Numbers 16:4-35
WHEN MOSES heard this accusation of Korah and his company he fell upon his face. What a lesson for us! The proud, haughty words of these men, instead of inviting Moses to reply in the same spirit, only had the effect of humbling him before God. He told Korah that the Lord would show who are His, and who is holy. They were all to take censers, to put fire in them and incense and then come before the Lord on the morrow.
Is it a small thing to you, he said, that the God of Israel has separated you to bring you near Himself to do the service of the tabernacle — and do you want to be priests also? Instead of appreciating the honor God had conferred on them they despised the Giver. Unsatisfied, they grasped after what He had not given — they would be as Moses and Aaron. May we have grace to be satisfied with our lot, with that which God has given us, for this imparts real peace and happiness to the soul.
Dathan and Abiram who joined with Korah in the rebellion say nothing about the congregation being holy. They charge Moses with not fulfilling his promise. But this charge was really against God. The riband of blue was to keep them in remembrance of Him but this was all lost now. They speak of Egypt now not as a land of bondage, but as a land “flowing with milk and honey;” it was as good as Canaan. They blame Moses for not bringing them into the promised land, when the truth of the matter was the Lord had brought them there and their own unbelief had shut them out. Moses, they said, wished to be a prince over them, that he had deprived them but now they were aware of his designs. And yet this was the same Moses who had said to God “Blot me out of Thy book!” rather than that Israel should be consumed. How terrible was the evil of their hearts! Theirs was not a sin of ignorance; it was altogether open rebellion, upon which the judgment of God was swift to follow.
Moses, whom they had so falsely accused, and Aaron, again fall on their faces before the Lord and intercede for the people, saying, “O God, the God of the spirit of all flesh, shall one man (no doubt Korah, the leader) sin, and wilt Thou be wroth with all the congregation?” God told them to warn the congregation to separate themselves from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.
So there stood Korah and his company with their censers, in their pride daring the judgment of God. In their tent doors stood Dathan and Abiram, equally proud, with their wives and children. Then came the sentence of death, not the coon death of man, but “a new thing” from the Lord, so that all might understand “that these men have provoked the Lord.”
Suddenly the earth opened her mouth, “and all the men that appertained unto Korah went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation. And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them... And there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.”
“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Heb. 10:31. May we watch against the first workings of pride in our hearts; how little we know what they are capable of! The Lord give us grace to keep low down and to walk humbly before Him.
“Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” Jude 21.
ML-11/18/1973