Lord spoke to Moses.
Lines 16133–16151
16:41. The following day all the multitude of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying: You have killed the people of the Lord. 16:42. And when there arose a sedition, and the tumult increased, 16:43. Moses and Aaron fled to the tabernacle of the covenant. And when they were gone into it, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared. 16:44. And the Lord said to Moses: 16:45. Get you out from the midst of this multitude, this moment will I destroy them. And as they were lying on the ground, 16:46. Moses said to Aaron: Take the censer, and putting fire in it from the altar, put incense upon it, and go quickly to the people to pray for them: for already wrath is gone out from the Lord, and the plague rageth.
Lines 16153–16167
16:47. When Aaron had done this, and had run to the midst of the multitude which the burning fire was now destroying, he offered the incense: 16:48. And standing between the dead and the living, he prayed for the people, and the plague ceased. 16:49. And the number of them that were slain was fourteen thousand and seven hundred men, besides them that had perished in the sedition of Core. 16:50. And Aaron returned to Moses to the door of the tabernacle of the covenant after the destruction was over.