Korah and his followers want to be priests and leaders even though this isn't what the Lord has called these particular men to do in life. They've questioned the authority of Moses and the authority of the Lord who chose and enabled Moses to lead them out of Egypt and to the promised land. They've accused both Moses and the Lord of wanting to kill them in the wilderness. They've accused Moses of having brought them out of slavery in Egypt only to force them into slavery to himself. Moses bowed down on the ground and prayed to the Lord for guidance and the Lord gave him the instructions he's about to give Korah and his men.
"Moses said to Korah, 'You and all your followers are to appear before the Lord tomorrow---you and they and Aaron. Each man is to take his censer and put incense in it---250 censers in all---and present it before the Lord. You and Aaron are to present your censers also.'" (Numbers 16:16-17) These men want to be priests and they will be allowed to appear before the Lord carrying the censers of priests. Moses is saying to them, "We will let God decide. If He wants you to be priests, you can be priests. He previously made it clear that only Aaron and his sons and their descendants are to serve Him as priests, but just in case He's changed His mind (as you seem to believe He ought to), we'll put the matter before Him and see what He says."
These men are in the wrong. But sometimes the only way to prove to a person that they are in the wrong is to let them keep going until they hit rock bottom and are compelled to face their mistakes. Moses has not been able to talk sense into them. They remain stubbornly persistent in their rebellion against the Lord. This situation wouldn't have ended up the way it's going to end up if only they'd listened to Moses or consulted the Lord in a spirit of obedience and humility. But since they refuse to listen to the reason of man or of God, they are going to have their sinful hearts judged in the sight of the whole congregation.
On the following day the men do what the Lord instructed Moses to tell them to do. "When Korah had gathered all his followers in opposition to them at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the glory of the Lord appeared to the entire assembly." (Numbers 16:19) This is probably a reference to the cloud of the Lord's presence which we've previously talked about several times in our study of the Old Testament. It's important that the Lord's glory appears in the sight of all the people. This way there will be no doubt that what happens in our passage today is not a randomly occurring natural disaster but that it comes straight from the hand of a God who has put these rebellious men on trial and found them guilty.
"The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 'Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.' But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, 'O God, the God who gives breath to all living things, will You be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?'" (Numbers 16:20-22) The Lord threatens to be done with the entire assembly, perhaps because the sympathies of the people lie more with the rebels than with Moses and Aaron. And if their sympathies lie with the rebels, they aren't on the side of God who calls whom He wants to be leaders and priests. If God had wanted Korah and his men to be priests, He would have appointed them as priests.
Does God actually intend to destroy all the people except Moses and Aaron? Yes and no. God doesn't make empty threats or empty promises. If Moses and Aaron hadn't interceded for the people, I think the Lord would have destroyed the people. If He destroyed all but the families of Moses and Aaron He could still keep His promise to Abraham about bringing his descendants into the promised land. But the Lord knew Moses and Aaron would intercede for the people. So why does He propose doing a thing which He's powerful enough to do and within His rights to do, knowing He won't actually have to do it? I think it's because He wants Moses and Aaron to pray for mercy upon the people. As we've seen ever since Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, the people are continually grumbling against Moses and Aaron. It would be easy for Moses and Aaron to hold a grudge against them. It would be easy for Moses and Aaron to become so weary and so frustrated and so angry that they no longer care what happens to the assembly. Prayer softens the heart of the person who prays and I think that's why God says what He says. He wants Moses and Aaron to pray on behalf of the people and He knows Moses and Aaron will pray on behalf of the people. Praying for the people helps Moses and Aaron to keep loving them. They are going to need to keep loving them if they are going to be able to keep leading them.
The Lord hears the prayers of Moses and Aaron. "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Say to the assembly, 'Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.' Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. He warned the assembly, 'Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all of their sins.' So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents." (Numbers 16:23-27) Korah and the 250 men with him are already standing outside with their censers of incense. In yesterday's passage Dathan and Abiram refused to come before Moses when he called them, so they are still at their tents. The word rendered "tent" means "temporary shelter, movable shelter, tabernacle" and is the same word as is used when speaking of the tabernacle of the Lord. Some scholars believe the use of this word indicates that Dathan and Abiram and their families are not coming out of their own tents in verse 27 but that they're coming out of the tabernacle. If that's the case, this would mean they've defiled the tabernacle with their presumptuous sin of going inside it to try to perform the duties of priests without being ordained as priests.
"Then Moses said, 'This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: If these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the realm of the dead, then you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt.'" (Numbers 16:28-30) The men have accused Moses of taking it upon himself to appoint himself to lead the people to the promised land. They've accused him of giving the priesthood to Aaron and his sons, not because this was the Lord's will but because Moses wanted to give exalted positions to his family. What the Lord is about to do will show the whole congregation that Moses was installed as leader by the Lord's choice and Aaron and his family line were installed as priests by the Lord's choice.
"As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions. They went down alive into the realm of the dead, with everything they owned; and they perished and were gone from the community. At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, 'The earth is going to swallow us too!' And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense." (Numbers 16:31-35) Moses said the Lord was going to do "something totally new" and there's no doubt that He did. This is indisputable proof that the men who perished were sinning against the Lord when they said the things they did. It's proof that the Lord is right and they were wrong. It's proof that the Lord is in control of all things and that He is in charge of appointing the political and spiritual leaders of Israel.
Korah's family line doesn't perish with them. Those who joined in rebellion with him perished with him, but it appears his sons (or at least some of them) didn't sin against the Lord along with him, for later in the Bible we find descendants of Korah going about the duties the Lord assigned to them. Notably, we find them happy with their assignments, saying, "I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked." (Psalm 84:10b) In Numbers 16 we find Korah unhappy with being a doorkeeper in the house of God, and that may be because he hadn't really made God his God. But in Psalm 84, authored by "the sons of Korah", we find his descendants worshiping God with their whole hearts and being more than happy to serve Him in His house in whatever way they can.
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