Reflections on Numbers 16

Numbers 16 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Korah son of Izhar was a Levite from the Kohathite clan. One day he called together Dathan, Abiram, and On from the Reuben tribe, and the four of them decided to rebel against Moses. So they asked two hundred fifty respected Israelite leaders for their support, and together they went to Moses
   
2. (SEE 16:1)
   
3. and Aaron and said, "Why do you think you're so much better than anyone else? We're part of the LORD's holy people, and he's with all of us. What makes you think you're the only ones in charge?"
   
4. When Moses heard this, he knelt down to pray.
   
5. Then he said to Korah and his followers: Tomorrow morning the LORD will show us the person he has chosen to be his priest, and that man will faithfully serve him.
   
6. Korah, now here is what you and your followers must do: Get some fire pans, fill them with coals and incense, and place them near the sacred tent. And the man the LORD chooses will be his priest. Korah, this time you Levites have gone too far!
   
7. (SEE 16:6)
   
8. You know that the God of Israel has chosen you Levites from all Israel to serve him by being in charge of the sacred tent and by helping the community to worship in the proper way. What more do you want?
   
9. (SEE 16:8)
   
10. The LORD has given you a special responsibility, and now, Korah, you think you should also be his priest.
    
11. You and your followers have rebelled against the LORD, not against Aaron.
    
12. Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, but they sent back this message: "We won't come!
    
13. It's bad enough that you took us from our rich farmland in Egypt to let us die here in the desert. Now you also want to boss us around!
    
14. You keep promising us rich farmlands with fertile fields and vineyards--but where are they? Stop trying to trick these people. No, we won't come to see you."
    
15. Moses was very angry and said to the LORD, "Don't listen to these men! I haven't done anything wrong to them. I haven't taken as much as a donkey."
    
16. Then he said to Korah, "Tomorrow you and your followers must go with Aaron to the LORD's sacred tent.
    
17. Each of you take along your fire pan with incense in it and offer the incense to the LORD."
    
18. The next day the men placed incense and coals in their fire pans and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the sacred tent.
    
19. Meanwhile, Korah had convinced the rest of the Israelites to rebel against their two leaders. When that happened, the LORD appeared in all his glory
    
20. and said to Moses and Aaron,
    
21. "Get away from the rest of the Israelites so I can kill them right now!"
    
22. But the two men bowed down and prayed, "Our God, you gave these people life. Why would you punish everyone here when only one man has sinned?"
    
23. The LORD answered Moses,
    
24. "Tell the people to stay away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram."
    
25. Moses walked over to Dathan and Abiram, and the other leaders of Israel followed.
    
26. Then Moses warned the people, "Get away from the tents of these sinful men! Don't touch anything that belongs to them or you'll be wiped out."
    
27. So everyone moved away from those tents, except Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and their families.
    
28. Moses said to the crowd, "The LORD has chosen me and told me to do these things--it wasn't my idea. And here's how you will know:
    
29. If these men die a natural death, it means the LORD hasn't chosen me.
    
30. But suppose the LORD does something that has never been done before. For example, what if a huge crack appears in the ground, and these men and their families fall into it and are buried alive, together with everything they own? Then you will know they have turned their backs on the LORD!"
    
31. As soon as Moses said this, the ground under the men opened up
    
32. and swallowed them alive, together with their families and everything they owned. Then the ground closed back up, and they were gone.
    
33. (SEE 16:32)
    
34. The rest of the Israelites heard their screams, so they ran off, shouting, "We don't want that to happen to us!"
    
35. Suddenly the LORD sent a fire that burned up the two hundred fifty men who had offered incense to him.
    
36. Then the LORD said to Moses,
    
37. "Tell Aaron's son Eleazar to take the fire pans from the smoldering fire and scatter the coals. The pans are now sacred,
    
38. because they were used for offering incense to me. Have them hammered into a thin layer of bronze as a covering for the altar. Those men died because of their sin, and now their fire pans will become a warning for the rest of the community."
    
39. Eleazar collected the pans and had them hammered into a thin layer of bronze as a covering for the altar,
    
40. just as the LORD had told Moses. The pans were a warning to the Israelites that only Aaron's descendants would be allowed to offer incense to the LORD. Anyone else who tried would be punished like Korah and his followers.
    
41. The next day the people of Israel again complained against Moses and Aaron, "The two of you killed some of the LORD's people!"
    
42. As the people crowded around them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the sacred tent, and the LORD appeared in his glory in the cloud covering the tent.
    
43. So Moses and Aaron walked to the front of the tent,
    
44. where the LORD said to them,
    
45. "Stand back! I am going to wipe out these Israelites once and for all." They immediately bowed down and prayed.
    
46. Then Moses told Aaron, "Grab your fire pan and fill it with hot coals from the altar. Put incense in it, then quickly take it to where the people are and offer it to the LORD, so they can be forgiven. The LORD is very angry, and people have already started dying!"
    
47. Aaron did exactly what he had been told. He ran over to the crowd of people and stood between the dead bodies and the people who were still alive. He placed the incense on the pan, then offered it to the LORD and asked him to forgive the people's sin. The disease immediately stopped spreading, and no one else died from it.
    
48. (SEE 16:47)
    
49. But fourteen thousand seven hundred Israelites were dead, not counting those who had died with Korah and his followers.
    
50. Aaron walked back and stood with Moses at the sacred tent.
    
    

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    Proverbs 1:7 says that, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." The truth of this proverb is demonstrated in Numbers chapter 16 and will undoubtedly be a factor in the understanding of this passage by those who read it. The actions of those in this account who rebelled helps to define for us wickedness and evil.
    
    The Israelites spent nearly a year at Sinai receiving the Lord's covenant instructions, building the tabernacle, and organizing the community around God's design. During this period no evidence is given in scripture that the people were anything but content with their situation. But once the community left Sinai and continued their journey toward the new land, it would seem that the true hearts of a number of the people, if not the whole community, becomes evident. Isaiah 26:3 tells us that God will "keep in perfect peace the mind that is dependent on You, for it is trusting in You." But that seems not to be the case for the Israelite community. Rather than seeing what God was doing for them they only saw what displeased them.
    
    Chapter 11 of Numbers tells of a group who grumbled because they didn't have meat to eat as they did in Egypt. In chapter 12 Moses' brother Aaron and sister Miriam criticized Moses because of his Cushite wife and complained at the idea that God spoke only through him. Chapters 13 and 14 give the account of the people's rebellion against going into the new land for fear of being killed, and now, in chapter 16, over 250 leaders rebel against Moses and Aaron saying, "You have gone too far! Everyone in the entire community is holy, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the LORD's assembly?" (16:3) Furthermore, the group accused them of leading them away from a land of milk and honey (Egypt), but were unable to lead them to the other land of milk and honey (Canaan). They were no longer willing to follow Moses and Aaron. Included in their claims was that they could approach God the same as the priests.
    
    In light of this rebellion, God was again ready to destroy the whole community. He told Moses and Aaron to separate themselves from the community so He could "consume them instantly." And, again, Moses and Aaron mediated on behalf of the people pointing out that God knows the spirit is each person, thus knowing who was guilty of rebellion and who was not. Would He then vent His "wrath on the whole community?" (16:22) Would He include the innocent with the guilty?  These rebels were overlooking the fact that God had appointed Moses and Aaron to lead them. They were not self-appointed. The plagues in Egypt and all the miracles God had performed through Moses should have been clear evidence of this. But since the rebels were determined to challenge their leadership God determined to make very clear who He had appointed as leader and priest. These men, all 250 plus the three conspirators and Aaron, were to appear before the Lord at the tabernacle the next morning with firepans.
    
    To approach the Lord with a firepan was allowed only by the priests. These men did not comprehend the grave danger they were approaching. As the group approached the Lord with their firepans was when God told Moses and Aaron to separate themselves from the community so He could destroy everyone. When the two made an appeal for the people, God then told the community to get away from the tents of the three conspirators. While these men and their families stood at the openings of their tents, the earth opened up and swallowed them all alive along with their possessions. Then it closed back over them. The fact that the families of these three died with them would suggest that they were not innocent in this affair. Next, the Lord consumed with fire the 250 men who had approached Him with their firepans.
    
    The Lord referred to the three conspirators as wicked, (16:26) thus defining wickedness as primarily rebellion against God. We typically think of wickedness as acting violently against others which was not the case with these three. But this situation along with others in Numbers and elsewhere in scripture identify it more specifically as any rebellion against God.
    
    We want to think that following the deaths of these rebels and the Lord's clear hand in the whole situation that the community was then onboard with God.  But the last verses of the chapter show that most, if not all, of the community where not dependent on the Lord and thus their minds were not kept in perfect peace. Following the events with the rebels, the "entire Israelite community complained about Moses and Aaron," accusing them of killing the rebels, calling the rebels "the Lord's people." (16:41) This was too much. Suddenly the Lord appeared in a cloud and in an instant a plague broke out among the people. Moses sent Aaron out among the people to make atonement for them and stop the plague. By the time he could do this nearly 15,000 people had died from the plague.
    
    What ignorance and foolishness! What evidence of the truth of the proverb: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction."