Korah, along with Dathan and Abiram, rebelled against Aaron and Moses. They gathered 250 leaders to side with them. Dathan and Abiram were from the tribe of Reuben, the firstborn of Jacob. They may have wanted to challenge Moses' leadership, since Reuben had greater seniority to Levi in the family of Israel. Korah, on the other hand, was from the same tribe of Levi as Aaron, but only Aaron's sons were allowed to be priests. Korah may have been jealous of the authority and privilege of Aaron's sons since they were all Kohathites. In other words, these were brothers being jealous and fighting with each other. 

I am presently watching one of the most famous historical Korean dramas of all time. It's called Jumong. The drama depicts the jealous and murderous conflict between brothers in a royal family. Although the drama depicts a fictionalized account, there is a fascinating theme that mirrors biblical truth and our Christian lives. No matter what the brothers do, they cannot thwart the "will of heaven." Everyone tries, and in any given episode, it appears that the will of powerful men and crafty leaders seem to be prevailing, but alas, after a few more episodes, everything returns again to the "will of the gods." 

Moses was chosen by God to lead the people of Israel. Aaron's line was chosen by God to minister as priests. Korah, Dathan and Abiram tried to thwart the will of God. What they failed to recognize was that Moses and Aaron were not chosen on the basis of their merit but on the basis of God's sovereignty. They were not selected by a vote of the people. They were chosen by God. Therefore, to contest the leadership and authority of Moses and Aaron was to contest the authority of God. A very foolish thing to do. 

Friends, this is a lesson for all of us. None of us should be jealous or envious of our brothers and sisters in Christ or of anyone else. John the Baptist said, when confronted with the greater success of Jesus, "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven" (John 3:27). Let us, then, be thankful for what God has given us. Let us praise God for His wisdom and grace in the distribution of gifts and callings. And let us be wholeheartedly faithful to what He has uniquely called us and gifted us to do.

Korah, Dathan and Abiram, On and the sons of Reuben confront Moses and Aaron, saying to them, 

You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD? (Numbers 16:3).

Moses responds to Korah and all his company, saying,

You have gone far enough, you sons of Levi! (Numbers 16:7).

First, it was Aaron and Miriam that coveted the authority of Moses. Now, it was certain Levites coveting the authority of Aaron. This lust for authority would bring many thousands of deaths. 

But Moses had a different spirit. In Numbers 12:3 we read, 

Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.

Now, we might snicker at this, since Moses was the author of the Book of Numbers. We might think, "Is he saying this of himself?" But we must realize that the assessment was not made by Moses but made by God, who is the primary author of these books. Moses was but an amenuensis:

No prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21).

What is more, remember when Joshua sought to defend Moses' authority by asking him to stop certain elders of Israel from prophesying? What did Moses reply to him? He said,

Then Moses said to him, “Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” (Numbers 11:29).

Moses was not a leader that coveted his authority. In fact, even when he was first called by God, he asked God to send somebody else. Furthermore, on several occasions he interceded for the people, so that God might not totally destroy them, even though God tells Moses that He would make an even greater people through Moses. Moses had the chance to be like Noah or Abraham. But instead of taking this opportunity, he asks God to blot him out from the book of the living rather than annihilating the rebellious people of Israel. 

Now, even though Moses did not covet his authority, God defended the authority He gave to Moses and to Aaron. On numerous occasions God made a distinction between Moses and the rest of the people, between Aaron and the other Levites. When Moses and Aaron exercised their authority to teach, to lead and even to pronounce judgment, God made it clear that He commanded it to be so. 

So what can we learn as Christians from this? Are Christian leaders like pastors, teachers, and elders to be accorded the same honor and distinction like Moses and Aaron? I daresay some have already gone so far as to claim this for themselves. 

But in keeping with the New Covenant, Jesus taught all believers, whether in positions of leadership or otherwise, not to covet positions of authority, whether it is authority in business, in government, or in the church. While I would not encourage you to have the reluctance of Moses when God calls, for God was angry with him for this, I would, nevertheless, caution you in desiring positions of authority. After all, remember the words of Jesus:

Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves (Luke 22:24-27).

If we are to excel, Jesus calls us to excel in serving. This does not mean that we neglect or ignore our gifts; however, it does mean that (1) we have a servant-like attitude and (2) we do not desire titles or seek positions for the purpose of excercising authority over others. 

Remember what Jesus taught with respect to giving spiritual titles to people?

But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted (Matthew 23:9-12).

If we take this on face value, we should not give any honorific address to anyone in the church. This would mean that titles like Pastor, Reverend, Father and Teacher would need to be removed from our addresses to leaders in the church. While only "Rabbi" (i.e. Hebrew for teacher), "Father," and "Teacher" are specifically mentioned, the principle in "you are all brothers" and the call to servanthood and humility suggest a wider application. After all, none of these titles are ever given to any Christian leader in the Bible. 

What is more, the words "Do no call anyone on earth your father" seems to suggest a scope that extend even beyond the church. But with respect to the unbelieving world, it may do us well to follow the principle taught by Christ when He said, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are God's." We would certainly do well not to refer to any earthly authority as "Father," especially in view of Jesus' specific prohibition. But other titles are both used in Scripture and, in some measure, even commanded:

Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves... Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor (Romans 13:1,2,7).

Although some have tried to explain away passages like Matthew 23:9-12 (i.e. not giving honorific titles to fellow Christians), I believe a literal application of this New Testament teaching would certainly humble many that hold ecclesiastical titles and cause others not to covet their positions as much. The absence of such titles would not take anything away from the function of pastors, teachers,  and other leaders; however, it would remove any presumed honor associated with the titles.

But like other things that I have shared that seem to limit the power of those in ecclesiastical authority, this too, biblical or otherwise, would be a hard sell for the church today. Nevertheless, in the interest in teaching "the whole counsel of Scripture," I share this with you.

There is a lot of rebellion by Israel and swift and terrible judgments by God in these chapters. At the very end of this section, the people ask this question: "Are we all doomed to die?" (Numbers 17:13). Moses does not provide an answer.

But of course they should already know the answer to this question. God had given it to them at Kadesh-Barnea, where they refused to trust God and take the Promised Land. Let's review that passage:

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: “How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say:  In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’ I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die" (Numbers 14:26-35).

They would wander for forty years and suffer hardship and death until every one of the adults 20 years and over died. Some would die sooner, others later, but they would all die one way or another during this time period. We find this fulfilled just after thirty-eight years from the time they left Kadesh in Deuteronomy 2:14-15,

Thirty-eight years passed from the time we left Kadesh Barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley. By then, that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them. The LORD’s hand was against them until he had completely eliminated them from the camp.

This is also confirmed by the two census, one at the beginning of Numbers (Numbers 1:46, total population: 603,550 men) and one at the end (Numbers 26:51, total populaton: 601,730 men). At the end of forty years, you would have expected the group to grow much larger, but instead the group actually shrunk. While children were certainly born during this period, the group primarily shrunk by those that God had ordained would die during the forty-years of wandering in the wilderness.

As I reflected on this, I wondered what I would do if I had such a divine decree over my head. Would I humble myself and pray? Would I patiently embrace my fate, namely, that I would die some time within the next forty years? Would I reflect on my rebellion and seek the Lord more fervently?

But then, I am aware of something else. I am not like those who perished in the wilderness. According to Hebrews 3:7-19, which provides a commentary on the event of Israel's forty-year wandering, the people that perished not only perished physically, they also perished spiritually. Their sin was not simply disobedience but unbelief (Hebrews 4:2), such that God on oath declared through the prophet David in the Psalms: "They shall never enter my rest" (Psalm 95:11). So, in a sense, they died twice. 

Therefore, even if I can relate to rebellious Israel in my disobedience, I would relate to Caleb and Joshua, the only two adults that made it into the Promised Land, with respect to faith. But my disobedience precludes me from claiming any credit for having the faith of Caleb and Joshua. Instead, I give all credit to God, who by His grace extended such faith to me by way of His Spirit.

In Luke 18:1-14 Jesus told two parables, one to teach persistence in prayer and the other to teach against self-righteousness. Couched between these two parables, He asked a rhetorical question: "However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). The implied answer? No. What are we to understand from this? Is it not this, since there is none who will believe, Jesus will need to supply the faith if there are any to be saved? As Jesus would teach just a little ways down the chapter: "What is impossible with human beings is possible with God" (Luke 18:27). God would have to accomplish what humans beings could not.

All glory be to our merciful and generous God!

Did you notice Numbers 16:21, "Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment" and Numbers 16:45, "Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment." Within the span of one chapter God was about to completely wipe out the people of Israel and start over with Moses and Aaron. Have you considered that we don't control our time on earth, but God has all the time in the world? If we mess up, He can just wipe the slate and start over, but we suffer the consequences.  When will we realize that mankind is not the center of the universe, but God is? We are a hopeless lot, whose only hope is God.

Twice, except for the intercession of Moses and Aaron, God would have annihilated the Israelites.Yet, I wonder, was it really Moses' compelling logic in Numbers 16:22 that stayed God's hand? Was it Aaron's swift hands and feet in Numbers 16:46-47 that kept many tens of thousands more from bring destroyed by God's punishing plague? Reading the text plainly, it would appear so. But to concentrate on the activity of these two men only would miss the greater point, namely, how serious a matter it is to offend a holy God. And what would compel such a holy God to stay His hand of judgment? It is all a person could do... (1) to humble himself [e.g. on both occasions Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the LORD], (2) to acknowledge God's righteous honor [e.g. Moses appeals to God's honor as the righteous judge of the "spirits of all flesh"], and (3) to be swift and diligent to obey with respect to everything God had spoken [e.g. Aaron swiftly follows God's command in presenting an offering for the sins of the people].

I read again another heartbreaking story here in today's reading. Another outbreak of rebellion happens in chapter 16 but this time they challenge the legitimacy of the Aaronic priesthood.  The result of the sin is death as it has been in the past.  But a question arose in my mind why their wives, children and even little ones had to be swallowed up alive by the earth due to the sin of their fathers!!  Do I have to look at this incident in light of God's election?  Or am I seeing it from my own version of justice? 
 
Korah poisoned the minds of the Israelites with such a deadly sin that even after seeing the terrible end of Korah's household and 250 men, they grumbled and said, "You have killed the LORD’s people.”  They sincerely believed and deceived themselves that Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were martyred by Moses who is an evil despot like Gaddafi in Lybia. That's exactly what sin does as it is written in Romans, "For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death."  
 
Brothers and sisters!  It is unequivocally clear from today's text how important it is to read and learn God's Word daily so that  "we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming." (Ephesians 4:14) 

The Israelites continued to grumble against the Lord and the leaders.  This time the Lord had the ground swallow some of them up and sent a plague that killed more than 14,000 people.
 
The Lord is gracious and forgiving but only to a certain point.  These people continued not to put their trust into the Lord and he finally made an example out of them.  Woe to the man that does not fear the Lord.

Numbers 16 made some bells ring. "³ 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?""

Lately the struggles I have been having have had to do with "did God say?"(Gen 3:1) Or some variant of that.  Lately, it has been that I forgot what was clearly said, or promised.  I get frustrated that things don't go as smoothly, and I think, 'well didn't God say he would do this for me?' only to realize he promised something similar but not 'that.'  Once I realize that I was struggling with something in a way God didn't say to expect, it makes it a little easier to let it go.  

In the same way, these people don't doubt God is there. Nor that God is powerful, it seems that the Israelites got in trouble when they forgot or ignored 'What God Said.'  

They did this when they reached the border to the promised land and heard the report, saying "We were brought here to die!"

Then here blaming Moses for their not entering the Promised Land, and accusing him of placing himself 'above the assembly!'

Neither did God say, so of course there will be discord!  

Lately it has been disappointments in myself, and seeing My 'old me' wanting to rise up again.  At times it seems like that person is completely dead, but when he returns i get frustrated and my morale drops.  But this chapter sorta pieced it together, that God did say, my "old self' will vanish completely, when I am perfected.  Until them, I am under sanctification, a work in progress.  I initiate the work, but the success from that work is all His.

Blessed is his Word!