Not only did Miriam and Aaron oppose Moses, as
we saw the last few weeks, but later a fellow Levite led a large opposition.
Numbers 16:1-3 Korah son of Izhar,
the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram,
sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent 2 and rose
up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community
leaders who had been appointed members of the council. 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?”
Had Moses chosen to be their leader? Had he
set himself up above them? No. In fact, when God chose Moses for this task,
Moses refused (Exodus 4:13 But Moses said, “Pardon your servant,
Lord. Please send someone else.”). God didn’t take no for an answer,
but He did give Aaron as Moses’ assistant (see Exodus 4:14-16). So, Moses and
Aaron had neither chosen nor earned this huge responsibility.
Besides,
was the whole community really holy? Not at all. Throughout Exodus, Leviticus
and Numbers they sinned over and over again. God was with them, but it wasn’t
because of their own holiness or the holiness of Moses and Aaron. It was
because God made a covenant with their forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and
He would keep His promise.
From
Numbers 16:8-14 it appears Korah and his followers were discontent with their
own privileged position and wanted to take over Moses and Aaron’s positions to
get what they wanted.
You
and I may not have led a rebellion against authority, but I’m guessing we have
all criticized or complained against authority. The next time you and I want to
complain about someone else in authority, let’s ask ourselves why we want to
complain? Is it because we want their position and think we could do a better
job? Or are we upset because we aren’t getting what we want when we want it?
Or, is it a legitimate concern over injustice?
In the future, we’ll see some interesting ways
Moses and God respond to this opposition! Stay tuned…
Alice
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