The Rebellion- Death Around

Numbers 16

Have you ever known someone at your school that was the rebel? They would be the one that would never listen to the authority and would always come against it. I remember this one guy who would disagree with the teachers and try to have the whole class come on his side. It was like a class rebellion against science or something. It really did not go anywhere and I think the guy was sent to the principles office and I never saw him again (I still think they ate him). 

In this chapter a man named Korah starts a rebellion with 250 chiefs of the congregation of Israel.  He was wondering why God would only speak to Moses and not let any of them lead. He felt that Moses brought them out of Egypt and the Promise Land is right there but now they cannot go into it. He was going to do his own thing. Moses is described as being meek. He handled himself well but this time it says in verse 15 that he was very angry with them. He did nothing against them and took nothing from these people and look how they are treating him. God was going to show them who he and that he allowed Moses to be in charge. God appeared as the cloud descended on the tabernacle.

Can you imagine what this must have been like for Moses. Being surprised with 250 plus men would be very scary. These men were not encouraging Moses with his leadership; they were telling him how he was in the wrong. Korah thought he could do a better job. 

The Result of Rebellion from God

Moses told everyone to seperate themselves from Korah and from the other men and their families. He said if God is not with me then you will die a natural death but if God is with me then the earth will swallow you up and your family and your possessions. Guess what? The earth opened up and swallowed them and their families. Then fire came and consumed the 250 chiefs of the congregation.

 After this tragedy you think the congregation would realize that God is in control but instead the rebellion of Korah had spread into the congregation. The people now came up against Moses and Aaron and blamed them for killing these 250 men. Man, I don’t know about you, but I would want to throw in the towel of being their leader. Picture this angry mob coming against these two men and being backed up to the Tabernacle and then God descends and tells Moses to get away from these people because he was going to teach them something. All of a sudden a plague breaks out among the people. Moses told Aaron to grab a censer and put incense in it so you can make atonement for the people. Despite these people coming against him, Moses still wants to help them understand who God is and that He is in control. In verse 48 it shows that Aaron was between the living and the dead and the plague had claimed 14,700 lives that day.  

The Living and the Dead

Just as Aaron stood between the living and the dead because of the plague which was the result of their sinful hearts Jesus stands as the mediator between the living God and the us the sinful dead humans. He came and made atonement for us (Romans 3:15). Jesus stands between the gap of us and God and you know even when we can become the angry mob against God he works on our behalf. We can be so quick and look the people of Israel and shake our heads in shame but we need to first look at ourselves. When we do we realize that we are no better than them and we should be so thankful that Jesus stands in the gap for us. Jesus had died and conquered death and sin for us. May we get the rebellion out of our hearts and start realizing that God is our leader and we must follow after him.