When Envy Demands a Vote: The Rebellion of Dathan and Abiram Text: Psalm 106:16-18
Introduction: The Politics of a Green Sickness
We live in an age that has made an idol out of egalitarianism. The high priests of our secular moment teach that all distinctions are unjust, all authority is suspect, and all hierarchies are oppressive. This is not a new heresy; it is a very old one, born in the pit and whispered into the ears of the discontented since the beginning. It is the native language of Hell. And at the root of this rebellious impulse, you will always find the green, soul-rotting sickness of envy.
Envy is not simply wanting what someone else has. Covetousness wants the thing. Envy wants the other person not to have the thing. It is a malevolent desire to tear down, to level, to reduce. It cannot stand the sight of another's blessing, another's anointing, another's authority, because it sees that blessing as a personal affront. And when envy gets a foothold in a community, it does not petition or persuade. It festers, it conspires, and it rebels. It puts on a pious mask of "fairness" and "the rights of the people," but underneath it is the slithering pride of Satan, who would rather rule in Hell than serve in Heaven.
Psalm 106 is a long and sorrowful catalogue of Israel's covenant infidelity in the wilderness. It is a national confession of sin. And right in the middle of this list of idolatries and rebellions, the psalmist recalls the insurrection of Dathan and Abiram. This was not a simple disagreement over policy. This was not a democratic debate about leadership. This was a direct, envious assault on the ordained authority of God Himself. It was an attack on God's right to choose whom He will choose. The rebels saw Moses and Aaron, men set apart by God for a holy purpose, and their hearts were consumed with that ancient, deadly question: "Why them and not me?"
This passage is a stark and terrifying reminder that God takes His authority, His holiness, and the sin of envy with the utmost seriousness. When men challenge the government of God, they are not simply registering a complaint; they are picking a fight with the Creator of the cosmos. And as we will see, it is a fight they cannot possibly win.
The Text
Then they became envious of Moses in the camp,
And of Aaron, the holy one of Yahweh,
The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,
And covered up the company of Abiram.
And a fire burned up in their company;
The flame consumed the wicked.
(Psalm 106:16-18)
The Root of Rebellion (v. 16)
The psalmist gets straight to the point, diagnosing the spiritual cancer that caused this mutiny.
"Then they became envious of Moses in the camp, And of Aaron, the holy one of Yahweh." (Psalm 106:16)
The sin is named plainly: envy. The issue was not Moses' leadership style or Aaron's qualifications. The issue was the poison in the hearts of the men who looked at them. The original account in Numbers 16 tells us that Korah, a Levite, along with Dathan, Abiram, and On, gathered 250 "men of renown" to challenge the leadership. Their charge was slick and democratic. "You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?" (Numbers 16:3).
Do you see the devil's logic? They were using a truth, that all the people were set apart for God, to tell a lie. The lie was that because all are holy in one sense, there can be no distinctions in office or authority. This is the essence of all revolutionary talk. It is the logic of the French Revolution's "liberty, equality, fraternity," which led to the guillotine. It is the logic of modern intersectionality, which is nothing more than institutionalized envy. They were accusing Moses and Aaron of pride, of "exalting themselves," when in reality, it was their own pride and envy that fueled the accusation. This is a classic satanic inversion. The envious always accuse the objects of their envy of the very sins that are consuming their own hearts.
Notice the targets of their envy. It was Moses, the mediator of the covenant, the civil authority. And it was Aaron, "the holy one of Yahweh," the high priest, the spiritual authority. This was a comprehensive rebellion against God's entire structure for His people. They did not just want a new policy; they wanted a new government, one of their own making. They could not stand that God had chosen these two men, elevating them to positions of service and leadership. God's choice was an offense to their pride. They wanted a vote. They wanted a committee. They wanted to be in charge. But the kingdom of God is not a democracy.
The Earth's Rebuke (v. 17)
The response to this challenge was not a debate or a recount. It was a terrifying display of God's authority over the creation He spoke into existence.
"The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, And covered up the company of Abiram." (Psalm 106:17)
Moses, acting as God's representative, puts the matter to the test. He tells the rebels to stand at the entrance of their tents. If they die a common death, then God has not sent him. But if the Lord does a "new thing," and the ground opens its mouth to swallow them, then everyone will know that these men have rejected the Lord (Numbers 16:28-30). This is not a contest between Moses and Korah. It is a contest between Korah and Yahweh.
And God did a new thing. The very ground beneath their feet, the solid earth they took for granted, refused to support their rebellion. Creation itself sided with the Creator. The earth, which God had made, would not tolerate this assault on God's appointed order. It literally could not stomach it. It opened its mouth and Dathan and Abiram, along with their households and all their possessions, went down alive into Sheol. The ground closed over them, and they were erased from the assembly.
This is a picture of ultimate rejection. Their sin was so offensive that the created order itself expelled them. This is what hell is. It is to be outside, to be swallowed by the void, to be removed from the camp of the saints and the presence of God. This judgment was a physical manifestation of a spiritual reality. When you rebel against the authority of God, you are stepping onto ground that will not hold you. You are choosing to stand on nothing.
Heaven's Fire (v. 18)
The judgment was not limited to the ringleaders who challenged Moses' civil authority. The 250 men who followed Korah in challenging Aaron's priestly authority faced a different, but equally decisive, end.
"And a fire burned up in their company; The flame consumed the wicked." (Psalm 106:18)
In Numbers 16, these 250 men were instructed to take their censers and offer incense before the Lord, putting themselves forward as rival priests. They stood at the doorway of the tabernacle, ready to perform a holy duty to which they had not been called. They were attempting to seize a sacred office by force of numbers. And as they stood there, fire came out from the Lord and consumed them.
The judgment fit the crime perfectly. Dathan and Abiram, who rebelled against God's authority on earth, were judged by the earth. The 250 princes, who rebelled against God's authority in worship, who presumed to approach His holiness on their own terms, were judged by fire from heaven. They wanted to offer their own fire, but they were instead consumed by God's fire. This is the fire of God's holiness. Our God is a consuming fire, and He will not be trifled with (Hebrews 12:29). He will not allow profane men to storm His sanctuary. The way to God is the way He prescribes, through the Mediator He appoints. For them, it was Aaron. For us, it is Christ.
The psalmist calls them "the wicked." This is not an overstatement. Envy that leads to open rebellion against the manifest will of God is the height of wickedness. It is a refusal to live in God's world on God's terms. It is the creature telling the Creator that He has made a mistake, that His choices are illegitimate, and that the rebel could run things much better. And for this pride, the only answer is judgment, swift and final.
Conclusion: The Fear of the Lord
So what are we to do with a passage like this? Our soft, therapeutic age wants to skip over these parts of the Bible. They are harsh. They are judgmental. They are not very nice. But they are absolutely necessary. They are necessary because they teach us the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom.
This story stands as a permanent warning against the sin of envy, particularly when it is directed at the authorities God has placed over us, whether in the church, the family, or the state. When we find ourselves grumbling against those in authority, we must first examine our own hearts. Is our complaint righteous, or is it rooted in the green sickness? Are we angry because of a genuine injustice, or are we angry because God has blessed someone else, and we think we deserved it more?
The rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram was a direct assault on the gospel. They rejected God's chosen mediators. They wanted to approach God on their own terms, based on their own supposed holiness. This is the root of all false religion. The gospel, in contrast, tells us that we cannot approach God at all on our own. We are sinners, and He is holy. We need a mediator, one whom God Himself has chosen and appointed. That mediator is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our true Moses, who leads us out of bondage. He is our great High Priest, our true Aaron, who entered the true holy place with His own blood to make atonement for us.
To reject Christ's exclusive authority, to say that there are other ways to God, or to set up our own systems of righteousness, is to join the company of Dathan and Abiram. It is to stand on ground that will not hold, before a fire that will consume. But to submit to Him, to gratefully accept the Mediator God has provided, is to stand on the solid rock. It is to be brought safely into the camp of the saints, not by our own merit, but by His grace alone. Let us therefore put away all envy and all rebellious pride, and humbly thank God for the holy ones He has appointed, chief among them His only Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.