Person Old Testament
Dathan
Dathan, a Reubenite, joined Korah's rebellion against Moses and Aaron and was punished by God. Mentioned in 8 verses across 3 books, first at Numbers 16:1.
Why it matters. Reubenite who rebelled against Moses and Aaron
- Primary passages
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Dathan
Dathan, along with his brother Abiram, was a descendant of Reuben who joined Korah, a Levite, in rebelling against the authority of Moses and Aaron (Num.16.1). When Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, they refused to come, accusing Moses of failing to bring them into a land flowing with milk and honey (Num.16.12-14).
As the rebellion escalated, Moses warned the congregation to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Num.16.24-27). God then caused the earth to open up and swallow Dathan, Abiram, and their households, along with Korah and his followers (Num.16.31-35; Psalm Num.106.17).
The sons of Dathan and Abiram, however, did not die in this judgment (Num.26.9-11). The rebellion of Dathan and Abiram is remembered as a warning against defying God's appointed leaders (Deu.11.6).
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
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Family
Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.
- Parents
- Eliab
Appears in Scripture
Named in 8 verses across 3 books. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.