Bible Commentaries
Numbers 16

Verses 1-22

VI

AFTERMATH OF THE BREACH OF THE COVENANT AT KADESH-BARNEA

Numbers 16-19

In the last chapter I discussed Kadesh-barnea and the great breach of the covenant that took place there. The section from Numbers 16-19 inclusive gives us the aftermath of that breach, all taking place at Kadesh-barnea before they set out on their wilderness wanderings for more than thirty-eight years.

The first case that we have before us is the great revolt against God, Moses, and Aaron. The parties to this revolt are Korah and a number of Levites. The issue that they made was that they were entitled not only to the honor of being Levites but to the priesthood which God had said belonged to Aaron’s family alone. They combined with three famous Reubenites whose camp was next to them. These Reubenites had an entirely different grievance, viz.: That Moses had taken them out of the land flowing with milk and honey and had not brought them into a promised land, and when Moses summoned them to appear, they refused positively to come. The third element of this great triple conspiracy consisted of 250 of the princes of Israel. These 250 claimed that they had as much right to the priestly functions as the tribe of Levi and proved themselves with brazen censers and demanded that they, as heads of tribes, should minister before God. Now these three elements united and said to Moses and Aaron, "You take too much to yourselves; all the Lord’s people are holy." And Moses proposed a test that God should determine between them, and commanded the 250 princes who wanted to exercise the Levitical and priestly functions to fill their censers with incense and come before the Lord to see what the Lord would do. And he commanded the people on the next day to separate themselves from Korah, Dathan and Abiram. When the people had separated themselves from these leaders, he said, "The test is this: If these men die a natural death, God has not sent me, but if an earthquake opens its mouth and swallows them up alive in the sight of all the people, that is proof that God has sent me and not them." And instantly the earth yawned and in the sight of all the people, they went down. The test for the 250 princes of Israel was that a fire would go out from God and destroy them, which it did.

But this, instead of convincing the people, made the rebellion spread all over the camp. They did not like that thirty-eight years of wandering, and the entire congregation of Israel charged Moses with killing the people of the Lord. Immediately Moses commanded Aaron to light a censer and move among the people, because a plague from God was going out, and by the time Aaron could make intercession, moving among the stricken people with that censer, over 14,000 of them had died of the plague. Keep before your eyes the elements of this conspiracy and the three proofs from God.

The result of this was that perfect despair came to the people. It is expressed at the end of the seventeenth chapter: "And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone. Every one that cometh near, that cometh near unto the tabernacle of Jehovah, dieth; shall we perish, all of us?" Moses now determined, upon another sign, and another tie that would prevent the people from going to pieces in their despair. He commanded each tribe to bring a rod, and Aaron to bring a rod, and they put the thirteen rods before the Lord on the ark and let God show them by an unmistakable miracle who was to retain the leadership of the people as to the priestly function. The result was that Aaron’s rod budded, blossomed and bore almonds in one night and the others remained as they were. God then commanded that the rod with those full-grown almonds should be put in the ark as a lasting memorial of his decision. We do not know how long that rod stayed there, but when the ark was opened in the days of Solomon, the rod was not there. It was probably taken out when the ark was captured by the Philistines.

Numbers 18 is devoted to a provision for the Levites. Every word of that chapter is based upon this idea: The Levites shall have no inheritance in the land. They belong to God. They shall not depend for their support upon secular work of any kind. Provision for their food is set forth in certain offerings here mentioned. Their permanent support was the tithe, one-tenth of all products being devoted to the Levites.

Numbers 19 closes this incident. Part of it is a new provision for cleansing away the defilement of sin. You see there is a guilt of sin, a bondage of sin and there is a defilement of sin. The guilt of sin is the condemnation that comes upon the sinner because he has sinned. The bondage of sin is the evil nature that constantly prompts him to sin. The defilement of sin is quite a different thing from either of the others. To show you the difference, let us suppose a man to be justified. That would take away the guilt of sin, but if salvation stops there, he would have in him an evil nature that would prompt him to sin and he would have the defilement that comes from sin. Suppose that you not only justify him, but that you also regenerate him. Give him an impulse that prompts to good and yet the defilement of sin will cling to him, and he would be in a pitiable condition, like the pure mind of a modest woman, compelled to live in constant touch with shameful things. It would be hell to her.

No author has more powerfully set forth that thought than Eugene Sue in his Mysteries of Paris. The daughter of a great prince of Germany had been stolen when she was a baby and had been reared in the slums of Paris and all her life had known only the vile defilement of crime. Her father found her, and not having been touched with the defilement of sin, she became one of the most beautiful princesses of Europe, but she died of a broken heart because she never could forget the scenes through which she had passed as a girl.

Now, Numbers 19 is to make a great provision for cleansing from a defilement of sin. More than once have I told you that in regeneration there are two constituent elements, one a change of the carnal mind, the imparting of a new nature; and second, the cleansing of the defilement of sin. And it takes these two to make regeneration. Here you come to the original, typical provision for cleansing from defilement. Hence the importance of this chapter. The provision was that a red heifer should be taken. Not a white hair must be on her. And she should be taken outside the camp and put to death, and burned with red cedar wood, the red signifying blood, while this burning went on, threads of scarlet cloth should be thrown into the fire, scarlet signifying blood. When she was burned the ashes should be gathered up and put in a clean place so as to provide permanent cleansing. In order to liquefy these ashes and keep them they were to be mixed with rain water, making a liquid lye and this was to be kept on hand all the time. Then a bunch of hyssop, whose wood is red, was to be used for sprinkling this lye.

When we come to the prophecies, you have the combination of the cleansing with the water of purification, typifying blood, combined with a changing of the nature. There God says, "I will gather you from all countries where you have been scattered and I will sprinkle the water of purification upon you and you shall be clean." That typified the application of the blood of Christ. "Then I will take away your stony heart and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you." That is the other part of regeneration. When you come to the symbolic interpretation of Hebrews 9, we have this language: "If the ashes of the heifer sanctified to the cleansing of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ cleanse your conscience from evil works to serve the living God?"

In a debate with a Methodist preacher upon that subject, I gave this challenge: "In the Bible from Genesis to Revelation no man can find where God ever commanded a prophet, priest, or preacher to sprinkle, or to pour, just water on man, beast or thing as a moral, ceremonial, or religious rite." I gave them a day to find a passage and they popped up all over the house and said they could find a lot of them. It brought about the greatest amazement that ever took place in their community. They went to their concordance for "sprinkle" and "pour." Next day a man came up and said, "I have found it in Ezekiel 36:25, ’I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean.’ " I replied, First, that sprinkling, whatever it is, God does it, and he does not command man to do it. Second, that was not just water, but that was the water of purification which was made out of the ashes of the red heifer which typified the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ which is applied by the Holy Spirit when a man believes on Jesus Christ. A man is not only justified when he believes, but he is also cleansed. He is not only cleansed but he is regenerated." I then traced the thing all through the Bible. Another man arose and quoted what John has to say, "I indeed baptize you with water." I said in reply, "Baptize does not mean to sprinkle or pour." But he said, "It says ’with.’ " And I replied, "But that is not the translation of the Greek word. The Greek word is en and that means ’in.’ " It expresses nothing beyond the means or instrument when it is translated ’with.’ Finally, Baptists baptize with water, not with oil, not with sand, and they use a great deal more of it than you do."

Now, don’t forget the deep and solemn significance of Numbers 19, that it was a type of that part of regeneration which accomplished the cleansing away of the defilement of sin by the application of the blood of Christ to the believer. Nineteen preachers out of twenty, in discussing regeneration, confine themselves merely to the change of nature.

That closes up the case entirely at Kadesh-barnea, and the next division of the book of Numbers covers thirty-eight years, the great period of silence the scriptural references to which are few and far between: (1) In this book we have the itinerary only, (Numbers 33:19-49); (2) They did not circumcise their children, (Joshua 5:5-6); (3) They did not offer sacrifices at the tent, (Jeremiah 7:22; Amos 5:25-26); (4) They worshiped idols, (Acts 7:43) ; (5.) All the generation from 20 years old up died in the wilderness, (1 Corinthians 10:5). That period is typical. When Jesus Christ established his church, there was the glorious missionary period of the apostolic days for more than two centuries and then the church went into the wilderness. That is what we are told in the book of Revelation, and no man has been able to put the surveyor’s chain over that period of time in that wilderness.

It baffles all the students of church history. Some of them will tell you that there was no church during that time. But there was a church then, as there was a church in the antitype, and it did not perish. To illustrate: Imagine a long, zigzag river, running into a dark mountain where it is hidden from human sight. Suppose you drop a chip in the river on the upper side of the mountain, and after a while down yonder a hundred miles on the other side you see the same chip come out. You know then that the path of its motion has been continuous. In speaking about the succession of the church of Jesus Christ during the Dark Ages, that is my description of it. God in his mercy has hidden the steps of that period, just as he hides it here.

Numbers 20 is thirty-eight years from the time of Numbers 19. They are back at Kadesh-barnea now, in the first month of the fortieth year. Heretofore all my discussions on the book of Numbers have been confined to the second year, commencing with the setting up of the tabernacle on the first day of the first month. From Numbers 20 to the end of Numbers is ten months’ time, and Deuteronomy covers the other two months, necessary to complete the forty years to the time they step down into the water to cross the Jordan River.

QUESTIONS

1. Give an account of Korah’s revolt against God, Moses, and Aaron, the parties, the issue, who combined with them, their grievance, Moses’ challenge and result, the third element of the conspiracy, their issue, their demand, the charge of all the elements combined, Moses’ proposed test, the result, and the memorial of this sin.

2. What effect upon the congregation of the Children of Israel, the punishment, and how stayed?

3. State clearly the three elements of this conspiracy and the three proofs from God.

4. Give the incidents of Aaron’s rod, its purpose and history.

5. To what is the 18th chapter devoted, and upon what idea based?

6. What is the water of purification, and how prepared?

7. Distinguish between the guilt of sin, the bondage of sin and the defilement of sin.

8. Regeneration consists of what, and what element of regeneration is typified by this water of purification? Give full explanation, using the following scriptures: Psalms 51:2; Ezekiel 36:25; Zechariah 13:1; John 3:5; Ephesians 5:26; Titus 3:5; Hebrews 9:13.

9. The long period of silent wandering is typical of what?