Poor Moses. Once again the people rebel against him.
Numbers 16:1 One day Korah conspired with Dathan and Abiram. 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?”
Moses response was to tell to them that the next day, the Lord would show them who was holy and who was not. Again, he told them they were not revolting against him and Aaron, but against the Lord. After a series of events, God was so frustrated with them that He told Moses and Aaron to get away from them so that He could destroy them. But Moses pleaded with God to not destroy them all for the sins of a few. So God told Moses to tell the people to get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan andAbiram (the instigators). Here's what transpired:
28 And Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things that I have done—for I have not done them on my own. 29 If these men die a natural death, or if nothing unusual happens, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord does something entirely new and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them and all their belongings, and they go down alive into the grave, then you will know that these men have shown contempt for the Lord.”
31 He had hardly finished speaking the words when the ground suddenly split open beneath them. 32 The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the men, along with their households and all their followers who were standing with them, and everything they owned. 33 So they went down alive into the grave, along with all their belongings. The earth closed over them, and they all vanished from among the people of Israel. 34 All the people around them fled when they heard their screams. “The earth will swallow us, too!” they cried. 35 Then fire blazed forth from the Lord and burned up the 250 men who were offering incense.
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!” 42 As the community gathered to protest against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the Tabernacle and saw that the cloud had covered it, and the glorious presence of the Lord appeared.
43 Moses and Aaron came and stood in front of the Tabernacle, 44 and the Lord said to Moses, 45 “Get away from all these people so that I can instantly destroy them!” But Moses and Aaron fell face down on the ground.
46 And Moses said to Aaron, “Quick, take an incense burner and place burning coals on it from the altar. Lay incense on it, and carry it out among the people to purify them and make them right with the Lord. The Lord’s anger is blazing against them—the plague has already begun.”
47 Aaron did as Moses told him and ran out among the people. The plague had already begun to strike down the people, but Aaron burned the incense and purified the people. 48 He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague stopped. 49 But 14,700 people died in that plague, in addition to those who had died in the affair involving Korah. 50 Then because the plague had stopped, Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the Tabernacle.
I don't know about you, but at this point I think I would have said, "Ok God. Kill them all. I'm sick of their rebellion." And as I read several chapters ahead, that may have been better for Moses had he done that. These next verses are very sad concerning Moses:
Numbers 20:2 There was no water for the people to drink at that place, so they rebelled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The people blamed Moses and said, “If only we had died in the Lord’s presence with our brothers! 4 Why have you brought the congregation of the Lord’s people into this wilderness to die, along with all our livestock? 5 Why did you make us leave Egypt and bring us here to this terrible place? This land has no grain, no figs, no grapes, no pomegranates, and no water to drink!”
6 Moses and Aaron turned away from the people and went to the entrance of the Tabernacle, where they fell face down on the ground. Then the glorious presence of the Lord appeared to them, 7 and the Lord said to Moses, 8 “You and Aaron must take the staff and assemble the entire community. As the people watch, speak to the rock over there, and it will pour out its water. You will provide enough water from the rock to satisfy the whole community and their livestock.”
9 So Moses did as he was told. He took the staff from the place where it was kept before the Lord. 10 Then he and Aaron summoned the people to come and gather at the rock. “Listen, you rebels!” he shouted. “Must we bring you water from this rock?” 11 Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with the staff, and water gushed out. So the entire community and their livestock drank their fill.
12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel, you will not lead them into the land I am giving them!” 13This place was known as the waters of Meribah (which means “arguing”) because there the people of Israel argued with the Lord, and there he demonstrated his holiness among them.
It starts off saying "Moses did as he was told", but it ends up that his anger and frustration got the best of him. God told him to speak to the rock - he struck it twice. But perhaps more importantly, he didn't give God the glory for bringing the water....he said "must we" meaning him and Aaron. The result of this is that he and Aaron were forbidden from entering the promised land. Not long after this Aaron was near death and God told them to take him to the top of Mt. Hor and transfer his priestly garments to his son, Eleazar. It was there that he died. Perhaps God did this so that from the mountaintop he could at least see the promised land.
I have always wondered what the deal was with Moses getting banned from the Promised Land over this incident. I never noticed that he said "must we" - I thought it was striking the rock twice, as if he didn't trust God to act on a single blow. It reminds me of a sermon that Kelly gave that had a scripture including someone firing an arrow, or three, or seven and how that was a symbol of his lack of faith.
ReplyDeleteIt still doesn't make sense to me why this was the reason? Doesn't it seem kind of petty?
ReplyDeleteCooper