Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were not afraid because of what they had done. They, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones, came out and stood at the entrance of their tents (v. 27). The fact that their tents were close together indicates that they were very intimate. They belonged to different tribes—Korah, to the tribe of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, to the tribe of Reuben—but they were quite close. When the earth opened up, they were all in the same place.
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones, and all the men who belonged to Korah and all their goods, were swallowed by the earth and sent down alive into Sheol (vv. 28-33). Sheol is a Hebrew word equivalent to the Greek word Hades. Sheol, or Hades, is the place where the souls and the spirits of the dead are kept. Korah and the others went down to Sheol alive. They went there directly; they did not need to die first. Hades is like a temporary jail, and the lake of fire is the final prison. These perished ones entered into the temporary jail to wait for the final imprisonment in the lake of fire. They went there without dying physically. This was something new that Jehovah created (vv. 29-30). We may say that it was a great miracle in a negative sense. In this way God used the earth to judge the rebellious ones. Probably this is the only time that living people were punished in such a way.
After the earth had swallowed the families of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, there were still two hundred fifty followers of Korah. They were well-known leaders selected from the entire congregation. By this we can see that the rebellion was quite popular, even universal. Immediately after the three leaders were swallowed up alive by the earth, fire came forth from Jehovah and consumed the two hundred fifty men while they were offering incense (v. 35). This was the second aspect of God's judgment.