Korah

Korah was the name of several figures in the Old Testament, the most prominent being Korah son of Izhar, a Kohathite Levite who led the most serious internal rebellion against the authority of Moses and Aaron recorded in the Pentateuch. Numbers 16 describes how Korah, together with the Reubenites Dathan and Abiram and 250 leading men of the congregation, challenged Moses's and Aaron's exclusive priestly authority, asserting that all the congregation was holy and that Moses had exalted himself above the assembly of the LORD.

The divine judgment was swift and dramatic: the earth opened and swallowed Korah, Dathan, and Abiram with their households, and fire from God consumed the 250 who had offered incense. Korah's sons, however, did not die (Numbers 26:11), and their descendants became prominent temple musicians and gatekeepers—the Sons of Korah who composed or performed Psalms 42, 44–49, 84–85, and 87–88. Other figures named Korah include a son of Esau (Genesis 36:5) and various Calebite figures in Chronicles genealogies. Jude 11 uses Korah's rebellion as a paradigm of those who despise authority and perish in their own presumption.