Now those who died in the plague were 14,700, besides those who died in the Korah affair — the death toll of 14,700 in the plague that follows the Korah rebellion is carefully distinguished from the earlier deaths in the Korah affair itself (approximately 250 men plus Dathan, Abiram, and their households), communicating that these are two separate divine judgments on two distinct expressions of the same sin. The precision of the number (14,700) is characteristic of Numbers' concern to reckon the cost of rebellion — the deaths are not vague casualties but enumerated individuals, each death a data point in the covenantal accounting of the consequences of rejecting priestly authority. Paul will cite the Korah-related plague as a warning to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 10:10 (do not grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the Destroyer). The total death toll of the Korah crisis — across both phases — makes it the most lethal internal rebellion in Israel's wilderness history.

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