Numbers 16:47

"And Aaron took as Moses spake, and ran into the midst of the assembly; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed. Now they that died by the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, besides them that died about the matter of Korah. And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the tent of meeting: and the plague was stayed."

The three centers of their rebellion, as mentioned at the beginning of our discussion of this chapter, were those pertaining to: (1) Korah; (2) Dathan and Abiram; and (3) the people in general. The three punishments visited upon the three centers were: (a) the swallowing up of Dathan and Abiram; (b) the burning of Korah and the two hundred and fifty by fire from Jehovah; and (c) the plague that destroyed over 14,000 of the people. How appropriately these punishments were meted out! Furthermore, as the great purpose of the rebellion had been that of dividing Israel. God divided them (the rebels), disposing of them by the most severe punishments in three separate instances. "God divided the people, to separate them from Korah and his group; he divided Korah's group by severing the faction under Dathan and Abiram; he divided the earth and caused it to swallow them; he divided the rebellious people, making a separation between the `dead and the living' (Numbers 16:48),"[15] "with Aaron standing between with the censers of incense and the prayer of atonement."[16] It is a blind exegete indeed who cannot see the hand of God in this narrative, all of these logical and consistent elements of it giving the most effective testimony affirming the unity and authenticity of the narrative.