The Challenge of the Censers (Numbers 16:4-7).
‘And when Moses heard it, he fell on his face,'
It is unlikely that this means in the assembly, and as at this point Dathan and Abiram with their Reubenite followers withdrew (Numbers 16:12) it suggests that he went into the tent of meeting in order to do so. Falling on the face was an act of total submission. We are left to recognise that Yahweh spoke to him, for the next we hear is of the message that he brought back to them.
‘And he spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying, “In the morning Yahweh will show who are his, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to him, even he whom he will choose will he cause to come near to him.” '
He came back and gave his reply to Korah and the two hundred and fifty princes, for apparently Dathan and Abiram had retired to their tents in the camp of Reuben. They were willing to leave the first positive action in Korah's hands.
In his reply he assured them that on the very next day Yahweh would demonstrate who were His, and who were holy, ‘and will cause the ones whom He chose to come near to him'. That should have given them pause for thought, but they were too taken up with their ambitions to consider the possible consequences. They coveted the position of the Aaronic priests.
“ Do this. Take for yourselves censers, Korah, and all his company, and put fire in them, and put incense on them before Yahweh tomorrow, and it shall be that the man whom Yahweh chooses, he shall be holy. You take too much on you, you sons of Levi.”
The test would be simple. Korah and his two hundred and fifty were to take censers for themselves next day, and put fire in them, and then put incense on it to burn ‘before Yahweh', that is, in the courtyard to the Dwellingplace. Then they would discover whom Yahweh saw as holy. Those chosen by Yahweh would be seen to be holy. And all knew from past experience what happened to those who acted in this way when they were not chosen, and were not holy enough.
“You take too much on you, you sons of Levi.” Compare the charge made against him in Numbers 16:3. He warned the Levites quite firmly of the danger of what they were doing, and that it was they who were taking too much on themselves. They ought to recognise the danger of what they were doing. After all it was not for nothing that they had been appointed guardians of the Dwellingplace. The stress that the writer is seeking to get over comes over quite clearly.
The choice of the censer was a sensible one. It meant that none of the furniture in the Dwellingplace would be tampered with. But it was also the means of the most intimate approach to God. He was challenging these men to recognise what they were doing. Approaching Yahweh in this way was no light matter.
“Sons of Levi” may refer to all the two hundred and fifty, either because they were so, or sarcastically because that was what they were attempting to become. Or it may refer to a group of Levites who were leaders, with Korah, in the attempt to promulgate the participation of the two hundred and fifty.