IT IS AGAINST THE LORD
Numbers 16:1-14 / Keywords 16:11
It is against the LORD that you and all
your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble
against him?"
Korah, Dathan and Abiram
16:1 Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent[a] 2 and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council. 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?”
4 When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. 5 Then he said to Korah and all his followers: “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. 6 You, Korah, and all your followers are to do this: Take censers 7 and tomorrow put burning coals and incense in them before the Lord. The man the Lord chooses will be the one who is holy. You Levites have gone too far!”
8 Moses also said to Korah, “Now listen, you Levites! 9 Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near himself to do the work at the Lord’s tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to them? 10 He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood too. 11 It is against the Lord that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?”
12 Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, “We will not come! 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[b]? No, we will not come!”
a. Numbers 16:1 Or Peleth—took men
b. Numbers 16:14 Or to deceive these men; Hebrew Will you gouge out the eyes of these men
1.
Discontent with God’s
direction to wander in the wilderness, several groups rebelled. Korah was the
cousin of Moses and Aaron (1). He and his fellow Levites wanted to take the priesthood
(10). 250 community leaders felt Moses and Aaron should be under their
authority in making decisions for the whole assembly (2-3). Some Reubenites,
Dathan and Abiram, were upset that Moses didn’t lead them into the land flowing
with milk and honey (13-14). They banded together to overthrow Moses and Aaron
and lead the people of God.
2. Moses did not engage in a
battle for power. Rather, he fell facedown. Moses pointed out that it is God
who is sovereign, not people. The LORD chooses who comes near, and who is holy
(7). Their rebellion is against God. No human motive or method will succeed. In
the church, Christ is sovereign, not people. We do well to check our motives
and methods in light of this story.
3. Moses reminds the Levites of
the privilege they have to be near to God (10). God appoints us to his service
and bestows gifts to each one, to be used in building up the whole (Eph
4:11-13). Let’s be thankful for our gifts and
exercise them faithfully and wholeheartedly, building up our community.
Prayer Father, thank you for choosing me
to be near you. Help me humbly live under your sovereignty and build up Jesus’ church today.
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