Korah’s Rebellion

INTRO

Yesterday’s lesson taught about the 12 scouts. While ten men of God said, “Wait!”, Joshua and Caleb said, “Go!” Because ten spies said “No,” God decided to punish all of Israel. The Israelites would wander around until their deaths. Only the ones under the age of 20 would live to see the Promise Land. Joshua and Caleb depended on the Lord’s promises but the rest of the Israelites didn’t depend on those promises. Look what happened; the rest of the Israelites didn’t make it into the Promise Land.

TEACHING

Numbers 15:1–29: The Israelites wouldn’t enter the Promise Land, but their children would (vv. 1–5). There were laws about offerings when they enter the land (vv. 6–16.) They were to do the wave offering (vv. 17–21) and were also instructed on what to do about unintentional sin (vv. 22–29).

Numbers 15:37–41: The Lord commanded Moses to have the Israelites make tassels for their garments to remind them to obey and remember the Lord’s commands. Today, this would be similar to wearing a cross necklace, a special coin, or having a sign in your home. Sailhamer wrote, “As the laws increase and constraints grow, the people seem less willing or capable of following them.”¹As the laws increased, the Israelites were going to rebel, and this is what you are going to see in Numbers 16.

Numbers 16:1–2:

Korah, Dathan, and Aniram, along with 250 Israelite men, who were well-known leaders, became insolent and rose up against Moses. According to Wiersbe, the Kohathites carried the tabernacle furniture.²They camped out on the south side, so they were hanging out with the Gadites, Reubenites, and Simeonites. I think of Numbers 12 when Miriam and Aaron both questioned Moses’ authority (1Corinthians 15:33; Proverbs 13:20).

Numbers 16:3: This group of 250 came together and questioned Moses and Aaron: “Why do you think you are the only holy ones? The whole community is holy. You have gone too far” (Exodus 19:5-6). The reality was that there had to be someone in authority (1Corinthians 15:33; Proverbs 13:20).

Numbers 16:4–7: When Moses heard their complaints, he fell facedown. Moses told them that tomorrow the Lord would choose who was holy and who could come close to Him. Korah and his followers were to take firepans. The next day they were to put fire and incense in the firepans before the Lord. The man the Lord would choose would be the one who was holy. “It is you Levities who have gone too far!” (v 6). The Lord judges righteously. 1 Peter 2:23; Luke 22:42 show how Jesus responds when people question Him. He’s the Rock.

Numbers 16:8–11: Moses said to the Levities, “Isn’t it enough that God has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community? He has brought you near to Himself to do the work of the tabernacle. But now you are trying to get the priesthood also? It is against the Lord that you are doing this. Why are you complaining against Aaron?” When you do the Lord’s work, you should fully expect to be hated (1 John 3:12–13; Genesis 37:4; John 15:18–19). When you come to serve, that’s when He elevates you (Mark 10:45).

Numbers 16:12–15: Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, but they wouldn’t come out. They said, “Isn’t it enough that you took us out of a land of milk and honey to bring us to a desert to lord over us? Will you gouge out the eyes of our men? We won’t come out!” Moses became very angry, and he asked the Lord to not accept their offering.

Numbers 16:16–19: Moses told Korah to appear before the Lord on the next day with all his men and Aaron. Each one was to bring a firepan with incense in it (that would be 250 firepans) and present them before the Lord. So Korah and all his men, plus Moses and Aaron, took their firepans with incense and stood at the entrance to the tent of meeting. The glory of the Lord appeared to the whole community.

Numbers 16:20–23: The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron. He told them to separate themselves from the whole community because He was going to consume them instantly. But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and asked the Lord not to consume the whole community because of the 250 men. The Lord told Moses to tell the community to get away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. They were to get away from those wicked people.

Numbers 16:25–27: Moses went to Dathan and Abiram and the elders of Israel who followed him. He warned the whole community to get away from the tents of these wicked men—to get away from anything that belonged to them or they would be swept away because of their sin. Then Dathan and Abiram, with their wives, children, and infants, came out of the tents and stood at the entrance.

Numbers 16:28–30: Moses told them the Lord had sent him; it was not of his own will. If these people died naturally, then the Lord hadn’t sent him. If the Lord brought something unprecedented and the ground swallowed them with all that belonged to them and they go down alive to Sheol, the Israelites would know Korah and his followers had despised the Lord.

Numbers 16:31–34: Just as Moses finished speaking, the ground split open (1 Samuel 14:15; 1 Kings 19:11). God can use whatever physical means: clouds, fire, lightening, or thunder to do what He wants to do. The earth swallowed them and their households, as well as all of Korah’s people and their possessions (Jude 1:11). This was known as one of the ultimate rebellious groups in all of the Old Testament. The earth then closed over them and they vanished from the assembly. At their cries, all the people around fled for fear of being swallowed up also.

Numbers 16:35–38: Then fire came from the Lord and consumed the 250 men and their incense (Hebrews 10:31). The Lord spoke to Moses, “Tell Eleazar to gather the firepans, for they are holy, and scatter the fire far away. Make them into hammered sheets for the altar.” The firepans were holy because they had been presented to the Lord. They would serve as signs to the Israelites.

Numbers 16:39–41: Eleazar took the bronze firepans and had them hammered into plating for the altar. It was a reminder that no unauthorized person outside the lineage of Aaron should approach to offer incense before the Lord. The next day the entire Israelite community complained that Moses and Aaron had killed the Lord’s people. There was no fear of God.

Numbers 16:42–46: Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting to dialogue with God. Again, God wanted to consume the Israelite community instantly. Moses and Aaron once again fell facedown on behalf of the people. Moses told Aaron to take the firepan and put fire and incense in it. He was instructed to go the community and make atonement for them because God was going to bring a plague.

Numbers 16:47–50: Aaron did as Moses said. Aaron saw that the plague had begun, and people were beginning to die. Aaron stood between the dead and the living and the plague halted. Aaron was the intercessor. Already 14,700 people had died, plus the number from the Korah incident. More would have died if Aaron hadn’t acted as an intercessor with the incense. Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

CLOSING

This just makes me think of Jesus. Jesus just runs right into the middle of our camp (Romans 5:8; Ezekiel 22:30; Hebrews 7:25). God wanted to wipe them out many times. I love how Aaron runs into the middle of everything to stop the craziness. That is exactly what Jesus does for us.