Bemidbar Chapter 16 (Korah) - How did Korah die?

One confusing point of chapter 16 is how did Korah die? The 250 people died from a fire from the heavens when they attempted to offer the incense, 16:35, while Datan and Aviram (On?) died when the earth swallowed them up, 16:32. Presumably, Korah as the ringleader of the whole rebellion died, but was it by the fire or by the swallowing of the earth?

The Talmud (Sanhedrin 110a) presents two more possibilities. Rabbi Yochanon says that he did not die in either manner, and Rashi explains that according to this opinion, he died in the plague that occurred after the rebellion, 17:14. This seems unlikely. He was the ringleader, and hence he should died with at least one of the groups of rebels. An anonymous opinion in the Talmud (also in Numbers Rabbah 18:19) argues that Korah died both through the swallowing of the earth and through the fire. Rashi explains that first the fire burned his soul and then his body rolled to where the earth had split and fell into the crevice. This is unlikely to be understood literally.

Ibn Ezra (on 16:35, see also Luzzato on 16:21) argues that only Datan and Aviram were swallowed by the ground since they are the only ones explicitly mentioned, also see Devarim 11:6. Korah would have been with the group of 250 men, and died by the fire with them. Why was he not mentioned as being with the 250 men? Ibn Ezra explains that once the text recorded that the group was burnt there was no need to mention Korah. Also he brings a proof from 17:5, which records that the fire-pans used by people would serve as a reminder that the people should not become like Korah and his group. He explains that this not becoming like Korah means not to suffer his fate to die as he did by the fire-pans. Also, he interprets that the words of Bemidbar 26:10 “and Korah” join with the word “community”, which would mean that Korah died with the group of 250.

Not with standing these strong arguments, I always thought that the ground swallowed up Korah. (See comments of Rambam on Pirkei Avot 5:5 that mentions Korah by the miracle of the land being swallowed.) The crucial question is where was Korah at the time of the deaths, with Datan and Aviram or with the 250 people? Ibn Ezra believes Korah was with the 250 because he was going to offer up the incense with them. 16:17 records that Korah had a fire-pan (the reference to the word you), and 16:18 records that all the people who were take the fire-pans, which includes Korah, were waiting to offer their incense to G-d by the ohel moed. Also, 16:19 records that Korah was by the ohel moed. However, afterwards, 16:25 records that Moshe left the ohel moed to go the tents of Datan and Aviram, which were not near the ohel moed.

My guess is that Korah would have followed Moshe to be where the “action” was since he was he ringleader and even the elders accompanied Moshe. Korah would have joined Datan and Aviram in their stand against Moshe and immediately afterwards the land swallowed them up. Thus, when 16:32 records that the earth swallowed up everything that appertained to Korah, this would include Korah himself. There would have been no time for him to have returned to the test of fire-pans.  Accordingly, 16:35 which records the death of the 250 men by fire makes no mention of Korah, and Rashi, (in Sanhedrin when explaining Rabbi Yochanon's opinion) notes that if Korah died with the 250 people then the Torah should have recorded that 251 people died.

According to this approach, Bemidbar 26:10 means that the earth swallowed them (Datan and Aviram) and Korah when the group of 250 died by the fire. Also, 17:5 means that one should learn from the fire-pans incident not to act like Korah and then 17:5 would then not be referring to his death.

Devarim 11:6 which only mentioned Datan and Aviram as dying from the earth does not exclude Korah from also having died from the swallowing of the earth. Hoffmann (commentary on Devarim, p.140) argues that Moshe did not want to mention the sins of Korah out of consideration for his children who were still alive, while the deaths of Datan and Aviram could be mentioned since all of their relatives were dead. Hoffmann points out that Korah’s name is also omitted for the same reason in Psalm 106:17 since the Psalm was sung by the sons of Korah.

Netziv notes that Moshe also did not mention the deaths of the 250 people in Devarim 11:6. This suggests that Moshe mentioned Datan and Aviram since they had spoke against going to the land of Israel, and Moshe was emphasizing their deaths so the new generation would not follow in their example of not wanting to go to the land of Israel. However, Korah never made any statement against going to the land of Israel so there was no need to mention his death.

Also, it is possible that Moshe purposefully omitted Korah’s name since in chapter 10 in Devarim, Moshe had just mentioned the sin of the golden calf. This incident was one of the strongest claims that Korah had against Aharon since Aharon had participated in the sin of the golden calf. Thus, Moshe did not want to mention Korah immediately after discussing the sin of the golden calf because this could renew all the questions about the choice of Aharon to be high priest. Datan and Aviram were mentioned since their complaint was not about the mishkan but about the march in the desert.