Koppen, Daniel Joachim, a German divine, was born at Lliheck in 1730. He was pasior at Zettemin for tliirty-nine years, and died .June 7, 1807. Koppen secured for himself, by earnest literary labors, the repu- tation of great scliolarsliip, and his works are all valua- ble. Ho wrote Ilauptzweck des Predigtamtes (Leipzig, 1778, 8vo) : — Die Bibel, ein Wei-k der gottlichen Weisheit (ibid, 1787-88, 2 vols. 8vo; 2d edition, much enlarged, 1797-98):— Wer ist Christ (ibid, 1800,8vo).— Doring.Ge- If'hrfe Theol. Dentschlands, ii, 155 s(j.
Koppen, Fiiedrich, a German theologian and philosoiiher, was l)<)rn at Liilieck in 1775; became preach- er in Bremen in 1805; jirofessor of pliikjsophy in 1807, at Landshut ; and in 182(5 was ap[)ointcd professor at Erlangen. He died Sept. 4, 1858. Koppen was an ar- dent follower of Jacobi (q. v.), and wrote Ueber die Of- fetiharung in Bczhlmng axif Kantsche u. Firhtesche Phi- losophie (Liib. 1797; 2d ed. 1802) •.—Schelling's Lehre oder das Game der Philosophie des absoluten Nichts\l\amh. 1805) : — Darstellung des WeseiT^ d. P/iilosopkie (Nuremb. 1810) :~Pkilosop/iie des Chrhttenthums (Leipz. 1813-15,2 vols.; 2d ed. 1825); etc. — I'iqkt. Universal Lexikon, in, 711.
Kor. See Cor.
Ko'rah (Heb. Ko'rach, TVyp, ice, as in Psa. cxlvii, 17 ; Sept. Koof , also N. T. in Jude 11 ; Josephus Kopf/^ , .4 nt. iv, 2 ; Vulg. Core ; Auth.Vers. " Kore" in the patro- nymic, 1 Chron. xxvi, 19, and "Core" in Jude 11), the name of several men.
1. The tliird son of Esau by his second Canaanitish wife Aholibamah (Gen. xxxvi, 14 ; 1 Chron. i, 35). B.C. post 1904. He became the head of a petty Edomitish tribe (Gen. xxxvi, 18). In ver. 10 his name appears as a son of Eliphaz, Esau's son ; but probably by a confu- sion of the parentage, for in the jiarallel passage (1 Chron. i, 30) this name is omitted, and " Timna" inserted after the next name — probably another interpolation for Tim- nah. See E.sau.
2. A Lcvitc, son of Izhar, the brother of Amram, the father of Moses and Aaron, who were therefore cousins to Korah (Exod. vi, 21). B.C. probably not much ante 1019. From this near relationship we may, with toler- able certainty, conjecture that the source of the discon- tent which led to the steps afterwards taken by this un- happy man, lay in his jealousy that the high honors and privileges of the priesthood, to which he, who remained a simple Levite, might, apart from the divine appoint- ment, seem to have had as good a claim, should have been exclusively appropriated to the family of Aaron. When to this was added the civil authority of Moses, the whole power over the nation would seem to him to have been engrossed by his cousins, the sons of Amram. Lender the influence of these fcellnj*s he organized a conspiracy, for the purpose of redressing what ajipeared to him the evil and injustice of this arrangement. Da- than, Abiram, and On, the chief persons who joined him, were of the trilie of lieuben ; but he was also supported by many more from other tribes, making up the num- ber of 250, men of name, rank, and influence, all who maj' be regarded as representing the families of which they were the heads. The appointment of Elizaphan to be chief of the Kohathites (Numb, iii, 30) may have fur- ther inflamed his jealousy. Korah's position as leader in this rebellion was evidently the result of his personal character, which was that of a bold, haughty, and am- bitious man. Tliis appears from his address to jMoses in ver. 3, and especiaUj' from his conduct in ver. 19, where both his daring and his influence over the con- gregation are very apparent. Were it not for this, one would have expected the Gershonites — as the elder branch of the Levites — to have supplied a leader in con- junction with the sons of lieuben, rather than the fam- ily of Izhar, ^vho was Amram's younger brother. The private object of Korah was apparently his own ag- grandizement, but his ostensible object was the general good of the people : and it is perhaps from want of at- tention to this distinction that the transaction has not been well understood. The design seems to have been made acceptable to a large body of the nation, on the ground that the first-born of Israel had been deprived of their sacerdotal birthright in favor of the Levites, while the Levites themselves announced that the priest- hood had been conferred by ]\Ioses (as they considered) on his own brother's family, in preference to those who had equal claims; and it is easy to conceive that the Keubenites may have considered the opportunity a fa- vorable one for the recovery of their birthright — the double portion and civil pre-eminence — which had been forl'eited by them and given to Joseph. (See Kitto's Daitg Bible Illiistrat. ad loc.) These are the explana- tions of Aben-Ezra, and seem as reasonable as any which have been offered. (See below.)
The leading conspirators, having organized their jilans, repaired in a body to Moses and Aaron, boldly charged them with public usurpation, and required them to lay down their arrogated power. Closes no sooner heard this than he fell on liis face, confounded at the enormity of so outrageous a revolt against a system framed so carefully for the benefit of the nation. He left the mat- ter in the Lord's hands, and desired them to come on the morrow, provided with censers for incense, that the