Yahweh Commands the People to Depart from Korah, Dathan and Abiram (Numbers 16:23-27).
‘And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,'
And Yahweh, in response to their prayer, through Moses offered the people a chance.
“ Speak to the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the dwellingplace of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
They were to tell the congregation to ‘get up from about the dwellingplace of Korah, Dathan and Abiram'. That is, they were to cease their gathering to them and instead ostracise them. Korah dwelt in the camp of the Kohathites, Dathan and Abiram in the camp of Reuben, both to the south side of the Dwellingplace of Yahweh. Thus ‘the dwelling place of Korah, Dathan and Abiram' referred to the area of ground occupied on the south side of the Dwellingplace by both camps. If they wished to survive the people were to demonstrate their loyalty to Moses and Aaron by deserting those camps where they had been previously revealing their support for the action against Moses.
“The dwelling place of Korah, Dathan and Abiram” is in strict contrast with the Dwellingplace of Yahweh (Numbers 16:9). The people must choose whose dwellingplace they will honour. To accept the dwellingplace of the rebels as they lurked in their tents would be to renounce Yahweh.
‘And Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.'
Then Moses left the Dwellingplace and made for the camp of Reuben to face up with the rebels. He alone knew what Yahweh planned to do. ‘And the elders of Israel followed him'. Possibly belatedly they were demonstrating their support. Or they may simply have been following in order to see the outcome of the confrontation. None of them would have had the least suspicion of what was about to happen.
‘And he spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins.” '
Moses found there many supporters of the rebels. So he begged them to go and leave the area of the tents of the rebels. He warned them not to touch anything that was theirs. This ominous warning was immediately understood. To touch the possessions of the dead would render a man unclean. Thus Dathan and Abiram were as good as dead. What was more, by such familiarity, they would identify themselves with the rebels and would share their fate. They would be consumed in all their sins.
‘So they got themselves away from the dwellingplace of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side, and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood at the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little ones.'
The events had helped to focus their minds. They remembered what had happened to those who had opposed Moses in Egypt. So they hurriedly removed themselves from the vicinity of the tents of the rebels. They no longer wanted to be identified with them.
“They got themselves away from the dwellingplace of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side.” The area where the Reubenites and the Korathites had their tents became deserted. Their support among the people simply dwindled away. When it came to it the people did not have the heart to outface Yahweh. The speed of their response indicated again that slave-like attitude that had caused their failure to enter the land.
Then Dathan and Abiram came out of their tents with their whole families. They were making a show of strength. The point in the description is in order to stress that both they and their households were all of one mind. All were rebels. All opposed Moses, and challenged Yahweh. All were guilty and shared the corporate guilt. It was not an act of contrition but an act of defiance. But they were no doubt put out to discover that most of their supporters had melted away.