Korah's revolt: the Levites who grasped at the priesthood
Cyril: …the whole congregation, all of them, are holy, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you rise up against the congregation of the Lord?” (Numbers 16:3) And when Moses heard this, he fell on his face (Numbers 16:4); and he spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying: “God has visited and known those who are his and who are holy, and has brought them near to himself; and those whom he has chosen for himself he has brought near to himself (Numbers 16:5). Do this: take censers for yourselves, Korah and all his company, and put fire in them, and put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow; and the man whom the Lord has chosen, he shall be holy. Let this be enough for you, sons of Levi.” (Numbers 16:6–7) And Moses said to Korah: “Hear me, sons of Levi. Is it a small thing to you that the God of Israel has set you apart from the congregation of Israel and brought you near to himself, to perform the services of the tent of the Lord and to stand before the tent to minister to him? He has brought you near, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you; and now you seek to be priests?”’ (Numbers 16:8–10)
For the Kohathites, whose service was to carry the most holy things on their shoulders (Numbers 4:4–15), leapt in their ignorance at what lay above them and contended for the rank of the priests. For they seized honors for themselves, as it is written (Hebrews 5:4); they disregarded the divine command; they impiously overran the laws of the priestly service; and they counted the honors of those set over them as worth very little. For they said to Moses and Aaron: ‘Enough from you! For the whole congregation, all of them, are holy, and the Lord is among them.’ (Numbers 16:3) Do you hear how they despise the measure allotted to them, and all but say that the high priest’s honor is common, not to their own clans only but to all the rest as well, and that there is nothing at all exceptional or more distinguished about it, even if those who received the office by God’s own vote are said to stand above them? This is plainly to find fault with the decrees from above and to count the Lawgiver’s decision as nothing.
Yet the inspired Moses, with his usual gentleness, appealed to them as to men who were sick; and, having perceived the wrath that was about to fall on them, he rebuked them, saying: ‘Let this be enough for you, sons of Levi. For it is no small thing for you,’ he says, ‘that the God of all has chosen you out of all for a service so holy and so worthy of wonder.’ (Numbers 16:7, 9) But they were still bitter and unyielding, and unbridled in their arrogance, until their madness brought them to such a pitch of evil that the earth opened its mouth, seized them together with their families and their tents, and wrapped them in a strange destruction (Numbers 16:32). For they went down alive into Hades, as it is written (Numbers 16:33).
So it is unholy, and before God it carries a charge of death, to rise up against one’s head and not to yield to those placed in authority, who have received from God the foremost honor. The fruit of the highest understanding is to glory in whatever one has and to give thanks for it, and not to leap recklessly at what lies beyond one’s measure, nor to reach for what has not yet been given them, supposing that what is governed by the will from above alone is common and open to the many.
Greek
πᾶσα ἡ συναγωγὴ, πάντες ἅγιοι, καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς Κύριος· καὶ διατί κατανίστασθε ἐπὶ τὴν συναγωγὴν Κυρίου; Καὶ ἀκούσας Μωσῆς, ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ πρόσωπον, καὶ ἐλάλησε πρὸς Κορὲ καὶ πρὸς πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ τὴν συναγωγὴν, λέγων· Ἐπέσκεπται καὶ ἔγνω ὁ Θεὸς τοὺς ὄντας αὐτοῦ καὶ τοὺς ἁγίους, καὶ προσηγάγετο πρὸς ἑαυτόν· καὶ οὓς ἐξελέξατο ἑαυτῷ, προσηγάγετο πρὸς ἑαυτόν. Τοῦτο ποιήσατε, λάβετε ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς πυρεῖα, Κορὲ καὶ πᾶσα ἡ συναγωγὴ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐπίθετε ἐπ' αὐτὰ πῦρ, καὶ ἐπίθετε ἐπ' αὐτὰ θυμίαμα ἔναντι Κυρίου αὔριον· καὶ ἔσται ὁ ἀνὴρ ὃν ἐκλέλεκται Κύριος, οὗτος ἅγιος· ἱκανούσθω ὑμῖν, υἱοὶ Λευΐ. Καὶ εἶπε Μωσῆς πρὸς Κορέ· Εἰσακούσατέ μου, υἱοὶ Λευΐ. Μὴ μικρόν ἐστι τοῦτο ὑμῖν, ὅτι διέστειλεν ὁ Θεὸς Ἰσραὴλ ὑμᾶς ἐκ συναγωγῆς Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ προσηγάγετο ὑμᾶς πρὸς ἑαυτὸν λειτουργεῖν τὰς λειτουργίας τῆς σκηνῆς Κυρίου, καὶ παρίστασθαι ἔναντι τῆς σκηνῆς λατρεύειν αὐτῷ, καὶ προσηγάγετό σε καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἀδελφούς σου υἱοὺς Λευῒ μετὰ σοῦ, καὶ ζητεῖτε ἱερατεύειν;» Λειτουργίαν γὰρ ἔχοντες οἱ ἀπὸ Καὰθ, τὸ εἰς ὤμους αἴρειν τὰ Ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων, ἐπέθρωσκον ἀμαθῶς τοῖς ὑπερκειμένοις καὶ τοῖς τῶν ἱερέων φιλονεικοῦσι μέτροις. Ἑαυτοῖς γὰρ ἁρπάζοντες τὰς τιμὰς, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, καὶ τῆς μὲν θείας ἀλογήσαντες ἐντολῆς, νόμους δὲ τῆς ἱερουργίας ὑπερθέοντες ἀνοσίως, τὰς τῶν προεστηκότων τιμὰς ὀλίγου παντελῶς ἀξιοῦντες λόγου. Ἔφασκον γὰρ πρὸς Μωσέα καὶ Ἀαρών· «Ἐχέτω ὑμῖν ὅτι πᾶσα ἡ συναγωγὴ, πάντες ἅγιοι, καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς Κύριος.» Ἀκούεις ὅπως τὸ σφίσιν αὐτοῖς ἐκνεμηθὲν μέτρον ἀτιμάζουσι, μόνον δὲ οὐχὶ κοινὴν εἶναί φασι, καὶ οὐχὶ δήμοις τοῖς αὐτοῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασι τὴν τοῦ ἀρχιερέως τιμὴν, καὶ οὐδὲν ὅλως τὸ περιττὸν, ἢ περιφανέστερον, κἂν εἰ ὑπερκεῖσθαι λέγοιντο ψήφῳ τὸ χρῆμα λαχόντες τῇ παρὰ Θεοῦ· ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἐναργῶς, ταῖς ἄνωθεν ψήφοις ἐπιτιμᾷν, καὶ οὐδὲν εἶναι λογίζεσθαι τὸ τῷ νομοθέτῃ δοκοῦν. Ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν θεσπέσιος Μωσῆς, ἠπιότητι τῇ συνήθει χρώμενος, ὡς ἠῤῥωστηκότας παρεκάλει, καὶ τὴν ὅσην οὔπω κατ' αὐτῶν ἐσομένην ὀργὴν ἐννενοηκὼς, ἐπιπλήττει λέγων· «Ἱκανούσθω ὑμῖν, οἱ υἱοὶ Λευΐ. Οὐ γὰρ μικρὸν,» φησὶν, «ὑμῖν, ὅτι ὑμᾶς ἐκ πάντων ἀπολέκτους ἐποιήσατο πρὸς τὴν οὕτω σεπτὴν καὶ ἀξιάγαστον λειτουργίαν ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεός.» Οἱ δὲ ἦσαν ἔτι πικροὶ καὶ ἀτεράμονες, καὶ ἀχάλινοι πρὸς ὑπεροψίαν, ἄχρις ἂν αὐτοῖς εἰς τοῦτο κακοῦ τὰ τῆς ἀπονοίας εἰσβέβηκεν, ὡς διανοίξασαν τὴν γῆν τὸ στόμα, αὐτοῖς γένεσι καὶ σκηναῖς ἑλεῖν, καὶ ὀλέθρῳ ξένῳ περιβαλεῖν. Κατέβησαν γὰρ εἰς ᾅδου ζῶντες, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον. Ἀνόσιον οὖν ἄρα καὶ θανάτου γραφὴν ἔχει παρὰ Θεῷ, τὸ κατανίστασθαι κεφαλῆς, καὶ τὸ μὴ ὑπείκειν τοῖς προτεταγμένοις, καὶ τὴν προὔχουσαν παρὰ Θεοῦ λαχοῦσι τιμήν. Συνέσεως δὲ τῆς ἀνωτάτω καρπὸς, τὸ ἐφ' ᾧ ἄν τις ἔχοι σεμνύνεσθαι καὶ εὐχαριστεῖν, καὶ μὴ τοῖς ἐπέκεινα μέτρου ῥιψοκινδύνως ἐπιπηδᾷν, μήτε μὴν ἐφίεσθαι τῶν οὔπω δεδωρημένων αὐτοῖς, οἰομένους εἶναι κοινὰ καὶ βάσιμα τοῖς πολλοῖς, ἃ μόνοις τοῖς ἄνωθεν διοικεῖται νεύμασιν.