Bemidabr 16:2 (Korah) - Who were the 250 men who were part of Korah’s rebellion?

Bemidbar 16:2 records that part of Korah's coalition consisted of 250 men of great renown. Who were they? Many suggestions have been offered.

Rashi (on 16:1) writes that most of the group of 250 men was from the tribe of Reuven since both the tribe of Reuven and Kehat, from whom Korah descended, camped on the south of the mishkan. Yet, other than 16:1 there is no mention in the Torah that the tribe of Reuven played any particular role in the rebellion. It would seem that Datan, Aviram and On were a bunch of malcontents (see Shemot Rabbah 1:29) who used this opportunity to join Korah’s rebellion. The mention of their tribal status is not unusual and it is natural for a small group of three people to have family ties. I doubt that one can extrapolate from them that the 250 men were also from the tribe of Reuven. Also, as we discussed above on chapter 16, "Korah’s rebellion: The great rebellion by an unholy coalition," Datan, Aviram and On were distinct from the 250 men within Korah's coalition.

Ibn Ezra (on 16:1) suggest that the 250 men were firstborn sons. He argues that they were the priests prior to the building of the mishkan, Shemot 19:22, and maybe they were the ones who offered sacrifices at Mount Sinai, Shemot 24:5. With this approach, the rebellion involved people from all the tribes since the firstborn sons could have been from any tribe. Ibn Ezra notes that in 16:3 Korah questioned Moshe “that were not all the people kadosh?” and we know that the firstborn sons were kadosh from Shemot 13:2. According to this approach, the grievance of the 250 men was not simply with the switching of the firstborn sons for the Levites but with the designation of Aharon to be the high priest instead of a firstborn son, Korah or anybody else, being the high priest. This approach can also accord with the idea that the tribe of Reuven was involved in the rebellion since Reuven was the firstborn of Yaakov.

The problem with this approach is that the Torah does not record that the rebellion centered around the rights of the firstborn sons, and it is not recorded that the firstborn sons were the people who offered sacrifices prior to the building of the mishkan/ ohel moed, (see Ramban on 16:1). The firstborn sons did have a special status due the 10th plague but that was not translated into any work in the mishkan/ ohel moed, but rather that they had to be redeemed, 3:40-51. When Korah stated that “all the people are kadosh" the simple understanding is that he was referring to the entire nation, and not just to the firstborn sons.

A third possibility of the identity of the 250 men is the opinion of Rabbenu Hananel (quoted in the Ramban on 16:5) that they were Levites. Moshe twice refers to them as Levites, 16:7,8. Also, 16:1 recorded that Korah was from the tribe of Levi. The idea would be that they were upset that Aharon was chosen to do the main work in the mishkan/ ohel moed instead of them.

Ramban (on 16:5) rejects this approach since he could not accept that this great tribe would have joined in a rebellion against Moshe. This argument is not convincing. Even though the tribe had remained steadfast during the time of the golden calf, this was all the more reason that they should have been upset that Aharon was chosen to be the high priest since he had participated in the sin of the golden calf.

The Ramban raises three questions regarding this approach. One, in 17:6 the people complain that Moshe and Aharon killed the people of G-d, but according to Rabbenu Hananel only people from the tribe of Levi died and not the general population. Two, in chapter 17, as part of the aftermath of the rebellion, the staffs of all of the tribes were tested to see who really was supposed to work in the mishkan/ ohel moed and the staff representing the tribe of Levi was successful. Yet, if Rabbenu Hananel was correct, then the other tribes were not upset with Aharon working in the mishkan/ ohel moed, and the test should have been within the tribe of Levi. Three, 16:2 records that the 250 men were from the children of Israel, which implies that they were from all the tribes. Another reason to think that not all the 250 men were Levites is that 27:3 records that the daughters of Tzelofhad stated that their father was not part of the 250 men (note the exact phrase, ha-noadim al G-d, in 16:11 and 27:3) and Tzelofhad was from the tribe of Menashe, 27:1. If all of the 250 men were Levites, then of course Tzelofhad had not been part of this group, but if this group consisted of people from all tribes, then it was possible that he had been with the group, which would be why Tzelofhad's daughters had to state that he had not been part of the 250 men.

The Ramban believes that the 250 men were from all of the tribes, yet why did Moshe refer to the tribe of Levi twice? The Ramban (on 16:5) explains that in 16:7, Moshe said, “too much is yours, sons of Levi” to convince the rest of the population that Korah was not really on their side. Korah had told the people that he was fighting for all of their rights, but Moshe was pointing out to the people that Korah was not concerned about that issue since he was already a Levi, and instead he wanted to be the high priest. With regard to 16:8, Ramban (on 16:5,11) explains that when Moshe said, “Hear me, sons of Levi,” he was talking primarily to Korah.

My guess is that, as noted by the Ramban, it seems unlikely that all 250 people were Levites, but naturally as Korah was from the tribe of Levi so too many of the followers, but not all, would have been from that tribe. They would have been friends of Korah, which would have given then great influence within the rebellion, and it was to these people that Moshe was speaking to in 16:7,8 to get them to quit. If these people would have quit the rebellion, then maybe the whole rebellion might have collapsed.