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NUMBERS
CHAPTER 16

1 Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the 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 certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: 3 And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?

It seems, once we're saved, we no sooner learn that God makes us holy,
than we become "lifted up" within ourselves. Pride breeds exclusivism and
contempt for authority.
Korah seems to lead this rebellion. He is the great grandson of Levi, and from
the same grandfather (Kohath) as Moses and Aaron. (Dathan and Abiram are also
Levites. The only one who is not a Levite is On.)
Sin is in the holy, called, sanctified people of God too (Romans 3:23).

The leaders of the rebellion gather 250 well-known men and come to Moses and Aaron.
Notice their charge (verse 3): that Moses and Aaron are no better than they, because
ALL the congregation is holy.
And that is perfectly TRUE! No one person in God's family is better than any other.
But there is one thing different about Moses and Aaron: God has chosen,
and called them to be leaders of the people. Therefore, certain authority is
vested in them and certain respect is due them (1Timothy 5:17).
Many years later, another group of proud religious leaders would question another man
about his authority (Matthew 2:23, Mark 11:28).
This particular rebellion is later called the "gainsaying of Korah, (Jude 11)
for which the same Greek word is translated "contradiction in Hebrews 12:3. Let me just
say that contradicting a leader chosen by God is a very serious matter.

4 And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face: 5 And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even to morrow the LORD will shew who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him. 6 This do; Take you censers, Korah, and all his company; 7 And put fire therein, and put incense in them before the LORD to morrow: and it shall be that the man whom the LORD doth choose, he shall be holy: ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi. 8 And Moses said unto Korah, Hear, I pray you, ye sons of Levi: 9 Seemeth it but a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them? 10 And he hath brought thee near to him, and all thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee: and seek ye the priesthood also? 11 For which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered together against the LORD: and what is Aaron, that ye murmur against him? 12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab: which said, We will not come up: 13 Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us? 14 Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards: wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up. 15 And Moses was very wroth, and said unto the LORD, Respect not thou their offering: I have not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them. 16 And Moses said unto Korah, Be thou and all thy company before the LORD, thou, and they, and Aaron, to morrow: 17 And take every man his censer, and put incense in them, and bring ye before the LORD every man his censer, two hundred and fifty censers; thou also, and Aaron, each of you his censer. 18 And they took every man his censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon, and stood in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation with Moses and Aaron. 19 And Korah gathered all the congregation against them unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the congregation.

Moses immediately went before God in prayer. Then he gave Korah a way to find out for sure
if his accusations are accepted by the Lord (verse 17).
Korah, and all the others with hiim are to put incense in censors and meet Moses at the door
of the tabernacle. The censors are symbols of inquiring before the Lord. In verses 8-11,
Moses assures these Levites that they have been given a place of honor by God. But they should
not seek the "priesthood" (verse 10), or the place of authority.
God had indeed given these men a place of distinction (verse 9). But the place of authority
is decided by God, and conferred upon His choice.
In verse 11, Moses levels a rebuttal accusation: that these men are actually "murmuring" against
God by committing this rebellious act against authority.
Two of those leaders of the rebellion wouldn't even come publicly and confront Moses. (Many are they
who "murmur" in the background, but don't want to "face the music.")

20 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 21 Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. 22 And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation? 23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 24 Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. 25 And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins. 27 So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children.

God spoke to Moses and told him and Aaron to separate themselves from the 250 and He (God) would destroy
the whole congregation!
Now, I don't believe for a moment that God's grace had been depleted and that He was tired of
their attitude. Nope! "His mercy endureth forever." (Psalm. 106:1, 107:1, 118:1)
But God did use the situation to test Moses and Aaron.
Do you suppose leaders ever get tired of the rotten attitudes of people?
If YOU had been Moses and Aaron, would you have been ready to say, "OK! Lord! Wipe 'em out!
Let's just start over?!" But Moses and Aaron were chosen leaders for a reason. God had
called them, and He had also enabled them. And God's Holly Spirit gives us constant
encouragement to "walk worthy of God, Who hath called you into His kingdom and glory" (1Thessalonians 2:12).
Notice Moses and Aaron's response to God's offer. They fell on their knees in intercerssory prayer (verse 22).
God spoke again. This time He instructed the leaders of the rebellion (Korah, Dathan and Abiram) to be
"set apart" and for every one else to get away from them.

28 And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. 29 If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not sent me. 30 But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD.

Moses has an understanding of what God is about to do. God has obviously revealed it to him.
He doesn't know EXACTLY, but he knows God is about to do something that will glorify HIMSELF and make the
way plain to His people.
That's a characteristic of God's chosen, called, enabled leader.

31 And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them: 32 And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. 33 They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation. 34 And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also. 35 And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.

Just as Moses spoke, God brought about this miracle. The earth split open and Korah and all
those that stood with him were swallowed up in the earth.
Then a fire came from God and consumed the rest of the 250 (verse 35).
Consider the Levites at this time as a symbol of the church, and the Israelites a symbol of
the world. Friends, God wants His church HOLY! And He will do what is necessary to KEEP it that way.

36 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 37 Speak unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the censers out of the burning, and scatter thou the fire yonder; for they are hallowed. 38 The censers of these sinners against their own souls, let them make them broad plates for a covering of the altar: for they offered them before the LORD, therefore they are hallowed: and they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel. 39 And Eleazar the priest took the brasen censers, wherewith they that were burnt had offered; and they were made broad plates for a covering of the altar: 40 To be a memorial unto the children of Israel, that no stranger, which is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to offer incense before the LORD; that he be not as Korah, and as his company: as the LORD said to him by the hand of Moses.

Now I hope you get the true importance of these verses. God said these rebellious men, "sinners
against their own souls," (verse 38) offered "hallowed" censors!
In fact, Eleazar is instructed to scatter the fire of the incense they had offered (verse 37) as an
UNHOLY thing. But the golden censors were "hallowed." These censors were originally
designed to serve at the golden altar of incense inside the tabernacle, just in fron of the veil.
Therefore, God says to beat those censors down and make a "covering" for the golden altar.
This covering was to be a memorial, so that all the people would be reminded of the awful cost
of rebellious gainsaying.
Just because we have a place of distinction in the family of God, doesn't give us Christians
the right to presume upon our position and SEEK AFTER being leaders.
Those offices only God confers. And God confirms whom He confers through His congregation and
other leaders.

41 But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD. 42 And it came to pass, when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation: and, behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared. 43 And Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the congregation. 44 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 45 Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces. 46 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun.

Now would you just look at this?! Just yesterday God PROVED these men were "gainsayers." And now
these folk are murmuring!
Remember, murmuring is speaking against what God has said. Gainsaying has its roots in murmuring.
The "murmurers" contend that God is not JUST in taking the lives of His own family. But friends, it IS
His family! And when rebellious children rise up in "bitter envy and strife," the Father certainly has the right
to remove them. Better to remove them than to let them continue in rebellion and cause others to stray.

47 And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people. 48 And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed. 49 Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah. 50 And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the plague was stayed.

These peole may have forgotten whose censor was honored, but Moses did not. Moses realized that God's anger
was even at that moment beginning to destroy the people because of their murmuring.
But Moses also realized that "...the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."(James 5:16)
Moses sent Aaron running into the congregation with his censor - which represents inquiry before
the Lord. And is running earnestly in prayer for his people! He is depicting Christ here, genuinely
running the race of life and putting himself between the living and the dead. If Jesus hadn't done that
you and I could never have been saved.
Aaron also represents the church here. Running into the infection of sin and carrying the only hope
for a dying world - the GOSPEL OF JESUS!

Are you earnestly carrying the gospel today?

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