Numbers 16 · a question people ask
How did Korah himself die: swallowed by the earth, or in the fire?
The chapter doesn't say in so many words. The earth swallowed them up "with their households, all of Korah’s men, and all their goods" (16:32), and fire "devoured the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense" (16:35). Korah had been told to come before the LORD with his company, "you, and they, and Aaron" (16:16). Readers answer in two main ways. Both agree that he died that day, and that the Bible holds it up as a warning: the censers were a memorial "that he not be as Korah and as his company" (16:40).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
The earth swallowed him
Some read that Korah went down with Dathan and Abiram. The people were told to get away "from around the tent of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram" (16:24), and Numbers later says the earth "swallowed them up together with Korah when that company died" (26:10).
Numbers 16:24 · Numbers 26:10
He died with the 250
Others read that Korah stood with the 250 and their censers at the door of the Tent of Meeting (16:16-19) and died with them in the fire (16:35). They note that two later tellings of the swallowing name only Dathan and Abiram: "The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram" (Psalm 106:17), and Deuteronomy 11:6 speaks of "what he did to Dathan and Abiram" (Deuteronomy 11:6).
Numbers 16:16-19 · Numbers 16:35 · Psalm 106:17 · Deuteronomy 11:6
The verses
“Moses said to Korah, “You and all your company go before the LORD, you, and they, and Aaron, tomorrow.”
“The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all of Korah’s men, and all their goods.”
“Fire came out from the LORD, and devoured the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense.”
“to be a memorial to the children of Israel, to the end that no stranger who isn’t of the offspring of Aaron, would come near to burn incense before the LORD, that he not be as Korah and as his company; as the LORD spoke to him by Moses.”