The Contempt

Studies in Numbers

II Failure

A The Commencement

6 The Contempt, Text: 16:1-50

INTRODUCTION

The great value of studying Numbers, or “In the Wilderness,” as we have pointed out previously is that it teaches us lessons about the need for sanctification and perseverance in the Christian life. This present evil age is a wilderness for us. What chapter 16 focuses on is the failure of Israel in the wilderness because of their despising the blessings of God. They had contempt for the Lord. When we read it, it is hard to believe but we do the same thing when we choose the world’s ways over God’s ways. St. Augustine said, “The friendship of the world is fornication against God.” The world is filled with contempt and men often try to disguise it with humor. Consider the man in the pew who said to his pastor, “Your sermon reminded me of the mercies of God. I thought it would endure forever,” or the congressman who said of his fellow legislators, “They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge.” Or consider the embittered expatriate who said of England, “I know why the sun never sets on the British Empire: God wouldn’t trust an Englishman in the dark.” Even Martin Luther got into the act saying, “God created Adam master and Lord of all living creatures, but Eve spoiled it all.” We take such words with a sense of humor and a grain of salt, but often the contempt is undisguised and painfully delivered. This is the contempt of Israel here. We see, first of all, throughout these verses the undisguised alienation of Israel from its benefactor, Yahweh, in their begrudging instigation, belligerent insolence, and blind ingratitude. We also see in this text the answer of the Lord in the compromise, chastening, commemoration and courage revealed in this disaster.

I THE ALIENATION

Paul warns us in I Corinthians 10 not to murmur as they murmured. So let us try to understand the anatomy of their sinful rebellion.

A BEGRUDGING INSTIGATION

The instigation is presented in verses 1-3 and 8-11, 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?”…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?” Korah, Dathan and Abiram incited well known leaders against Moses and Aaron. Obviously he instigators were envious of Moses and Aaron. They did this in spite of the fact that they had been given a significant position in the work of the Lord. Most laymen are not aware of the jealousies that drive some clergy to seek positions of greater importance and influence, vying with their contemporaries. The thirst for power and prestige did not die with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. The people associating themselves with this rebellion were all leaders already. They insolently wanted and demanded more. Moses reply is consistent throughout this Scripture. Why are you attacking us? We didn’t claim this office for ourselves. The Lord put us here. You are attacking God, and questioning His wisdom.

B BELLIGERENT INSOLENCE

The insolence is further shown in verses 4-7 and 12-14, 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!”…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!” Moses’ persuasion that it is the Lord’s decision they are questioning is even clearer when he proposes a test. The test is that they should let the Lord choose. Then Dathan and Abiram not only refuse to come when summoned by the lawgiver, but they make false accusations. It is a popular way to get rid of leaders then and now. They claim that they have been abandoned in the wilderness. Moses and Aaron they say, do not care. Then they accuse them of planning terrible torture and brutish and diabolical crimes such as eye gouging. If it were not so sad it would be humorous.

C BLIND INGRATITUDE

Verse 13 sums up the folly, where they actually refer to Egypt as a land flowing with milk and honey. Did the apostle Paul in a Roman prison say that he had been taken out of a wonderful life and been made a prisoner. No, instead he said all that I have lost, every privilege and every advantage, I count as refuse compared with the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord. God had brought them triumphantly out of bondage and slavery. Yes, their lives in the wilderness were hard, but God forbid that we, like them, should refuse to give up what we cannot keep anyway for what we cannot ever lose.

II THE ANSWER

God’s answer begins with an account of Moses’ anger in verse 15, 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.” He need not have protested nor become so angry. God had no intention of accepting their offering which is demonstrated in what follows, namely, the test which produces a compromise, then a chastening, and finally a commemoration.

A COMPROMISE

In verses 16-22 a test is proposed by Moses to expose the usurper’s rejection by God. This leads to a compromise because God is ready to destroy them all. 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?” Thus Moses and Aaron unselfishly plead for the entire assembly. This is a tremendous lesson in being patient with our brethren and those who drift from the path, because as we read on we discover that the mass of the assembly is not much better than the leaders of the rebellion. Still God hears the plea and relents.

B CHASTENING

In verses 23-35 we read about the punishment for the rebellion against God. So the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the congregation, saying, ‘Get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.’” Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. And he spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart now from the tents of these wicked men! Touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins.” So they got away from around the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, with their wives, their sons, and their little children. And Moses said: “By this you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will. If these men die naturally like all men, or if they are visited by the common fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord creates a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the Lord.” Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods. So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly. Then all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up also!” And a fire came out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering incense. This is not only a punishment for the wicked, but also an authentication of God’s servant and a lesson to the people. Notice that Moses emphasizes that they are “Rejecting the Lord.” That is, there is no difference between rejecting the Lord’s messenger and rejecting the Lord Himself. At the end of the chapter we discover that the people were dull and slow to accept God’s truth. In fact they were insane with evil.

C COMMEMORATION

Our Savior’s patience is endless, because, in spite of their hardness of heart, and blindness, he creates a memorial to keep the truth ever before them in verses 36-40, Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Tell Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, to pick up the censers out of the blaze, for they are holy, and scatter the fire some distance away. The censers of these men who sinned against their own souls, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar. Because they presented them before the Lord, therefore they are holy; and they shall be a sign to the children of Israel.” So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned up had presented, and they were hammered out as a covering on the altar, to be a memorial to the children of Israel that no outsider, who is not a descendant of Aaron, should come near to offer incense before the Lord, that he might not become like Korah and his companions, just as the Lord had said to him through Moses. It is difficult for us to understand how the people could be so obtuse. The reason is that we are the same. This is a revelation of how sin corrupts the mind, blinds the eyes, and stifles the hearing and understanding. Sin doth make idiots of us all.

D COURAGE

The chapter ends as it began with these rebellious sinners still thinking of themselves. The complaints of the people continue with a vengeance. And we read in verses 41-50, On the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.” Now it happened, when the congregation had gathered against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tabernacle of meeting; and suddenly the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared. Then Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of meeting. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.”And they fell on their faces. So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a censer and put fire in it from the altar, put incense on it, and take it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from the Lord. The plague has begun.” Then Aaron took it as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the assembly; and already the plague had begun among the people. So he put in the incense and made atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living; so the plague was stopped. Now those who died in the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died in the Korah incident. So Aaron returned to Moses at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, for the plague had stopped. I personally think that our age is not very different. In general, Christians too, are caught in the web of what I call “me-me theology.” Does this make me happy? Does this satisfy me? Am I being blessed? Is this the music or worship form I like? Is this simple enough? Is this erudite enough? Is this happy enough? Is this mournful enough? Everybody is a critic and a judge driven by what they like and want. The Israelites were so busy thinking of themselves they filtered every event through their feelings. This means they lost all powers of logic and made inane claims. Moses was killing them? Are they kidding? Moses and Aaron show the real courage here. When God would wipe out the people, they stand in the gap. Heroically they are the only ones preventing the death of the Israelites who have just accused them of murdering the people. What could be more ironic? But also, what could be more Christlike? The message to us is go and do likewise.