It is dangerous to demand that God give you what you deserve.
2 They incited a rebellion against
Moses, along with 250 other leaders of the community, all prominent members
of the assembly. 3 They united
against Moses and Aaron and said, "You have gone too far!
The whole community of Israel has been set apart by the LORD, and he is with
all of us. What right do you have to act as though you are greater than the
rest of the LORD's people?"
4 When Moses heard what they were
saying, he fell face down on the ground.
Today we are looking at another way that God's people have rejected his sovereign rule in their life. We have already seen that God's people have rejected the pleasures of God and they have rejected the promises of God and now we will see that God's leaders are not content and will reject the limits that God has on how they can serve him.
As soon as God chose this people and made them a nation he gave them the rules
for life and worship. Unfortunately it is way too easy for us to become
unhappy with God's design, Satan doesn't have to work very hard to get us to
reject God's promises, his pleasures and the position that he has for us.
Moses has already dealt with challenges to his God given authority, it
started way back when they were still in Egypt and right after God brought
them out of Egypt the people were still rebelling against Moses. (Exodus
5:1-23, 15:22-27)
God gave his people a social and religious structure to live by and he
made the duties of Moses and Aaron and every other lower level of
leadership very clear. God also made the penalty for doing things the
wrong way very clear so it is difficult to understand how God's people
rejected the rules that God made.
The people that became unhappy with their job assisted the priest in
worship and they had an important job when the Tabernacle was being moved
but they were not content, they wanted to do more than God allowed.
They could not go into the most holy area during worship and they could
not go in that area to remove the holy objects so that the Tabernacle
could be moved when it was time to break camp. The priest had to go in and
cover the holy items and then bring them out the Kohathite clan. (Numbers
4:1-20)
Their God given authority to work for him in ministry was not enough for
them, they wanted a promotion, God set the rules for the priesthood and he
already showed us how serious he is about enforcing the rules.
Moses response was so wise! These guys better be right!
Numbers 16:5 Tomorrow morning the LORD will show us who belongs to him and who is holy. The LORD will allow only those whom he selects to enter his own presence.
Numbers 16:10-12 Korah, he has already given this special ministry to you and your fellow Levites. Are you now demanding the priesthood as well? 11 The LORD is the one you and your followers are really revolting against! For who is Aaron that you are complaining about him?"
12 Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they replied, "We refuse to come before you!
These rebels are so bold that they ignored Moses' summons to meet with them and then they accuse Moses with outrageous allegations. The good old days back in Egypt should have been replaced with a new land that is also at least as good as Egypt was.
For them to say that they experience the good life in Egypt, "the land of milk and honey" and demand the new "land of milk and honey" that they were promised. (Numbers 16:13-14) They seem to forget that they rejected God's promised land!
These rebels should have been terrified at the idea of "playing"
priest just to see if they were allowed to do it. They were aware of
God's response when Aarons sons didn't
perform their duty as priest
the correct way but they didn't seem to care. (Leviticus 10:1-3)
God handles the rebellion and the rest of God's people prove that they
are just as bad as the men that God killed. The people had the nerve
to accuse Moses and Aaron of being responsible for the death of these
men.
Numbers 16:41 But the very next morning the whole community of Israel began muttering again against Moses and Aaron, saying, "You have killed the LORD's people!"
Really!?! Everybody knew the rules for coming into the Lord's presence.
Moses didn't make the rules, God used Moses as the messenger to reveal
his rules to God's people. (Proverbs 19:3)
God's people must be very careful about negative thoughts because they
have a habit of growing very quickly and they spread to the people
around us. A lack of contentment in where God has chosen to put you and
the ministry that he has given to you can spiral out of control and
infect the rest of the church.
Whether in the government, the church, or the home, God never grants
authority for the power or benefit of those in authority. Serving God
requires that you be his servant as well as a servant to those around
you.
We must decide for ourselves if we are going to argue with God.
Galatians 1:10 Obviously, I'm not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant.
God's people must remain humble and be content with their God given
ministry. We should strive to do our best in whatever God has called us
to do, but be careful not to do our best to promote ourself. (John 3:30)
God's choice to use me and in what capacity is totally his choice. I
can choose a different area of ministry and attempt to work "for him"
on my own but the consequences can be very severe to myself and to the
people around me that I was trying to serve. (Galatians 6:7-19)
RELATED ARTICLES
Lessons From The Life Of Korah
(biblicalcounseling.com)
Who Were The Sons Of Korah
(gotquestions.org)
