March 2: Numbers 16-17

March 2, Numbers 16-17

Numbers 16. Today we get to read about more Israelite rebellion. This was lead mostly by a guy named Korah, a Levite, after the spies had come back with a false report and infected the people with their lies. Korah rounded up a few buddies and 250 well known men for his little gang. They approached Moses and Aaron and challenged them by basically saying like we did when we were in grade school, ‘Who died and made you King?’ They did not want to submit to Moses anymore - remember, we just came out of the spies returning and spreading lies, so there is tumult in the tribe and an overwhelming lack of trust in Yahweh. Moses tells them all to come in the morning and bring their censers (a metal urn or bowl to burn incense in)  to burn fire before the Lord. They are outright rebelling against what God has called them to. Then two of the friends, Dathan and Abiram, refused to obey Moses and they blamed Moses for taking them out of Egypt (memory lane, as if they didn't want to get out of Egypt.) to kill them in the wilderness. Moses was angry with them and told God not to accept their offering, as all Moses has done was served them and the Israelites. Moses reiterates to Korah and the rest, to be there tomorrow and to burn incense before the Lord (don’t forget, from Numbers 3 that Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord as they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which basically means their hearts aren't right to burn incense to a Holy God, and get judged for it).

God tells Moses and Aaron the next day to separate themselves from the congregation -  God has had enough, and states that He is going to destroy all of the people except for Moses and Aaron (verse 21). So, in response to this, Moses and Aaron plead for God to not destroy all the people, just the wicked men, and so God relents and wont kill the entire community. God tells Moses to stay away from Korah, Dathan, and Abiram’s homes. So, Moses and the elders went over to Dathan and Abiram and told the others to get away from the tents of these guys and Moses tells the bad men that are disobeying, that if they die of old age, then Moses is a fake, but if the ground literally swallows them up - and if God creates a new type of geological disaster, then it was of God (Crazy to think that after all the Israelites have seen, they would believe - but we are not that much different if you think about it…). As soon as Moses was done saying this, the ground opened up and swallowed the men and their families and all of their stuff. This kind of looks like this was the geological phenomenon of 'sink holes'. Only 'sink holes' then are not a new phenomenon but an old one, and clearly from the Lord's creation, as He is the one who creates all things, and new things. So imagine these guys that challenge Moses, and then Moses tells all the people to stand back, and sink holes open up around all the rebellious men's camps. And you watch as the sink holes swallow up the rebellious men, their families, and all their belongings. That would be a crazy sight, wouldn't it? If that wasn't enough to make you believe in God… Then fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men that also rebelled by following the disobedient men and were offering the incense to God. What a sight. God wanted this to be an example and to not happen again, so to remember this terrible experience, and to remember that following a Holy God, means obedience. So, God had Eleazar the Priest to gather all the censers that the men where holding, and he pounded out the metal of these bowls and covered the alter with it. Kind of like a bronze plate covering of the alter. To remind anyone who saw it, that those who were not priests were not allowed to light unauthorized incense to the Lord, as it was allowed only by the priests after they had followed all of God's rules. 

After all of this - the Israelites still complain against Moses and Aaron, accusing them of killing the men. Again, God had had enough of their unbelief and complaining, and wanted to kill them all! So God started a plague in the camp. This plague, whatever it was, was so severe that it killed people instantly. As this plague unleashes itself, it kind of reminds me of the last plague against the firstborn in Egypt; it is swift, quick, causes instant death, and is clearly from the hand of God. Moses and Aaron can physically see this plague from the Lord, as they can see people dropping right and left, in this plague from the Lord. Moses and Aaron both know that (from Numbers 8:19) the Levites were given the gift to make atonements for the people's sins so that no plague shall come against them. So Moses told Aaron to quickly go and take the Holy censer and put fire in it from the alter, so that there would be no rash unauthorized fire, but instead, pure obedience. As Aaron was to make atonement for the Israelites, which was the gift given by God for the Levite priests. This incense from the censor reminds me of a dividing line, which echoes the blood on the doorposts, from Egypt with the plague which killed the firstborn. That blood represented the future blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus, as He would take away all the sins and stop the judgement from God. But here, we have incense, which is symbolized in the book of Revelation, as the prayers of the saints. So if incense could be thought of as prayers - we know that Jesus is praying for us, as His people. We could almost see that this incense that stops this plague was as if it was from the prayers of Jesus Himself.  Aaron runs to try to catch up with God's plague, as it destroys and kills people, almost as fast as he can run. And then he reaches the people that are still alive, and he stops himself standing between the dead and the living. As the incense of forgiveness and the prayers of Jesus, stop the judgement of God! Imagine, Aaron standing between two groups of people. One group alive and scared, the other all on the ground dead. God isn't playing around and takes His trust and obedience very seriously. By the time Aaron reached the living people, 14,700 of the Israelites had died of the plague (and don't forget about the 250 guys with censors, plus the three guys and all their families). What a week...

Numbers 17 God isn't a God who demands us to follow Him, blindly. Therefore, God in His mercy and kindness, continues to try and show the people that He really is the One True God. He understands that the people don't think the Levites should be the leaders in God's holiness and therefore the people challenge that, thinking that it was because of Moses' lineage that the tribe of Levi was chosen. (Kind of like a man who gets to pick who should get the best job? And he picks his little brother, because he is family. While the others are saying that 'it isn't fair.') So instead of God just demanding that they follow blindly and not give a reason why Moses picked Aaron and his own tribe to be the priests. God instead, shows them a miracle. God said to take a staff from each tribe’s leader, and Aaron's staff would be used for the Levites. God said to write the names of each tribe on it and leave it in the Tabernacle and God would make whomever He chose, staff that He wanted to be leader, to sprout blossoms on it. We know from the story of Tamar, that a staff was kind of like having someone's ID Card or Drivers License. The fact that God had everyone write their names on their staff, also showed that God didn't want anyone lying, or fighting over which staff was really theirs. It would have been similar to everyone placing in their Social Security Cards with numbers on them, God didn't want them lying and saying, "Oh that was my number..." So they write their names on them, and place the staffs in the Tent of Testimony. In the morning, Aaron’s staff for the house of Levi had blossomed and actually produced ripe almonds (which obviously can’t happen to a staff and can’t happen overnight). Can you imagine seeing that? That would be the same as seeing a log for the fire, a dead piece of wood, grow a branch and see cherry blossoms on it, with real edible cherries on it. Umm. It is physically impossible for something dead, to give life. Unless your God and Jesus of course. Which through the Holy Spirit, we are all dead and made alive again. This physical example was made so that the people could see that it wasn't Moses who picked his brothers line for priesthood, but instead it was God who picked both Moses and Aaron from the line of the Levites. And that the Tribe of Levi would be God's priestly line. Which is interesting, because the tribe of Levi, which would establish priesthood and acceptance before the Lord, and make them live in the Lord, is also the same letters. Levi and Live. And it would be through Levi that they would Live in obedience and forgiveness to the Lord God. After this, God says to take the budded staff and keep it, as a sign for anyone who might see it, that they will remember that it was God that chose the Levites to serve the Lord and that no would be tempted to grumble them or against the Lord, so that they too don’t die. Moses obeyed. And so did the people. 

To sum it all up:

• Sometimes the enemy gets momentum with us when we start to believe lies and not believe the Truth. It is then that we must repent and submit to the Holiness of Yahweh and surrender to His will. 
• Does God seem too harsh as you read these accounts? Unjust? Mean? Well, lets remember to look at the disobedience of the people. Would a just God just look the other way or would he deal with the poison in the camp, as to not infect the entire people group? Yes, that would be a just thing to do. 
• Remember the plague of God? We have a choice which side of Aaron to be on. The side of God's wrath which leads to death. Or the side with Jesus taking on the wrath of God, that we might be forgiven and live.