KORAH

NUMBERS

CHAPTER 16

            Welcome back everyone!  Are you ready for another great story to study?  This is one of those stories that you can picture very clearly in your mind.  We're still out in the wilderness with Moses and the children of Israel but things haven't settled down as quietly as you may have expected after God's wrath the last time His people murmured. 

            There was a man named Korah, who was Levi's great-grandson, and Dathan and Abiram were Reuben's great-grandsons, and On was also from the tribe of Reuben.  And Korah led these four men and they gathered together 250 of the princes of the children of Israel who were all well known and respected in the congregation.  They felt that other people should be able to serve as priests in addition to who God appointed.  They all confronted Moses and Aaron and said, Ye take too much upon you. Korah said, The whole congregation is holy and the Lord is among them, so why do you act like you're better than the rest? (He thought Moses had a "holier than thou" attitude, and probably meant, you think you're so special.) 

            Moses fell on his face.  He heard these kind of accusations before and nothing good came of it.  As a matter of fact, the Lord had gotten angry for much less.  Moses said to Korah and his comrades, Tomorrow, the Lord will show who belongs to Him and who is holy, and all those who have chosen Him, He'll bring them close to Him.

            Moses knew that the Lord wasn't gonna just ignore this so he suggested that they make an offering to the Lord.  He told Korah and the 250 men to take their censers (incense burners) and light incense on them before the Lord tomorrow and the man that the Lord chooses, will be holy.  Then Moses repeated Korah's words back to him, Ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi.  Moses said, Listen, I beg you, sons of Levi, does it mean nothing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of Israel to bring you near to Him to do the service of the tabernacle and to minister to His congregation?  So why do you and these men get together against the Lord and what has Aaron done that you complain about him? 

            Dathan and Abiram refused to come up and burn the incense, and they said to Moses, Does it mean nothing to you that you brought us up out of a rich land to kill us in the wilderness only so you can make yourself a ruler over us?  Not only that, but you haven't brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, or given us fields and vineyards either.  What are you going to do to these men tomorrow, put out their eyes?  We will not come up.

            Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, Don't accept their offering.  I haven't taken one thing from them and I haven't hurt a single one of them.  Moses told Korah, you and all your company and Aaron, come before the Lord tomorrow, and have each and every man bring his censer, put fire in them and lay incense on them, you also, and Aaron. 

            The next day each man brought his censer and lit their incense and they all stood in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation with Moses and Aaron.  Korah called together the whole assembly of Israel and the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole congregation.  The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Separate yourselves from among this congregation, so I may consume them in a moment.  They fell on their faces and prayed, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, if one man sins, will you be angry with the whole congregation?

            The Lord said to Moses, Tell the congregation to get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.  So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram and the elders of Israel followed him.  Moses told the congregation, Get away from the tents of these wicked men, I beg you, and don't touch anything of theirs or you'll be taken away in all their sins.  So the congregation got away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram on every side and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood in the door of their tents with their wives and their little children.

            Moses said, By this you'll know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works.  I haven't done them according to my own ideas.  If these men die natural deaths, then the Lord has not sent me.  But if the Lord does something unusual, and the earth opens up her mouth and swallows them up with all their belongings and they fall down alive into the pit, then you'll understand that these men have provoked the Lord. 

            As soon as Moses finished speaking, the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up with everything that belonged to them, along with the men that associated with Korah and all their things.  Then the earth closed on them and they perished from the congregation.  All that were close by, ran at their cries in fear that they might be swallowed up too.           

              Then there came a fire from the Lord that destroyed the 250 men that offered the incense.  Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, picked up all the brass censers out of the fire and scattered their fire in the distance because they were holy.  Then he made wide plates out of them to use as a covering for the altar because they were offered before the Lord, so they were holy.  They were a reminder to the children of Israel that nobody who wasn't of the seed of Aaron was to come near to offer incense before the Lord, so that they won't end up like Korah and his company.

            Still, on the next day, the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron again saying, You've killed the people of the Lord.  The congregation looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation and saw the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared.  Moses and Aaron came up to the tabernacle of the congregation and the Lord told Moses, Get away from among this congregation so I may destroy them as in a moment, and Moses and Aaron fell on their faces once again.  Moses said to Aaron, Take a censer and put fire in it from off the altar and put incense on.  Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because the Lord is angry and the plague has begun. 

            Aaron did what Moses said and ran into the middle of the congregation.  The plague had begun among the people and Aaron put on incense and made an atonement for them.  He stood between the dead and the living and plague was stopped.  The amount of people that died in the plague were 14,700 other than those that died in the matter of Korah.

            Evil is a powerful tool that the devil uses.  In Matthew 24:24 Jesus talks about how in the End Times, that many will be deceived, EVEN THE ELECT (Chosen) IF POSSIBLE.  This story is a perfect example of how the elect were deceived.  Jealousy was the evil tool that was used.  So always be cautious when someone wants you to follow something that isn't of the doctrine that Jesus taught.  Which was a worse plague?  The one God sent to clean up the camp again, or the plague of jealousy that was defiling His people?  Never underestimate what God will do to clean up the camp.  Tsunami's, hurricanes, earthquakes, bird flu ... these are just a few things that come to mind of what may be a little of the Lord's housekeeping.  What's that you say?  Oh, there were a lot of innocent people in those places?  There were times when entire nations of people were destroyed if God wanted to.  He does what He does, and some things are not for us to know why.  In Job 41:11 you'll find that He doesn't owe anybody anything and everything under heaven is His to do with what He pleases.  On a lighter note, if you do what He pleases and you are among those who are in a clean up zone, you can look forward to a miraculous survival or heaven on the other side. 

            In our next story, we'll learn about the staff of Aaron that bloomed so be sure to join us again for more Daily Bread.

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