Ch 16-17
Key Verse 16:40 as the LORD directed him through Moses. This
was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should
come to burn incense before the LORD, or he would become like Korah and his
followers.
The first Jewish revolt against Roman Empire started in 66
CE and totally crushed in CE 76. French
revolution in 18C succeeded and brought forth a new democratic government.
Though one is called revolt and the other one, revolution, the primary causes
or motive of these oppositions to the authorities of their time was similar;
they wanted to resolve the hardships of life by changing the governing body for
a better one.
After full ratification of the Law of Covenant, Israel set
off to the Promised Land. But from its outset, Israel faced quite number of
troubles. After much difficulties, Israel got to the border of the promises
land. But there, as they saw a powerful people of the land, they were caught in
fear that they could not defeat them. In unbelief, they grumbled against Moses
and against God. God was angry because of their unbelief and decided to destroy
them all. But through Moses’ prayer they escaped God’s immediate judgment.
Nevertheless they had to bear the consequence of their unbelief. They would
suffer and die in the desert as they had to wander in the desert for forty
years. Today’s passage is the major event happened during time of this
wandering. In them were brewing discontent and unhappiness, which eventually
led them to rebellion again Aaron’s priestly leadership. But God destroyed the
rebellion thoroughly and set a clear rule of how His people could receive God’s
blessing. It is through the priesthood of Aaron and his descendants. As we go
through today’s passage I pray that we may learn the true nature of ‘rebellion’
against God and understand the purpose of God’s uncompromising statement to
uphold the priesthood of Aaron and his descendants.
A.
Korah
and his alliance (1-19)
Korah was a son of Kohath of the tribe Levi. Along with him, three men, Dathan, Abiram and
On from the tribe of Reuben joined to form an alliance. In this were also 250
well known community leaders. They all got together rose up against Moses and
Aaron. Korah’s reason for opposition was this:
3 They came as a group to oppose
Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community
is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you set
yourselves above the LORD’s assembly?”
The two Reubenites gave this reason for their rebellion:
13 Isn’t it enough that you have
brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the
wilderness? And now you also want to
lord it over us! 14 Moreover, you haven’t brought us into a land flowing
with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you
want to treat these men like slaves?
No, we will not come!”
Who were these people and what made up of this rebellion?
First, Korah might be the leading
figure of Kohath division and Kohath division was the most honored division
among the three division of the tribe of Levites. This meant that Korah seemed
to represent the entire Levites. The
Levites felt that they were as holy as Aaron and worthy to share the power or administrative
decision of the tabernacle. They did not like the authority that Moses and
Aaron exercised over them. In this way, they questioned the legitimacy of the
authority of Aaron. So they demanded to take part in priesthood. As Moses pointed out:
10 He has brought you and all your
fellow Levites near himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood too.
Second, three leaders from the tribe of Reuben might
represent all the rest of the tribes of Israel since Reuben was the first son. For
the Reubenites, their grievance was a little different. They charged Moses and
Aaron for the failure to lead the nation into the land flowing with milk and
honey at first and even now as time passed by for thy had not or could not
brought them into the land of blessing. So these people rejected to accept
Aaron and Moses as their leaders and would not follow their orders.
Alliance of these people with the 250 well known leaders
seems to represent the entire community. In this way, the leadership that God
established, Moses and Aaron, were in a great trouble by the challenge from the
entire community. At its heart of this challenge is rejection of the authority
of Aaron and Moses as their leaders. In looking into the depth of their hearts,
all these people shared a common feeling; they were to work like slaves in
obedience to the authority and yet there was no tangible outcome to make their
lives better. What might be the nature
of such ‘hard works’ to do like slaves? According to Korah’s word, it has to do
with how much they should do to be holy. Aaron and Moses demanded so many
things so as to keep them ‘holy’ by obeying the Law of Moses. Yet Korah and his
followers was saying, “Aren’t we holy
enough? Why do you ask us to do so many things?” To do so, the Levites were
to work like slaves to the priests and all others also felt like slaves as they
were to do what they were told to do. Moses and Aaron’s mind were on how Israel
could keep herself holy as the Lord was right there with them so that they
might not incur God’s judgment but to make God’s blessing afloat. But the rest
felt that the commands to follow seemed endless and to follow those commands
was like working like slaves even though they already were holy enough! What was their solution? “Why can we join in
the circle of decision makers over our fate?” They thought that the leadership
had problem, instead of themselves.
Knowing and perceiving well what went on their hearts, Moses
said this:
5 “In the morning the LORD will
show who
belongs to him and who is holy, and he will have that person come
near him. The man he chooses he will cause to come near him.”
Here ‘who belongs to him’ is not to imply that some had
rejected the Lord while others stood with the Lord. Instead, the two
who-clauses must be understood to convey the same idea; who was holy enough to
the Lord of holiness. In this way Moses was probing a sharp question to them,
“are you holy enough to stand with the Lord?” This shall be answered by the
Lord. So Moses told them to present
themselves before the Lord.
16 Moses said to Korah, “You and
all your followers are to appear before the LORD tomorrow—you and they and
Aaron. 17 Each man is to take his censer and put incense in it—250 censers in
all—and present it before the LORD. You and Aaron are to present your censers
also.” 18 So each of them took his censer, put
burning coals and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance
to the tent of meeting.
The picture here is very significant. These three people,
and the other 250 leaders were all holding censers before the Lord. In the
censers were burning charcoal and incense. What the implication of holding
censers with incense in it is in Exo 30.
Exodus 30:7 "Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the
lamps. 8 He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so
incense will burn regularly before the LORD for the generations to come. ..10 ..It
is most holy to the LORD." (Exo
30:7-10 NIV)
In this way, all these people were lined up to burn incense.
They considered themselves holy enough to present before the Lord and also
wanted to partake in sharing the power that comes from God along with the
priests, i.e. descendants of Aaron. God is the Lord and king of this community.
Out of him flowed all authority and power. Coming close to him by knowing him
well might help them promote their wishes and ideas that would be favorable for
them. Behind Korah were large number of Levites and all the 250 well recognized
leaders. Their stance was clear; Korah is the priest that we want and we want
Korah to represent to the Lord on our behalf. Again their or Korah’s
understanding was that ‘we all are holy’ and do not need any further ‘works or
imposition of the Law of Moses’.
B.
God
judged all unauthorized priesthood (20-50)
God judged Korah and his associates
Then, God appeared and said this to Moses and Aaron;
20 The LORD said to Moses and
Aaron, 21 “Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them
at once.”
Here God expressed his intent to destroy the entire crowd
that were ready to administer the work of priest holding in their hands
censers. On hearing this, Moses and Aaron cried out:
“O God, the God who gives breath to
all living things, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man
sins?”
Moses and Aaron wanted to save all except Korah, the chief
culprit of this rebellion. But God did not answer directly to this question but
told them to say to the assembly to move away from the tents of Korah and the
other two Reubenites.(16:24) Moses gave a solemn warning to the crowd behind
these three people;
16:28 “This is how you will know
that the
LORD has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: 29
If these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all mankind, then the
LORD has not sent me. 30 But if the LORD brings about something totally new,
and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs
to them, and they go down alive into the realm of the dead, then you will know that these men have treated
the LORD with contempt.”
These people thought
that all things that Moses and Aaron demanded of them were of Moses or Aaron’s
own making. Contrary to this
mistaken idea, Moses wished that they should come to know that all that had happened
was of God. To make this evident, Moses called God to do something
extraordinary; they shall die suddenly and extraordinary way to demonstrate
that it was not Moses or Aaron’s idea but God’s will to impose them all the
works to be holy. Moses concluded that through what God would do then they
would come to know that these men have
treated the Lord with contempt. (30b)
As Moses called for God’s action on his behalf, what
happened?
31 As soon as he finished saying
all this, the
ground under them split apart 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed
them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with
their possessions. 33 They went down alive into the realm of the
dead, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished
and were gone from the community.
On the spot, in view of all the assembly, these families
were swallowed up by the earth. It states that they went down to the realm of
the dead (Shoel). As Moses called for God’s extraordinary action, God displayed
a remarkable form of judgment. It reminds me of what God said to Adam in his
words of punishment;
“Cursed is the ground because of
you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.
19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to
the ground, since from it you were taken; for
dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Gen 3)
It was a vivid display of the judgment that God
imposed on Adam, the ancestor of all human races. Korah and three
leaders thought they were holy enough to win God’s grace and his approval, yet
they were thoroughly decimated in a matter of minutes. Seeing this, ALL ISRAEL
was caught with fear of death, shouting “The earth is going to swallow us too!”
God spoke his power and authority that disobedience to the high priest Aaron,
they shall face such death and judgment. It was neither Moses nor Aaron or
their lack of smartness that failed them to enter the land flowing with milk
and honey. It was their lack of faith and their fear for life that incurred
such punishment from the Lord. The hardship of the life of the journey was not
much of how to physically survive but much of how to obey the commandments in
the full extent of their authority so as to be with the Lord of holiness.
God judged the 250 leaders.
Almost simultaneously, a judgment came on those 250 leaders
as well.
35 And fire came out from the LORD
and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.
While they were still holding censers with burning coal and
incense, they were all caught by fire and burned alive and became like
charcoal. This also was an extraordinary
way to punish.
In this way God spoke unambiguously and clearly that it was God who led all the decisions,
and what they did was not a challenge to the leadership of Moses and Aaron but a contempt to the Lord. At the same time, such contempt shall meet
with judgment; one by being swallowed up by the earth and the other by being
burned to death. When one does not honor the Lord of righteousness and
holiness, they shall meet God’s judgment instead of blessing. At the beginning
of this journey God gave a warning by burning the outskirts of the camp
(11:1-3). But they took this lightly and incurred such a full judgment of
God.
Here two forms of death were vividly displayed in full view
of the crowd. One is death by being swallowed up by the earth and the other by
being burned to charcoal. It is interesting that one was vivid display of what
God said to Adam, the first man, and the other is what God revealed what would
happen at the end of ages. (Rev)
As the charred bodies of the 250 leaders were dangling on
the ground, God told Moses this:
37 “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to
remove the censers from the charred remains and scatter the coals some distance
away, for the censers are holy—38 the censers of the men who sinned
at the cost of their lives. Hammer the censers into sheets to overlay the
altar, for they were presented before the LORD and have become holy. Let
them be a sign to the Israelites.”
Here shows a clear contrast between the holy censers and the
censers in the hands of unholy men of sins. Incense in the censers is a
fragrance to the Lord. God is not pleased when sinners come to him apart from
the law of covenant. Holiness of God shall not be tampered with or compromised
by human ideas or will. That will cost
lives. Censers of these 250 were put together to make a sheet of medal and
overlaid the altar. This served a lasting warning against all unauthorized or
man-made ‘censers’.
Then how God’s holiness could be imparted to sinful men? Or
how sinful man could get close to God of holiness?
40 as the LORD directed him through
Moses. This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of
Aaron should come to burn incense before the LORD, or he would become like
Korah and his followers.
This is the one and only way to get access to the Lord of
holiness. Any other ways shall face such judgment.
God judged the sympathetic crowd with plague (41-50)
How about the rest of the people of Israel? What were they
thinking?
41 The next day the whole Israelite
community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. “You have killed the LORD’s
people,” they said.
Even after seeing such deaths, they still had empathy for
those who perished by the earth and by fire for they shared the common thinking
with those leaders. In other word, in the peoples’ mind. ‘They were godly and good or at least not worthy to put to death in
such a way. Yet you killed the Lord’s people. It was not right!’ It was obvious that the entire community of
people still held on the ideals of those perished and shared the common empathy
with them. In their hearts, they were not much different from those perished. Immediately
the cloud covered the tent of the meeting and glory of God appeared. Full power
of Holiness came upon them to purge all unholy things; suddenly a plague
started and spread among the people, brining death to many. In the midst of
judgment of God, Moses and Aaron took a drastic action;
46 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take
your censer and put incense in it, along with burning coals from the altar, and
hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out
from the LORD; the plague has started.” 47 So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran
into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the
people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them. 48 He
stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped.
While he fell his face down in front of the tent of the
meeting, Moses told Aaron to hurry to the assembly. So Aaron took his censer
with coal and incense in it stood in between the dead and the living to make
atonement for them so that the plague judgement might not spread over the
grumbling crowd. It was dangerous for Aaron because the plague was
spreading. Yet he stood his place in
between the living and he dead in order to save the people from the
plague. In this event, 14700 people
died, and the number of death matched up almost to the number of death from fornication
with Mediante women (24000). The censers
in the hands of the 250 leaders costed their lives (16:38) But the censer in
the hand of Aaron saved the lives who were stricken by God’s wrath.
C.
Life is
possible only through the priesthood of Aaron (17:1-12)
As they were going through hard times in the desert, they
made all efforts to keep up with the Law of God. But their life did not get
better even to the best of their efforts. So they felt they were worthy of
God’s blessing and this was not so because of the failure or mishandling of the
leaders. On such understanding, they challenged the authority of Moses and
Aaron. By intervening leaderships’ understanding and decisions, they could easy
up their load and change their predicament, filled with harsh labor or pathetic
life to a blessed life with the Lord. But this understanding and move was
totally crushed and labelled as rebellion by God. Deaths of their leaders spoke
powerfully. Then a question comes, how can we do better or earn God’s blessing?
Didn’t we do enough? In all these, they were in unbelief and
contempt and confusion. In this
confusion, God told Moses to get twelve staffs, one from each tribe and to place
them in the tent of the meeting in front of the Ark of the Covenant. God was
going to meet with them there and would make the staff that belong to the one
he chose sprout. The reason?
“ I will rid myself of this
constant grumbling against you by the Israelites.” (17:5b)
So, the leaders of the twelve tribes placed their staffs in
the tent of the meeting (before the Lord). The next day, Moses went in and saw
that only Aaron’s staff sprouted, budded, blossomed and produced almonds. Moses
brought all out and showed them to Israel. This is reaffirmation of what God
said in v16:40. God would use Aaron and his descendants only as His priest and
through Aaron’s priesthood, life of Israel is possible and shall blossom to
bear fruit. In this way, God removed all confusion on how their life in death
could be saved and prosper. Without exception, blessings
of God is only through the priesthood of Aaron and his descendants.
What does this tell us?
Numbers records this event as the major event in the period
of Israel’s roaming in the desert for 40 years by devoting four chapters
(ch16-19). In its scope, it shook the very system of Israel that God had set
up. Also this involved the entire people of Israel and 14950+ people perished
by God’s judgment, the largest number of death recorded in the book of Numbers.
This implies that there was one thought or understanding of life that were
pervading into the mind of these people leading to rebellion. We all share some
thoughts of rebellion against authorities. While we all harbor some of such
seeds of rebellion, how can we avoid rebellion against God? What was God’s purpose in upholding the
priesthood of Aaron and his descendants?
The life in the
wilderness is filled with discontentment and unhappiness. As we noticed from the beginning of this
journey, their lives were filled with troubles. Those trouble became evident
because God of truth was right there with them and He would not tolerate
anything ungodly or unholy. They
made strenuous efforts and yet they could not meet the load of the Law of
Moses. This stresses were cumulated up to this time, a time of frustration and
hopelessness because God subjected them to such harsh environment and sealed
their fate to die in the desert. This disappointment was shown in the word of
the two Reubenites (16:13-14). They had to find a solution within the frame of
their mind. Behind this was their unbelief and the fact that they failed to
enter the land of God. On top of this, the leaders were trying to lord it over
them and enslave them. In other word, they were to work hard and yet nothing in
reward. A futility of life was deeply felt. Such feeling was found in Korah’s word as
well; “Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?” (3b) Korah
could not tolerate so many orders that Moses and Aaron issued to comply the Law
of Moses. What does this tell us about them?
Israel could not bear with or keep up with the holiness of God because
they were under the power of sin. Not knowing this, they thought that
they were holy enough and the problem was the leaders. In other word, instead
of trusting God’s love and power, they devised an idea to challenge the
authority that God had set up.
This leads us to violation of the law of Moses and contempt
to the authority of God.
This leads us to understanding of all rebellions of human
history; “we tried our best and yet, there is no peace and no joy and no
security. Now it is our time to do and to manage our lives according to our
understanding and ideals.” Such thinking flows from Adam to Korah, and throughout
human history. This is even true within
a church. Failure to enter the land of God’s blessing makes a fertile ground to
form such a ‘revolt’ against the established authorities. Losing the sense of hope for the kingdom of
God, hard labor and no visible fruit in spirit will inevitably lead to a milieu
where by rebellions prosper. Also we know that all rebellion against the
authority of God rejects the authority that God had set up, the authority of
the Law of Moses.
This leads us to the second question: what was God’s purpose
in upholding the priesthood of Aaron and his descendants? To answer this question, we have to find few
possible answers or questions: was God upholding the chain of commands? Or to
uphold the authority of ‘person’ Aaron? Or was this a way to uphold his
authority as the Lord? Or something else?
Many have used this story in support for the spiritual
authority of leaders such as Pastors or deacons and other position of authority
in a church. We also recognize that there is some elements to support such
application. Yet in order to find the
exact meaning of this passage, I like to discuss more about the role of Aaron,
the high priest from its beginning.
a.
Aaron was a speaker on behalf of Moses
God called Moses. But Moses was reluctant to accept God’s
call to lead his nation because he was not an eloquent speaker. So God offered
Aaron his brother as Moses spokesperson. His
primary role was a ‘speaker’ on behalf of Moses (Exo 4:10-15). Since this
point on Moses talked to God directly and then Moses communicated God’s message to Aaron and Aaron carried out the
message to his people. So Aaron was between Moses and his people Israel
(Exo 7:1). It was like this from the beginning of the birth of the nation. In
this way, Aaron saw and experienced all the powers of God almost as much as
Moses did, except he did not see and face God as much as Moses. Among the
people, Aaron was most intimately tied to Moses’ and to the rest of the people.
In some sense Aaron was mediating between Moses and his people through
effective communication.
b.
Aaron, the carrier of the Law of Covenant to
Israel
Also speaking of God’s
word, we cannot speak properly and rightly without speaking about Law of
Moses, such as the Ten Commandments. Moses was a one-time figure who
communicated directly with the Lord to receive the covenant and its promises.
But the covenant promise must be carried on, and this was by the priest, Aaron
and his descendants. This role could not be shared by any other men who had no
understanding of the full force and effect of the power and authority of God.
Levite was selected to serve the tabernacle because of their zeal for the Lord.
But they as a group or as a single individual no one had such an intimate
relationship with the Lord and His power and His word than Aaron. So Aaron and
his descendants carried the Law of Moses and its covenants. In and by this
covenant carrier, God entrusted his way of salvation. This was revealed through
what God did as Aaron stood before the line of plague. The one who upheld the
covenant could stop God’s judgment.
c.
God entrusted His law in the priesthood of
Aaron and his descendants.
Along the way, God
appointed to be the priest for the nation and his descendants were to carry the
priesthood throughout the generation (Exo 28:1). In other word, God entrusted the Law of Moses
and the truth of the covenant salvation on this priesthood, not on a person Aaron. This
is well revealed when Aaron died, God specifically ordered Moses to take off
the vest of Aaron was wearing and put it on his son Eleazar (Num 20:25-26). So upholding Aaron’s priesthood
is upholding the Law of Covenant as God’s and to stand by the absoluteness of
the covenant promise of the Law. For this reason, God made sure that no one
make mistake on the priesthood of Aaron. So God’s
defending the priesthood of Aaron was to defend the Law of Moses and its
covenants, only through which life can be possible and awarded.
d.
Israel history speaks that the priesthood
sustained by the Law of God kept the life of the nation
The distinction between priests and Levites is clearly
maintained (NBD 957). The priests kept the Law of Moses than any other class or
tribes of Israel and this was the source of all God’s arguments made through
the prophets. Also the Law of God’s Covenant was the foundation of all
arguments made through the prophets. As an example, Isaiah begins his message
with his charge against Israel for the violation of the Law of Moses (Isa 1-5)
and ends with the hope in the covenant. All arguments against the nation Israel
by God’s prophets were grounded on the Law of Covenant. The last prophet, John
of whom Jesus said to be the greatest man born of women, was a son of priest,
Zechariah. Through the message of John’s baptism repentance, the nation began
to see the light that God was sending.
All these lead us to one truth: God upheld the priesthood of
Aaron and his descendants in order to uphold the Law of God’s covenant.
Any other priesthood set up according to men’s ideas shall not stand. No
one can come to the Lord for His blessing except through this Law of Covenant
and any compromise shall meet such punishment.
What does it mean to us? Has God changed this rule?
As we noted through the struggles of Israel that led them to
rebellion against Aaron, inability to keep up with the requirement of the Law
of the Covenant and utter hopelessness were the causes of their rebellion. But
God left them one rout to the holiness of God and His blessing; the priesthood
of Aaron based on the Law of Covenant. Throughout
Israel’s history, despite of the sins and ignorance of men, God’s blessing was
kept alive and sustained by the priesthood in Aaron and his descendants.
How about us? Can we have access into the holy place and
meet God to get his wisdom, favor and his blessing? Practically all men tried
and are trying to do this through way of Korah. More or less, we can say that
all religious activities toward God apart from the Law of God belong to this
group. God’s answer is decidedly clear. When one does so, you will be swallowed
up by the earth, full implementation of God’s injunction given to Adam (Gen 3)
Simply by ignoring the law of God, or without a true fear of the Lord expressed
in abiding the Law of Moses or the Ten Commandments, no on shall get God’s
blessing or life. They will all perish.
When and how would that blessing become fully mature to bear
almond fruits? Or who is the holder of the Law of Moses, the covenant of
Blessing now? As we will get some insight through the next two lessons (ch
20-21), God’s grace and mercy must come. Eventually in His promise God sent
Jesus to meet the Law of Covenant. This is well described in the book of
Hebrews. Jesus is the holder of the priesthood, the holder and keep and
sustainer of the Law of Covenant.
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