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The next day, Korah and his followers accepted Moses' challenge and offered the incense. Moses and Aaron did the same. Then [[God]] ordered Moses and Aaron to stand aside from the congregation, because God was going to destroy them all. Moses and Aaron both interceded for the congregation, suggesting that one man's [[sin]] shouldn't warrant the destruction of all the people. So God ordered Moses and Aaron to tell the congregation to withdraw from Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and all their followers, so that they would not suffer as they would. (The third Reubenite, On, had by then repented.) The people obeyed.<ref name=Blank/><ref name=chabad/>

The next day, Korah and his followers accepted Moses' challenge and offered the incense. Moses and Aaron did the same. Then [[God]] ordered Moses and Aaron to stand aside from the congregation, because God was going to destroy them all. Moses and Aaron both interceded for the congregation, suggesting that one man's [[sin]] shouldn't warrant the destruction of all the people. So God ordered Moses and Aaron to tell the congregation to withdraw from Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and all their followers, so that they would not suffer as they would. (The third Reubenite, On, had by then repented.) The people obeyed.<ref name=Blank/><ref name=chabad/>

Moses then said that if God punished the mutineers with an unusual form of execution, the congregation would know positively that it was a divine punishment. The punishment certainly was unusual. A chasm opened in the ground on which Korah, Dathan, and Abiram stood, and they all fell in, with their households and their possessions. In addition, fire from God burned alive the two hundred fifty followers of Korah who had offered the incense.<ref name=Blank/><ref name=Jastrow/><ref name=ebibleteacher/><ref name=Dunagan/><ref name=Kabbalah/><ref name=Smith/><ref name=Zadok/><ref name=chabad/> But God spared the sons of Korah, whose later descendants would redeem their memory. (Among those descendants was [[Judge]] [[Samuel]].) In addition, several of Korah's descendants continued to serve as doorkeepers to the [[Temple of Jerusalem]]<ref name=Plaut>Plaut, W. Gunther. "[http://www.myjewishlearning.com/texts/bible/What_is_the_Torah/numbers/Korah.htm Korah: Rebellion & Divine Wrath]." Excerpt from Plaut WG, ''The Torah: A Modern Commentary'', 1981. Hosted by MyJewishLearning.com. Accessed December 6, 2008.</ref><ref name=Jastrow/>, a duty that was actually an extension of the Kohathite duties to transport the Tabernacle furnishings before they gained a permanent home.

Moses then said that if God punished the mutineers with an unusual form of execution, the congregation would know positively that it was a divine punishment. The punishment certainly was unusual. A chasm opened in the ground on which Korah, Dathan, and Abiram stood, and they all fell in, with their households and their possessions. In addition, fire from God burned alive the two hundred fifty followers of Korah who had offered the incense.<ref name=Blank/><ref name=Jastrow/><ref name=ebibleteacher/><ref name=Dunagan/><ref name=Kabbalah/><ref name=Smith/><ref name=Zadok/><ref name=chabad/> But God spared the sons of Korah, whose later descendants would redeem their memory. (Among those descendants was [[Judge (biblical)|Judge]] [[Samuel]].) In addition, several of Korah's descendants continued to serve as doorkeepers to the [[Temple of Jerusalem]]<ref name=Plaut>Plaut, W. Gunther. "[http://www.myjewishlearning.com/texts/bible/What_is_the_Torah/numbers/Korah.htm Korah: Rebellion & Divine Wrath]." Excerpt from Plaut WG, ''The Torah: A Modern Commentary'', 1981. Hosted by MyJewishLearning.com. Accessed December 6, 2008.</ref><ref name=Jastrow/>, a duty that was actually an extension of the Kohathite duties to transport the Tabernacle furnishings before they gained a permanent home.

God then told Moses to tell [[Eleazar (son of Aaron)|Eleazar]], Aaron's eventual successor, to gather the censers of the 250 rebels, melt them down, beat the brass into thin plates, and use them to cover the altar, as a reminder to the people that Aaron and his descendants, and ''only'' Aaron and his descendants, were to burn the holy [[incense]] in the Tabernacle.<ref name=Blank/><ref name=Dunagan/>

God then told Moses to tell [[Eleazar (son of Aaron)|Eleazar]], Aaron's eventual successor, to gather the censers of the 250 rebels, melt them down, beat the brass into thin plates, and use them to cover the altar, as a reminder to the people that Aaron and his descendants, and ''only'' Aaron and his descendants, were to burn the holy [[incense]] in the Tabernacle.<ref name=Blank/><ref name=Dunagan/>