Korah’s rebellion is found in Numbers 16:1–50 and recalled again in Numbers 26:9–11 and Psalm 106:16–18. Korah rejected the authority of Moses and Aaron and gathered a people around him in rebellion, but—in front of the tent of meeting—the earth opened and swallowed him and his followers. In Jewish tradition Korah became the classic example of the antinomian (anti-law) heretic: someone who denies the necessity of obeying God’s law. Jude is claiming that the heretics had also distorted the message of the gospel and were opposed to any kind of divinely instituted authority. Even though their destruction had not yet come, it most certainly would.1
11 Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion.