Year 1, Week 17, Day 5 Bible Reading Observations

Year 1, Week 17, Day 5

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Numbers 16-17.

Today’s reading records yet another incident of rebellion. Numbers 16 describes a faction within Israel who question the authority of Moses and Aaron, but in doing this they also, “despised the LORD” (Numbers 16:30b). One man from the tribe of Levi and two men from the tribe of Reuben, “rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron” (Numbers 16:2-3). Korah, one of the leaders of the rebellion, was from the Kohath Clan of the tribe of Levi. The Kohathites were not Aaronic Priests, but they were Levites, which was the priestly tribe, and they had Tabernacle obligations (see Numbers 4:1-20). The rebel leaders leveled serious charges against Moses and Aaron: “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?” (Numbers 16:3b). Numbers 17 records the LORD’s strong visible affirmation of Aaron and the Aaronic Priesthood. 

What struck me in today’s reading was the actions that Moses, the LORD’s mediator, played to protect the LORD’s people amid the outbreak of judgment: “A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.” (Psalm 91:7-8). The situation in today’s reading is serious. The rebels have made serious accusations toward Moses: “Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also make yourself a prince over us?” (Numbers 16:13). The rebels are declaring, not that the LORD would be taking them to a land flowing with milk and honey, but that Moses has stolen them away from such a land. So, Moses acknowledges that the rebellion is not really against him and Aaron, but the LORD: “Therefore it is against the LORD that you and all your company have gathered together.” (Numbers 16:11). 

Moses declares that the LORD will decide who the leader will be: "In the morning the LORD will show who is his, and who is holy, and will bring him near to him. The one whom he chooses he will bring near to him. Do this: take censers, Korah and all his company; put fire in them and put incense on them before the LORD tomorrow, and the man whom the LORD chooses shall be the holy one. You have gone too far, sons of Levi!” (Numbers 16:5-7). The LORD threatens to bring judgment upon the entire community, but Moses intercedes yet again: “And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” And they fell on their faces and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?” (Numbers 16:20-22). The LORD receives Moses’ intercession and  advises Moses to instruct the community: “Say to the congregation, Get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.” (Numbers 16:24). The community will be spared if they separate themselves from the rebels.

The LORD executes justice: “And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly…And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men offering the incense.” (Numbers 16:32-35). The mediating work of Moses continues as the censors of the men who were judged become a reminder of the fate of the rebels: “Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers out of the blaze. Then scatter the fire far and wide, for they have become holy. As for the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they offered them before the LORD, and they became holy. Thus they shall be a sign to the people of Israel.” (Numbers 16:37-38).

In spite of the mediating work of Moses to spare many in the community, another round of complaint gets leveled at Moses: “But on the next day all the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the LORD.” (Numbers 16:41). Moses gets blamed for the outbreak of judgment upon the rebels. Once again, Moses intercedes to turn away the LORD’s judgment: “So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.” (Numbers 16:47-48). Moses consistently shows himself to be a faithful intercession for Israel. The New Covenant shows us an intercessory who is even more faithful: “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:29). Jesus effectively intercedes for His people.

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe