Numbers 16 English Standard Version Korah's Rebellion 16 Now Korah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. 2 And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. 3 They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” 4 When Moses heard it, he fell on his face, 5 and he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the Lord will show who is his, and who is holy, and will bring him near to him. The one whom he chooses he will bring near to him. 6 Do this: take censers, Korah and all his company; 7 put fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. You have gone too far, sons of Levi!” 8 And Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: 9 is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, 10 and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also? 11 Therefore it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together. What is Aaron that you grumble against him?” 12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and they said, “We will not come up. 13 Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also make yourself a prince over us? 14 Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.” 15 And Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, “Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed one of them.” 16 And Moses said to Korah, “Be present, you and all your company, before the Lord, you and they, and Aaron, tomorrow. 17 And let every one of you take his censer and put incense on it, and every one of you bring before the Lord his censer, 250 censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer.” 18 So every man took his censer and put fire in them and laid incense on them and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. 19 Then Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation. 20 And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 21 “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” 22 And they fell on their faces and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?” 23 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Say to the congregation, Get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.” 25 Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 And he spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.” 27 So they got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. 28 And Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been of my own accord. 29 If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.” 31 And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. 32 And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. 33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. 34 And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” 35 And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men offering the incense. 36 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 37 “Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers out of the blaze. Then scatter the fire far and wide, for they have become holy. 38 As for the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they offered them before the Lord, and they became holy. Thus they shall be a sign to the people of Israel.” 39 So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned had offered, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar, 40 to be a reminder to the people of Israel, so that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, should draw near to burn incense before the Lord, lest he become like Korah and his company—as the Lord said to him through Moses. 41 But on the next day all the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.” 42 And when the congregation had assembled against Moses and against Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting. And behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared. 43 And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, 44 and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 45 “Get away from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” And they fell on their faces. 46 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun.” 47 So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. 48 And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. 49 Now those who died in the plague were 14,700, besides those who died in the affair of Korah. 50 And Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, when the plague was stopped. Again, the big theme here in this portion of the book of Numbers is "rebellion," and now it is the Levites who rebel against Moses and Aaron. They are not content with the roles that God has given to them--that He has specifically gifted and equipped them for. This passage sounds much like 1 Corinthians 12 and Christians should take heed. We should not covet the gifting or ministry of someone else just because we think it to be more important. Each part of the body is necessary and God chooses to equip us for the work that He has prepared for us to do.
These Levites wanted to be priests like Aaron and his sons and wanted to offer incense--incense that they wanted to prepare according to their own recipe (not what God had required) and force God to be happy with whatever they offered Him, but God would not be pleased with so-called worship that was worship of themselves and was rooted in rebellion. "Worship" is a word that describes our behavior towards the one who we believe is worthy, but in this case they thought they themselves were worthy--not God. If they would have believed God was worthy, then they would have followed His plans and instructions and lived in way that was for the good of the whole community even if it wasn't what they would personally choose for themselves. See here in Moses' words how these Levites are sinning not against Moses or Aaron, but against God: 8 And Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: 9 is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, 10 and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also? 11 Therefore it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together. What is Aaron that you grumble against him?” The hearts of these Levites are so rebellious that even when they are called up to do the exact thing they said they wanted to do, they would not come up because of who called them. They wanted to be in charge of themselves and submit to no other authority. They were proud and arrogant which are the traits of Satan, not of God. So then, these rebels put the entire camp in danger for they would not separate themselves from the rest of the people and if God was going to judge them, then those who were close to them and aiding and abetting them might also get caught up in the judgment. In fact, that's exactly what happened. The families of all those who rebelled were caught up in the judgment of God. First God judged those who did come out to offer false fire. The fire from heaven consumed all of them. Then it was time to deal with those who were so rebellious that they would not even come with to offer their incense. Moses warned the people to move away from them and their tents, but they and their families in defiance stood at the entrance to their tents rebelling against anything the LORD said. Then the LORD caused the ground to open up and swallow all of them and everything that belonged to them. This was to be a lesson to all those who were thinking of rebelling against God that there is a way that seems right to man, but it leads unto death, and them falling into "the grave" (Sheol) like this was symbolic of God sending their souls to hell. They would be eternally separated from God, even though they were called to be ministers to the LORD and His people. 28 And Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been of my own accord. 29 If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.” Even this was not enough to teach the congregation the lesson they needed though, for the next day the congregation intended to attack the Tabernacle and the sons of Aaron that guarded its entrance. The LORD covered the Tabernacle with the pillar of cloud and spoke to faithful Levites and Moses and Aaron to tell them to move away from the people so that He could consume and destroy them, but Moses spoke to Aaron and told him to quickly take his censer and make atonement for the people. Just think of this as Christ stepping in at just the right time to make atonement for us lest we all be consumed. 48 And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. This again is an amazing picture of the cross to me. Jesus and His atonement that He made is what separates the "dead" in their rebellion and trespasses and sins from those who are "alive" in Christ and the everlasting life. We see that He is both the Mediator and High Priest of our New Covenant--the covenant of His blood as Moses and Aaron were mediator and high priest of the Old Covenant. Yes, many people died that day, but don't forget that God had already proclaimed that all of them that were counted in the original census (age 20 and up) deserved to die and it is only His grace that they did not all die immediately. So, look instead at how many people God had mercy on and saved that day and we will not only see a God of wrath, but a God of mercy and compassion. There is no distinction between "the God of the Old Testament" and "the God of the New Testament." They are one in the same and God has always poured out His wrath in a way that is perfectly consistent with His grace and mercy and He can at the same time love the sinner and yet hate the sin and the sinner (yes, the Bible is clear that God hates the on that is defiant and in rebellion, not just the sin that the sinner commits, but yet He still loved them enough to die for them so that they might be saved if they belong to the Elect). While all that I just said seems confusing to us it's because "His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts." God so loved those that were part of true Israel (who He called His firstborn son) that He would do anything to protect them from the cancer that was this rebellion that endangered them no only in this life, but for all eternity. God knew that these who died would never repent or believe, and all they could do would be to harm those who God had called to be faithful. Israel is also described ad God's bride (the same language of sonship and marriage is used to describe the Church as we are one congregation made of believing Jews, believing Gentiles and believing Samaritans). There were men 603,550 counted in the original census that were not Levites (meaning that there were likely close to 1.5 million to 2 million people when all the women, children and young adults who were under the age of 20 were counted). Now see how it was gracious that God said all of them deserved to be consumed instantly and yet only 14,700 died? How then can we look at this and call God unjust? Let us be careful then to be content with the gifts and the ministry that God has given to us--the place He had given us in the Body of Christ, and to not presume that God is somehow unjust when He cuts off a part of the Vine or the Body that is dead or diseased for the good of the rest of the Vine or Body. Many times over all of Israel deserved to die, yet God was faithful to keep His promise and deliver His people to the Promised Land that He had given by covenant to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just as He is certain to deliver us to our Promised Land of the New Heaven and the New Earth--the New Jerusalem on that glorious day that we call the Day of the Lord. Comments are closed.
|
Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
January 2025
Categories
All
|