After this, the Levites went in to do their work in the tent of meeting before Aaron and before his sons. As the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did.

It happened that some men ¹  who were ceremonially defiled ²  by the dead body of a man ³  could not keep ⁴  the Passover on that day, so they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day.

The Lord spoke immediately to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam: “The three of you come to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them went.

And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent; he then called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward.

They came back ¹  to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. ²  They reported ³  to the whole community and showed the fruit of the land.

And all the Israelites murmured ¹  against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died ²  in the land of Egypt, or if only we had perished ³  in this wilderness!

And each of you ¹  take his censer, put ²  incense in it, and then each of you present his censer before the Lord: 250 censers, along with you, and Aaron – each of you with his censer.”

So everyone took his censer, put fire in it, and set incense on it, and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting, with Moses and Aaron.

“Tell ¹  Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to pick up ²  the censers out of the flame, for they are holy, and then scatter the coals of fire ³  at a distance.

When the community assembled ¹  against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting – and ²  the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared.

So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff, one for each leader, ¹  according to their tribes ²  – twelve staffs; the staff of Aaron was among their staffs.

On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony – and ¹  the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted, and brought forth buds, and produced blossoms, and yielded almonds! ² 

The Lord said to Moses, “Bring Aaron’s staff back before the testimony to be preserved for a sign to the rebels, so that you may bring their murmurings to an end ¹  before me, that they will not die.” ² 

The Lord spoke to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any portion of property ¹  among them – I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.

Thus you are to offer up a raised offering to the Lord of all your tithes which you receive from the Israelites; and you must give the Lord’s raised offering from it to Aaron the priest.

So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting. They then threw themselves down with their faces to the ground, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them.

Then Moses and Aaron gathered the community together in front of the rock, and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels, ¹  must we bring ²  water out of this rock for you?”

Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough ¹  to show me as holy ²  before ³  the Israelites, therefore you will not bring this community into the land I have given them.” ⁴ 

“Aaron will be gathered to his ancestors, ¹  for he will not enter into the land I have given to the Israelites because both of you ²  rebelled against my word ³  at the waters of Meribah.

Eliab’s descendants were Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. It was Dathan and Abiram who as leaders of the community rebelled against Moses and Aaron with the followers ¹  of Korah when they rebelled against the Lord.