Read Numbers
16-17 & Mark
6:33-56
To discover:
As you read consider how you would describe God’s response
to what takes place.
To ponder:
Our inability to learn lessons can be laughable. Not just notable
Reubenites, but Levites, who were already set-apart, oppose Moses and Aaron.
They are jealous, wanting equal status. Again Moses falls face down in grief,
stating these people have in reality banded together “against the LORD.” Likewise,
to reject Christ’s servants it to reject him and so the one who sent him (Lk
10v16).
When Moses summons Dathan and
Abiram (the Reubenites), they refuse, once more rejecting his authority and
harping back to Egypt, just as people had previously. Moses is “angry” and
summons Korah and his followers (the Levites) to “appear before the LORD.” They
are to present censers full of incense to God. This was a priestly role, and so
a test of who was truly chosen to be priests (16v40). God’s glory appears and
he threatens to destroy everyone. Again Moses intercedes. In mercy the rest are
warned to distance themselves from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. The
ground then swallows these men, with their households and possessions, and with
Korah’s servants. They are cut off from the community and so from God’s
promises. Fire then consumes Korah’s followers offering the incense. This was
proof “these men have treated the LORD with contempt.” And the censers were
made into an overlay for the altar as a constant reminder that only priests
could do this.
The
temptation to want the role God has assigned others is always present, whether
the favour of someone else’s ministry, or career, or life. This is especially
so in a day when it is presumed we have a right to choose what we do. But to
grumble about such things is serious. It is to grumble against God’s governance
of our life and so treat him with contempt. Consider James and John wanting to
sit on Jesus’ right and left. Jesus’ response was that this was for God to
decide (Mk 10v40). So we are called to contentment with our own abilities, role
and circumstances, recognizing God does not promise to give us what we want or
even feel we deserve (Phil 4v12-13, Jam 5v9). It is his right to do with us as
he pleases. Indeed, like the potter he makes some “for noble purposes” and some
“for common use” (Rom 9v21).
It should now
be no surprise that grumbling continues: The assembly blame Moses and Aaron for
“killing the LORD’s people.” God’s wrath this time is provoked with a plague,
and only restrained when Aaron offers incense to make atonement. It’s a fitting
lesson. Rather than envying them, the people should realise they need Aaron and
his descendents. Their ministry was literally a matter of life and death
(16v48) – as Christ’s is eternally.
By having
twelve staffs engraved with the name of the leader of each tribe placed before
the LORD, Aaron’s ministry is vindicated a third time. His staff not only
budded, but blossomed and bore fruit as a sign of the life the priesthood enables.
Aaron’s staff was to be kept in front of the ark as yet another reminder, so
that the people will not “grumble” and so “die.” Again, God’s appointed
servants should be accepted, whether Hebrew priests or church elders.
The chapter
ends with the people realising their predicament before their holy God. “Anyone
who even comes near the tabernacle will die.” And this is of course why they
needed the priesthood, just as it is why all need Christ if they are to dwell
with God in the new creation.
Praying it home:
Praise God for the High Priestly work of Christ which enables
us to draw close to him. Pray for contentment with your lot in life, accepting
it as given by the Lord according to his wise and faultless purposes.
Thinking further:
It is striking that the households of the rebels share their
fate, and that God is ready to punish the whole assembly for the sin of the
few. Certainly the assembly display the same attitude, and the households may
have too. Nevertheless, implicit is the idea of corporate solidarity. This is the
truth that God engages with people according to the social units in which those
of responsibility represent others. So just as the decisions of parents affect
their children in other spheres, they do spiritually too. Likewise with leaders
and nations. Those in positions of responsibility therefore need to recognise
their actions implicate not just themselves but others. We see this most
clearly with the fact that all humanity are counted guilty in Adam’s sin, and
so share its penalty by being inclined to sin and death from conception. But
our hope lies in this concept too. People can only be saved because by being
united to Christ, his righteous innocence is counted as theirs so that they can
receive everlasting life (Rom 5v12-21). Of course this may seem unfair. But God
is never unjust. Moreover, we should recognise that whereas children may have
died with Korah, Dathan and Abiram, this doesn’t mean they didn’t pass to
glory.
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