I'm continuing my series on Jacob Milgrom's excursus on Korah's rebellion in his Jewish Publication Society commentary on the Book of Numbers.
On page 416, Milgrom states that there are two stories about Korah in Numbers 16. Numbers 16:6-10 presents Korah (a Levite) leading other Levites so as to gain the priesthood. Numbers 16:2, 16-17, however, depict Korah leading chieftains against Moses and Aaron---and 250 of them are killed by fire from the LORD.
Are these two different traditions? Or could Korah have been forming an alliance with the chieftains in order to overthrow Moses and Aaron and to gain priestly power for himself and other Levites?
On pages 419-420, Milgrom says that the chieftains themselves may have desired cultic power, which was why they contended against Aaron. There were judges and kings who acted in a cultic capacity (Gideon in Judges 6:26; Saul in I Samuel 13:9-10; David in II Samuel 6:13, 17-18; Ahaz in II Kings 16:12-15; Jeroboam in I Kings 12:33), plus, "if Josephus' tradition is correct that the contest of the rods ([Numbers] 17:16-26) pitted the tribe of Levi against the chieftains of the other tribes...we have yet another echo of the rivalry stirred up among the tribes by Levi's election." Milgrom states that all of the "early wilderness rebellion traditions" were attributed to the "instigation of Korah", implying that there was a tradition in which the chieftains tried to overthrow Aaron but were not led by Korah the Levite.Tomorrow, I'll talk about Milgrom's dates for the traditions in Numbers 16.