NT Text: Jude 1:11
OT Source(s):
Source: Beale & Carson (eds.), Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (2007); Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Typology
Significance: Jude pronounces woe on the false teachers because "they have perished in Korah's rebellion" (Jude 1:11), invoking Numbers 16, where Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and 250 leaders "came together against Moses and Aaron" charging, "You have taken too much upon yourselves... Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?" (Num 16:3). Korah's sin was the rejection of God-ordained mediated authority under a pretext of egalitarian piety ("everyone in the entire congregation is holy"), and the earth swallowing the rebels (Num 16:31–33) marked it as direct revolt against God himself. The connection is typological-by-analogy: Jude reads the antinomian intruders as the antitype of Korah — men who likewise "reject authority" (Jude 1:8) and "slander celestial beings," and who will share his judgment. The escalation lies in what is now being rejected: not Moses' mediation but the apostolic faith "once for all entrusted to the saints" (Jude 1:3) and ultimately the lordship of the Master they deny (1:4). Beale and Carson note Jude's catena of OT rebellions (Cain, Balaam, Korah) functioning as a pattern of covenant treachery met with certain judgment. The telos is not moralistic fear-mongering but the safeguarding of grace: Jude warns precisely so that the beloved may "build yourselves up... keep yourselves in the love of God" and be kept by Christ "from stumbling" and presented blameless with great joy (1:20–24). Korah's fate magnifies, by contrast, the surpassing security and gladness of those who submit to the true Mediator.