Transcendence 3

Four: Open Revolt

As a reminder, because of how important it was to Him, the Lord reviewed His expectations for offerings. The aroma was pleasing to Him and He wanted it to be treated as a holy worship to their Lord. Whether burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink, sin, etc., He had exact directions for how the Israelites should present them. He set forth laws pertaining to both native-born and alien people living among them. Everyone was to follow protocol for presenting offerings. God told Moses they should continue this when they enter the promised land, and for generations to come. They should always send up offerings in the manner that was pleasing to Him.

When they ate they were to send up a portion of their food to God as a burnt offering. And a portion of their first grains were to be made into a cake and presented to the Lord. Even in the case of unintentional sinning, or unintentional failing to keep the commands set forth by God there was a protocol for sacrificing certain animals for the entire community. But if anyone sins defiantly, or blasphemes the Lord in anyway intentionally, that person's guilt stays upon him because he despises the Lord and he must be cut off from his people. (God was strict because he kept his expectations for His people to stand apart, to walk blameless. God had hopes his strict laws would keep the people from sinning intentionally, and to keep the people dependent upon Him.)

While the Israelites were in the desert a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who saw him do it knew it wasn't right in the eyes of the Lord, but because it was unclear what they should do with the man they brought him before Aaron and Moses. The Lord told Moses the man must be stoned to death by the whole assembly outside of camp. (This shows how extremely important God viewed the law to keep the Sabbath holy. He chose to make an example out of the man in front of the entire assembly so that all the people would be in fear and choose not to sin. God's expectations were very clear! There should be no work on the Sabbath Day. God wanted the day to be reserved for the people to worship Him. He wanted the day to be kept holy, a day to remember all He does for them. All the blessings he gives them in their daily lives should be thought about on that day. Work was a distraction from Him.)

The Israelites were told to make blue tassels to wear in the corners of their garments as a reminder of the laws against adultery. Each time they saw them they would think about God's law against lust. They would remember not to go after the lusts of their hearts and eyes, and to avoid all temptation to commit adultery.

Living together in a huge group had its challenges. The people had laws, they were organized, they had tasks and jobs for each of the tribes. Yet problems still arose. At one point some of the men were getting frustrated with the leadership skills of Aaron and Moses. These men began to think they were equally as close to God as Moses and Aaron were. They believed they could be leaders and make decisions for the group so they became insolent and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 well known council members who were community leaders. Leading the group were Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. These men approached Moses and Aaron as a group and said, "You have given us laws and rules and made us abide by everything you say because you claim to be close to God. But you have gone too far. The whole community is holy, every one of them! Why then do you set yourself above the Lord's assembly?" (Though the people were well cared for, they conjured up the idea that it would be better if more people were appointed as priests. They wanted control over the Israelites to be dispersed throughout rather than one person appointed to make all the decisions. Some of the men were Levites - who were already appointed as God's chosen tribe to do His work - yet they wanted more control. They wanted to appoint more men as priest. This open revolt was a cry out for more control over their own daily lives.)

Moses had been chosen by God, he wasn't making the rules up, he was following them. So when he heard what they were claiming he fell face down. Then he said to Korah and all his followers, "In the morning the Lord will show who belongs to Him, and who is holy. You are to take your censers tomorrow and 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! Isn't it enough that the Lord separated you from other people and brought you closer to Him to do His work? He choose you to lead the community, to take care of the tabernacle, and to minister for Him. But now you are trying to get the priesthood too. It is against the Lord that you and your followers have banded together! Who is Aaron that you have came against him?"

Moses then summoned Dathan and Abiram to be on his side, but they refused saying, "Haven't you done enough? You have brought us into the desert to die. You have not brought us to a land flowing with milk and honey, you haven't given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards! And now you also want to lord it over us? Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we are not coming!" (These men believed Moses was keeping secrets and ruling over them even though they were all close to God. This accusation hurt Moses! He had never even wanted the role of leader - he wanted them to believe he was chosen by God!

Moses cried out to the Lord, "Do not accept their offerings! I have not taken so much as a donkey from them, nor have I wronged any of them!"

The next day Moses and Aaron along with Korah and his followers met at the tent of meeting. The Lord was angry with those who had came up against Moses so He told Moses to separate himself and Aaron from the rest of the assembly so that He may put an end to them all. But both Aaron and Moses fell face down and begged God not to punish all the men for the sins of the leaders. God then told Moses to move everyone away from the three main leaders for they are wicked and He would punish them.

Moses told everyone to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. He told them not to touch anything that belongs to those men for they were evil. He explained to them all, "If these three men die of natural causes then you will know that God did not send me to lead you, but if the earth opens up and swallows these men alive you will see that God has in fact sent me to lead you. You will know that I did not choose this myself but that God choose me. You will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt."

As soon as he finished saying this, the ground under the three men split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and possessions. Korah's men were also swallowed up. They went down alive into the grave, the earth closed up over them and they perished. At the sight of this all the Israelites fled, in fear the earth would swallow them up also.

Fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering incense. The censers the men carried at the cost of their lives were considered holy so God told Moses to collect them from the smoldering remains. God wanted them to be hammered into sheets to overlay the altar where all would see them and it would serve as a sign to the Israelites - they would remember that no one except a descendant of Aaron should burn incense before the Lord.)

The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron, "You have killed the Lord's people!" They couldn't understand that those people were not for God if they were against the leaders that God chose. Not only that but those people were acting in jealousy and envy when they wanted to appoint more priests and be allowed to made decisions and lead the people. They claimed they were as close to God as Moses was. Only God could choose priests.  

Then, when the angry assembly turned toward the Tent of Meeting the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared.

The Lord told Moses to move away from the grumbling people so that he may put an end to them. Moses knew wrath had come out from the Lord and the plague he intended for them had already started. He told Aaron to hurry and take his censer, put incense in it along with fire from the altar, to make atonement for all of them. Aaron quickly did as Moses said and offered the incense and made atonement for the people. He stood between the living and the dead and because of his atonement the plague stopped. 

Because of their unbelief, and grumbling against God, 14,700 people died from the plague in addition to those who had died because of Korah.

As a miraculous sign, and to deter future rebellions God told Moses to collect twelve staffs - one from each tribe of Israel. Moses placed them in the tent and the next day he saw that Aaron's staff had not only sprouted but had budded and produced almonds. Aaron's staff was a sign that God had indeed choose him and the Levites as priest over the Israelites. God told Moses to place Aaron's staff in front of the testimony as a reminder that He indeed chose Aaron - the miraculous staff would help deter future rebellions.

(The people had a hard time accepting that Moses was chosen to lead them. They wanted to have a hand in leadership, they felt they were just as holy as Aaron and Moses. God showed them He had truly made the decision. He chose their leader and He chose Aaron to be priest. The terrible plague killing more than 14,000 people proved that God was in control. The staff sprouting was more proof that God made the decisions. )

(Life Question: God likes us to depend on him. He likes us to worship Him. He likes us to acknowledge that He blesses us with protection, health, and love. Do you depend on Him? Do you thank Him for the privilege to depend on Him? )