Day 90

Psalms 42-50

Who were the sons of Korah? After the Exodus, the Levites had been set aside for the care of the tabernacle and its furniture. (Numbers 3). Only the descendants of Aaron, however, were allowed to serve as priests.

The three sons of Levi were Gershon, Merari, and Kohath. They were assigned various tasks (Numbers 4:15), but many of the Kohathites began to disdain this task and to covet the role of the priests.

Korah was the grandson of Kohath, and he began to run with another group of Reubenite malcontents, namely, Dathan, Abiram, and On. In pride, they roused a group of 250 men together to challenge the right of Moses and Aaron to the priesthood (Numbers 16). Moses summoned the rebellious men to stand before God and burn incense. God warned Moses to let the assembly know to get away from Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, their households, and the other rebels. Then a remarkable and terrifying event happened. (Numbers 16:28-35).

We find that Korah had sons, perhaps too young to understand their father’s uprising or maybe too cognizant of God’s authority to join in the revolt They were spared (Num 26:9-11). God judged those who turned against Him in active rebellion and purified His people, but He still had a purpose and plan for the line of Korah. After seven successive generations, the prophet Samuel arose from the line of Korah, the genealogy of which is recorded in 1Chron 6:31-38 and 1Sam 1:1,20. The Korahites became doorkeepers and custodians for the tabernacle (1Chron9:19-21; 1Chron 2.) One group of Korahites (1Chron 12:6) joined King David in various military exploits and won the reputation of being expert warriors. However, the most remarkable thing to note about the sons of Korah is that during the time of King David, they became the great leaders in choral and orchestral music in the tabernacle. Heman the Korahite had a place of great importance as a singer, along with Asaph (a Gershonite) and Ethan or Jeduthan (a Merarite). David formed an elaborate organization for song, instrumental music, and prophesying through these men.