Bible Commentaries
Numbers 16

Verses 15-35

The Sin and Judgment of Korah

INTRODUCTORY WORDS

1. The sin of faultfinding. It is often so done. And the people seem not to fear for what they do. They think it is as nothing to criticize and malign the servants of the Lord with words of judgment and condemnation. They forget that it is Satan who is the chief slanderer against saints, and their leading accuser. Are they, who are forever harping against some saint, not led of Satan?

Korah and Dathan and Abiram with 250 princes, rose up before Moses and said, "Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation (of Israel) are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them."

The words cut deep, and were full of poison against those appointed of God to lead His people, Were they true? They were not. The fact was that the accusation, robed in religious phraseology, was utterly false.

Beloved, let us judge one another no more. Let us not turn critics against everything and everybody that does not suit our fancies. Even when there is a fault, let us leave it with God to settle.

David would not lay his hand on the Lord's anointed. Let us be careful lest we do.

2. The sin of self-seeking. The whole trouble with these three men was that they wanted to put down another; that they themselves might be exalted. They sought to climb up to prominence upon the bodies of the victims of their jealousies.

It is not always the case, but it is often true that men seek to bemean another, that they may be exalted. They seek to depose those in authority, that they may step into their shoes and rule in their stead.

Thus, in fighting against Moses and Aaron, Korah and the others were, in fact, fighting against God. Yes, they did their underhanded work in so pious a fashion. They claimed for themselves that God was with them, and that they were all holy.

3. The spirit of insurrection is the spirit of the wicked one. These wicked men led others into the net of their own faultfinding. There were 250 princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, and men of renown, who were carried away with the defection of the three leaders, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

No man sinneth unto himself. Perhaps the easiest way to get others into sin is to lead them into criticism of some who are better than they.

Everyone seems ready to seek better things for himself. Just let one leader begin to criticize some other leader, and factions are soon begun; and, when once begun there is no telling where they will end.

If there is sin in the camp, let us come out against it in the open. Let us not creep about in the shadows, and in an underhanded way endeavor to overthrow even that which is false, and in error. There is no place for criticism and submarine fighting, anywhere, at any time.

I. SIN IS NOT A SMALL THING (Numbers 16:9 ; Numbers 16:13 )

1. Is it a small thing to overstep the call of God? Dare we take authority to ourselves, and seek to lord it over God's heritage? Dare we press ourselves into the place where God has not sent us? We may, indeed, lay ourselves at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, as willing laborers, seeking His best gifts, in His own will. We may not, however, seek to displace another, that we may reign, nor may we endeavor to seek great things for ourselves and for our own glory.

The whole thing, boiled down, is thus summed up by Moses in Numbers 16:11 : "Thou and all thy company are gathered together against the Lord." They thought within themselves that they were only murmuring against Aaron, or against Moses. They were, in fact, against the Lord. It was God who designated the priesthood, and it was God who placed Aaron at its head.

When Saul of Tarsus fought against the saints at Damascus, Christ said unto him, "Why persecutest thou Me?"

2. "Is it a small thing that thou hast broken thy pledge?" This was Dathan and Abiram's word against Moses. Moses said to them, "Seemeth it but a small thing?" They replied, "Is it a small thing?" The only difference was that the voice of Dathan and Abiram gave a false accusation. Their accusation revealed the true reason for their uprising against Moses. It was twofold.

First, they said, "Thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us." Mark that there is not a word of the 400 years of bondage and servitude to Pharaoh.

Secondly, they said, "Thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey." Just so. They spake not a word of the experiences at Kadesh, where God was ready to lead the people in, but the people rebelled. There was not a word of the wondrous way in which God had led them through the wilderness. There was not a word of thanksgiving nothing but carping and underhanded criticism.

Thus they refused to come up at Moses' call.

II. FACING THE LORD (Numbers 16:16 )

1. The correct place for a true test. No matter what accusations may be made against any of us, let us carry the matter before the face of the Lord for settlement.

"Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath," is still a faithful command from above. It is still true that God will manage our affairs.

2. God will surely avenge His elect who cry unto Him, Why not quietly serve day and night, and carry our case to God, knowing that He will justify us if we have served Him faithfully, and have lived above reproach?

God said to Abraham, "I will bless them, that bless thee; and curse him that curseth thee." Thus doth God undertake in behalf of those who serve Him. His judgments are according to truth. There is nothing hidden to His eyes. He will show Himself strong in our behalf if our hearts are perfect toward Him.

3. If God be for us, who can be against us? After all, what does the cry of the critic, who would destroy us, amount to? None can harm us when God stands with us, and is for us. Let us follow the ways of the Lord, who, when the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against His Anointed, simply laughs at them, and has them in derision.

It is still true that God will place His hedge around us, and the angels will encamp round about us to deliver us from any and every foe.

III. A STRANGE SIGHT (Numbers 16:18-22 )

1. It was strange to see Korah and his company with censers and fire, coming before the Lord. Moses had so commanded them, and they were ready to respond. Moses said, "Put incense in them before the Lord * *: and it shall be that the man whom the Lord doth choose, he shall be holy."

So "they took every man his censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon, and stood in the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation."

Our minds go to a somewhat similar scene, when Elijah put the priests of Baal and their altar on the one side, and his altar and sacrifice, water-soaked, on the other side, and said, "Call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the Name of the Lord: and the God that answers by fire, let him be God."

We know what happened in Elijah's day. The priests of Baal called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, but there was no voice and no fire.

2. It was strange to see Korah gathering all the congregation together against Moses. He was certainly putting forth his utmost to undo the leadership of Moses, and to make him a stench in Israel.

He seemed, at the first, quite successful as the crowds gathered to him. The test was on! Would Moses, after all, be defeated; and would Korah and his group come out victors? To the casual observer, so it doubtless seemed. Had Moses, indeed, sought to make himself a prince in Israel? Had he gone over to Belial? Was God about to rebuke him before all the people?

The masses seemed to be carried away with the dissenters. What would God do?

IV. GOD DEMANDS SEPARATION (Numbers 16:20-22 )

1. There is a separation demanded in daily life. This is demonstrated in the Children of Israel's being called out of Egypt. The lamb was slain, the blood of the lamb was sprinkled on the upper doorpost, and upon the two side posts. The lamb was then eaten. Now catch the words of God: "And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand."

What was the reason for this procedure? It was this: they were to immediately depart out of Egypt. Is this not the call of God to us? Shall the one saved from sin and the world, still live worldly? Listen! "Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father." This is the first separation.

2. There is a separation demanded in the hour when judgment falls. God said to Moses, "Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment."

Do you remember how Abraham prayed when God told him that Sodom and Gomorrah were to be destroyed? He said: "Wilt Thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?"

Even so Moses prayed: "Shall one man sin, and wilt Thou be wroth with all the congregation?"

In Matthew 25:1-46 , we have a graphic picture of the judgment of the Nations. There God asserts: "And before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats."

When God judges the wicked for their sins, the saved who bask under the true token of the Blood shall not perish with the wicked any more than Rahab and her household, who stayed behind the scarlet cord, perished with the wicked when the walls of Jericho fell down.

V. SEPARATION REALIZED (Numbers 16:23-27 )

1. The command. "Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram." There is a word in II John (2 John 1:10-11 ), which says, "If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed; for he that biddeth him Godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds."

The alliance that many had made with the three leaders, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, had to be broken at once, or else they would, of necessity, have perished with them.

Separation from wickedness and from false doctrine is still the call of God.

2. The cry. Then Moses went down and cried out unto the congregation, "Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs lest ye be consumed in all their sins."

3. The result. "So they got up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side."

Beloved, the faithful minister who really cares for the sheep of his pasture will at once call his people out from unholy alliances with certain men who have crept into the church unawares, and have denied the only True God, and our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Thank God that the people obeyed the voice of Moses and came away from the ones with whom they had consorted.

4. The final picture. When the others all came apart, the three men, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; with their wives, their sons, and their children, came and stood in the door of their tents. It is sad to see those women and children clinging to their husbands and fathers. It is sad to know that sins of the parents are visited upon the children, unto the third and fourth generations.

No man liveth unto himself. If the Lord should now speak, He might still say, "Up, get you away!"

VI. GREAT TEST (Numbers 16:28-30 )

1. A peculiar prayer. As Korah, Dathan, and Abiram stood defiantly to themselves, not one word of sorrow for their wickedness came from their lips. They would not yield to God; they would not repent; they would not pray for mercy.

Then it was that Moses put a strange test before the Lord, and said: "Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the Lord hath not sent me."

Then Moses prayed that the earth might open its mouth and swallow them up, and all that appertained unto them. And that is exactly what happened.

2. A striking knowledge of the place of the abode of the dead. We may marvel that Moses knew that Sheol was in the inner part of the earth. Yet he did know. The more we study the Bible, the more we grasp the real depth of the knowledge of Old Testament saints concerning the deep things of God. They lived and walked with God. They took time to be holy. They often spoke with God face to face.

Concerning death, and the abode of the dead, the seers of old spoke of being "gathered to their fathers." Concerning Sheol, they spoke more than once, not as of the grave, but of the nether (that is, the lower) parts of the earth.

In line with this, Christ said, "As Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Of course, the heart of the earth is not on the top of the earth. In Ephesians it is written: "Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?"

Since Christ's ascension, saints, when they die, go to be with Christ; but not so in the days prior to His resurrection and ascension. Of old they were gathered to their fathers in Paradise the Paradise into which Christ descended.

VII. THE CONSUMING FIRE (Numbers 16:34-35 )

1. Sin leads to fear. Numbers 16:34 says, "And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also." They knew that they had been joined with Korah in his rebellion against Moses. Therefore they trembled as judgment fell upon their leaders.

Men often laugh at destruction, but that is when they think themselves safe and far from its reach.

One old captain, when told by the doctor that he must die, said that he had faced death too many times on the battlefield, to be afraid. The doctor said, "But what of the judgment?" The captain paled as he said, "Ah, that is another thing."

2. God's wrath against sin and especially against the sin of rebellion. Numbers 16:35 says that fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men that offered incense.

In Hebrews we read "Our God is a consuming Fire." The Christian may say, "Well, that fire can never touch me." That depends whether you are sinning against Him. I grant that those redeemed by the precious Blood of Christ are safe from the fires of hell. Certainly they are. However, in I Corinthians the Spirit tells us pointedly that many saints will not alone have their works burned, but they themselves shall be saved "so as by fire" (1 Corinthians 3:15 ).

The Scripture in Hebrews which says, "Our God is a consuming Fire," also says, "And again, The Lord shall judge His people" (Hebrews 10:30 ).

It is "whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." Think not, dear believers, that you can wander from your Lord and yet escape His fiery indignation.

AN ILLUSTRATION

The wicked men who led the insurrection against Moses and Aaron placed their hopes on that which was of the flesh and not of God, As a result, they staked their all and lost it. The following incident suggests their folly:

Senor Severo, a member of the Brazilian Parliament, invested all his fortune in constructing an airship, which he named The Pax (meaning "The Peace"). Accompanied by an assistant named Sachet, he made his first ascent at Vaugirard, France, in the presence of his wife and friends. At the height of about 1000 feet, the balloon suddenly exploded and fell to the ground, both aeronauts being instantaneously killed. The greatest sympathy was expressed for the sad loss sustained by Senora Severo and her seven children. The Pax airship was the pride of the inventor; he had embarked in her his all, and as he wished his wife farewell and rose into the heavens all seemed bright. Twenty minutes later the whole affair was lying a complete wreck How different they who invest their all in Christ Jesus (Romans 10:9-10 ), for "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles" (Isaiah 40:31 ). They shall be "caught up."