THE SIN OF OPPOSITION

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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 and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council.

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?"

When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. 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.”

“You, Korah, and all your followers are to do this: Take censers and tomorrow put fire 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!"

Moses also said to Korah, "Now listen, you Levites! 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? He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near Himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood too. It is against the Lord that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?"

Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, "We will not come! Isn't it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the desert? And now you also want to lord it over us? Moreover, you haven't brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come!"

Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord, "Do not accept their offering. I have not taken so much as a donkey from them, nor have I wronged any of them."

Moses said to Korah, "You and all your followers are to appear before the Lord tomorrow—you and they and Aaron. 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."

So each man took his censer, put fire and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. When Korah had gathered all his followers in opposition to them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the glory of the Lord appeared to the entire assembly. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once."

But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, "O God, God of the spirits of all mankind, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?"

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Say to the assembly, 'Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.'"

Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. He warned the assembly, "Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins."

So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents.

Then Moses said, "This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: If these men die a natural death and experience only what usually happens to men, then the Lord has not sent me. 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 grave, then you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt."

As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah's men and all their possessions. They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, "The earth is going to swallow us too!" And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.

The Lord said to Moses, "Tell Eleazar, son of Aaron, the priest, to take the censers out of the smoldering remains and scatter the coals some distance away, for the censers are holy, 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."

So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned up, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar, 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 next day, the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. "You have killed the Lord's people," they said. But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the Tent of Meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared.

Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting, and the Lord said to Moses, "Get away from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once."

And they fell facedown.

Then Moses said to Aaron, "Take your censer and put incense in it, along with fire from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the Lord; the plague has started."

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. He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped. But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah.

Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, for the plague had stopped.

Numbers 16

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

You may remember from our study in the twelfth chapter of Numbers how Aaron and Miriam conspired against their brother, Moses, wondering why he saw himself as being so special when they too had been used by God for special purposes like he had. Lost in their own pride, they failed to recognize that it was God who had established the singular relationship with Moses, a relationship that was personal and intimate. You’ll recall that their challenge gained the Lord’s attention who called the two siblings into His presence to set things straight about where they stood in their relation to Him. There were consequences involved as Miriam was made temporarily leprous by the Lord and exiled from the camp for seven days as the penalty for the sins committed against her brother.

As we see in today’s scripture passage from Numbers, chapter 16, opposition against Moses happens again, this time from a Levite named Korah and three Reubenites: Dathan, Abiham, and On. These men decided to bring forth another insolent authority challenge but this time it wasn’t just against Moses but Aaron as well. Obviously, they didn’t learn from what had happened prior and perhaps they thought that the outcome would be different with more people involved in the opposition. You know, power in numbers as they say. Well, unfortunately they were about to learn that there was no power that could be brought against the God of infinite might.

The scriptures tell us that the four men came to Moses and Aaron with 250 others, all of them "well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council." They delivered a sharp rebuke saying to Moses:

"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?"

After responding to their words by falling facedown, we see Moses offering the following reply:

"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. You, Korah, and all your followers are to do this: Take censers and tomorrow put fire 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!"

Notice here that Moses doesn’t attempt to settle the matter on his own but instead allows the Lord to reveal who He has chosen to lead His beloved Israelite people. We get a sense that Moses knew the worst was to come as he tells the Levites that they had gone too far. He then further admonishes them saying:

“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? He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near Himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood too. It is against the Lord that you and all your followers have banded together."

What Moses was getting as here was the Levites had taken for granted the special privilege and responsibility that God had given them in tending to and caring for the tabernacle as well as assisting Aaron and the other priests. Instead of being grateful and satisfied, they coveted even more and so Moses reminds them that they were not resisting him but God with their actions.

Well, having addressed Korah and his men first, Moses summoned the Reubenites but they disrespectfully declined his request saying:

"We will not come! Isn't it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the desert? And now you also want to lord it over us? Moreover, you haven't brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come!"

We read that Moses tells the Lord not to accept the Reubenite offering because of their insubordinate impudence.

So what did God do about this situation?

The scriptures tell us that Korah and his men showed up with their incense censers as Moses directed and stood in opposition to Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Then, into the scene enters the Lord who immediately directs Moses and Aaron to separate themselves from the assembly because He intended to “put an end to them at once."

Of interest, we have seen Moses try to intercede for his people in the past and this time is no different except that he is joined by Aaron. We read where they fell down before the Lord and pleaded for the assembly saying:

"O God, God of the spirits of all mankind, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?"

Through their intercessory cry, they asserted that only the one who sinned against God should be judged with the others spared and we see where the Lord honors they request, telling Moses to move the entire assembly “away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram", a request they complied with.

It’s at that point that we find Moses addressing the men who had disrespected the Lord saying:

"This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: If these men die a natural death and experience only what usually happens to men, then the Lord has not sent me. 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 grave, then you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt."

Note here how Moses lets everyone know that if God had appointed him to lead, then judgment would come in a way that no man could bring about. For only the Lord could open up the earth and have it swallow people alive. And so with that, everyone waited to see what would happen and it didn’t take long.

For suddenly, immediately after Moses had finished speaking, the "ground under” the men and their tents “split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households” including all of “Korah's men and all their possessions”. The scriptures tell us that they “went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned” before “the earth closed over them”. All “perished and were gone from the community."

In the end translation, God swallowed up His opposition with the very earth He had created, the penalty for their sinful disrespect and rebelliousness. His actions stunned the rest of the assembly who fled in fear believing the earth was going to swallow them as well. And while further judgment came, it was in a different form.

For we read where the other 250 men who joined Kohath, Dathan and Abiham and offered incense were consumed by "fire (that) came out from the Lord”. Moses then directed Aaron’s son, Eleazer, to gather up the holy censers from the ashes of the sinners. He was then to hammer them into "sheets to overlay the altar" so they might be a "sign to the Israelites", reminding them 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."

Imagine what an impact all of this must have had on the Israelites. Given this and all the other prior events where God had corrected them for their stubborn disobedience, you would think that they all would have followed the example of deep reverence displayed by Moses and Aaron, falling facedown before the Lord but they didn’t. Instead, they chose to show defiance yet once again.

For the next day, we read where the “whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron” saying to them:

“You have killed the Lord's people".

It was obvious that they still didn’t get that what had happened was judgment from God Himself and so the Lord returned to remind them, once again ready to put His wrath on full display to punish them. We sense that Moses and Aaron knew the worst was about to happen for we see them quickly interceding for the Israelites, falling facedown before God gave them this order:

"Get away from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once."

God was making it clear that His people were going to be destroyed unless something was done fast. And so Moses puts his brother Aaron into action saying:

"Take your censer and put incense in it, along with fire from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the Lord; the plague has started."

And with that, the scriptures tell us that "Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly" where the "plague had already started among the people.” Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them as he stood "between the living and the dead", and because of his actions and the mercy of the Lord, "the plague stopped". Still, we read where 14,700 people died from the plague as well as the sinful opposition of Korah as God delivered judgment against the sin of opposition in a big way.

Friends, this chapter in Numbers should serve as a strong warning to any believer today who chooses to speak out against the Lord and those He has appointed to lead His people. We need to learn from the mistakes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiham as well as those who foolishly decided to follow them. We should also refuse to repeat the further errors in judgment displayed by the near fifteen thousand Israelites who ended up dying from the God-sent plague.

The clear takeaway here is that the Lord won’t stand for rebellion against Him and His will and way. No mere human stands a chance if they choose to be His enemy and He fully expects all believers to approach Him with a respectful, reverent, submissive attitude. After all, He and He alone is the Maker and Master over all creation and the created things within and so let us all commit ourselves to show Him the honor He deserves, the honor He is worthy of.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.