Numbers 17

The events described in these chapters probably occurred shortly after Israel’s tragic failure at

Kadesh-Barnea, and they reveal clearly that the people still hadn’t learned how to trust and obey. No wonder the Lord rejected the older generation and made a new beginning with the younger generation!

God had a special word of encouragement for the younger generation: “After you enter the land I am giving you as a home” (15: niv). The younger generation faced thirty-eight years of wandering, but the Lord guaranteed that they would one day enter the land and claim their inheritance. The children suffered because of the sins of their fathers and had to participate in history’s longest funeral march.

The older generation of Israelites repeatedly refused to submit to the authority of God’s Word as well as the authority of God’s appointed leaders. Believers today commit the same sins, and the consequences are evident: divided churches, dysfunctional families, and disobedient individuals who wander from church to church but never accomplish much for the Lord. Unless we submit to God’s Word and God’s chosen leaders (Heb. 13:7–9, 17), we can’t successfully claim our inheritance in Christ (Eph. 2:10) and accomplish what God wants us to do.

When you review the history of Israel, from Egypt to Canaan, you discover that the nation got into trouble every time they resisted the leadership of Moses and Aaron. Whenever God sought to build the people’s faith by bringing them into a difficult situation, they immediately rebelled against Moses and Aaron, blamed them for their plight, and made plans to return to Egypt.

These chapters record two challenges to the leadership of Moses and Aaron, one from a group of Levites (16:1–35) and one from the people as a whole (vv. 41–50). Out of each of these confrontations came a visible reminder to the Jews of their rebellion: the brass covering on the altar (vv. 36–40) and Aaron’s rod that budded (17:1–13).

The first confrontation (16:1–35). No matter how much God did for them or taught them, Israel was not a spiritually minded people (Deut. 31:16–30). They still had Egypt in their hearts, and their lust for idols stayed with them even while they marched through the wilderness (Amos 5:25–26; Acts 7:42–43). Moses was a godly leader, and Israel could have been a godly people if they had obeyed what he taught them.

1. Korah, a notable leader (16:1–3). A Levite in the family of Kohath, Korah must have been a distinguished leader to be able to enlist the support of 250 “men of renown” from the other tribes. The fact that the text gives his genealogy is another hint that he was an important man. Numbers 27: suggests that men from other tribes were involved in the rebellion, so it was a nationwide conspiracy. The Kohathites carried the tabernacle furniture when Israel marched to a new location, and they camped on the south side of the tabernacle, across from Gad, Simeon, and Reuben. Perhaps this explains how Korah was able to get Dathan, Abiram, and On, three Reubenites, to join him in his crusade.

Whenever you find complaining and rebelling among God’s people, there’s usually a “stated reason” and a “hidden reason.” Korah’s public complaint was that Moses and Aaron were “running things” and not giving the people opportunity for input. He wanted more democracy in the camp. After all, the Lord dwelt in the entire camp and all the people were “a kingdom of priests” (Ex. 19:3–6), so who were Moses and Aaron to elevate themselves above everybody else? The hidden reason was that Korah wanted the Levites to have the same privileges as Aaron and his sons (Num. 16:10). Korah wasn’t satisfied to be assisting the priests; he wanted to be a priest.

Whether it’s the ancient camp of Israel or a modern city, no society can function without subordination. Somebody has to be in charge. Parents have authority in the home, teachers in the classroom, managers in the factory or office, and civil servants in the city or nation (Rom. 13; 1 Peter 2:11ff.). When this kind of order breaks down, then society is in serious trouble. God had chosen Moses to be leader of the nation and Aaron to be the high priest, and to resist this arrangement was to rebel against the will of God and bring serious division to the camp.

The selfish desire for greatness and authority is a common theme in Scripture, whether it’s Korah opposing Moses and Aaron, Absalom defying his father (2 Sam. 15), Adonijah claiming the crown (1 Kings 1), the disciples arguing over which of them was the greatest (Luke 22:44), or Diotrephes loving to have preeminence in a local church (2 John 9–10). And yet the most important place in the Christian life is the place of God’s choice, the place He’s prepared for us and prepared us to fill. The important thing isn’t status but faithfulness, doing the work God wants us to do. Every member of the church, the body of Christ, has a spiritual gift to be used for serving others, and therefore every member is important to God and to the church (1 Cor. 12:14–18).

2. Moses, a humble leader (16:4–11). As he had done before, Moses fell on his face before the Lord (14:5, 22; 16:22, 45; 20:6; 22:31). He didn’t debate with Korah and his crowd and try to change their minds, because he knew their aim was to seize the priesthood, something the Lord would never permit. The Lord would show Korah and his followers how wrong they were, and their pride would ultimately lead to their destruction (Prov. 16:18).

The test Moses proposed was a simple one. If Korah and his men were indeed priests acceptable to God, then let them bring their censers to the tabernacle and see if God would accept them. Surely the rebels remembered what happened to Nadab and Abihu when they rashly brought “strange fire” before the Lord (Lev. 10), but even this warning didn’t deter them.

3. Moses, an angry leader (16:12–17). Moses called Dathan and Abiram to come to the meeting, but they refused. Nothing is said about On, so perhaps he wisely dropped out of the rebellion. The arrogance of these two men is painful to see, for they not only refused to obey Moses, but they blamed him for Israel’s sin at Kadesh-Barnea! Even more, they called Egypt a “land of milk and honey” and accused Moses of making himself a prince and “lording it over” the people. Undoubtedly these spiritually ignorant men had envy in their hearts and wanted to take over the leadership themselves.

Again, Moses didn’t argue with the rebels; he prayed to the Lord and asked Him to vindicate His servant. Moses’ anger wasn’t selfish irritation; it was the righteous indignation of a man of integrity who sought only the glory of the Lord. There is a righteous anger that God’s people ought to feel when sinners defy the will of God and tempt others to sin (Ex. 32:19; 2 Cor. 11:29; Mark 3:5; Eph. 4:26).

4. Jehovah, the righteous Judge (16:18–35). The next morning, Korah and his followers showed up with their censers and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance of the tabernacle, while Dathan and Abiram stood with their families at the doors of their tents on the south side of the tabernacle. We can imagine the awesome silence that prevailed, and then the glory of the Lord appeared (14:10; 20:6; Ex. 16:10–12) and the voice of the Lord spoke. The hour of God’s judgment had arrived!

Moses and Aaron, being true leaders, immediately fell on their faces before the Lord and interceded for the nation. Why should all the people die because of the sin of these men? Moses frequently had to intercede for the people, and they probably didn’t appreciate what he did for them. On two occasions, God was ready to destroy the entire nation, but Moses’ intercession saved them (Num. 14:10–12; Ex. 32:7–14).

God warned the Jews to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; then the earth opened up and swallowed those evil men and their households, and fire from God destroyed the 250 would-be priests (Num. 11:1–3; Lev. 10:1–7). God made it very clear that the Jews were to accept their appointed leaders and respect their authority. It’s a dangerous thing for people to challenge God’s order and promote themselves to become leaders. They not only rebel against the Lord (Num. 16:11) but against their own lives (v. 38). Dr. A. W. Tozer used to say, “Never follow a leader until you see the anointing oil on his head.”

5. Eleazar the faithful priest (16:36–40). Since the 250 censers had been offered to the Lord, they were sanctified, even though the men who held them were wicked, so the censers couldn’t be treated like common metal. God ordered Aaron’s son Eleazar to gather them up and have them beaten into plates to be put on the altar of burnt offering. These plates would be a lasting reminder to the people that “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31). Whether these plates replaced the original bronze network on which the sacrifices were burned, or were added to it, we aren’t told.

When Jude wrote to warn the early church about false teachers, he used Korah as an example, associating him with Cain and Balaam (Jude 11). The word “gainsaying” (kjv; “rebellion,” niv) means “to say against, to oppose in word and deed, to rebel.” In his farewell message to the Ephesian elders (Acts 20:28–31), Paul warned about proud people who would seek to seize authority in the local church and promote themselves. It’s likely that more churches have been divided because of arrogant leadership than because of false doctrine.

The second confrontation (16:41—17:13). The deaths of over 250 people should have brought reverent awe into the hearts of the Israelites, but there was “no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom. 3:18). What began with several hundred rebels had now become a national uprising! Instead of falling to their knees and crying out to God for forgiveness and mercy, the Jews were rebelling against Moses and Aaron just as Korah had done! Carnally minded people can’t perceive the spiritual meaning of what God does because they lack spiritual discernment (1 Cor. 2). The nation beheld God’s acts, but Moses understood God’s ways (Ps. 103:7).

Again, the glory of the Lord appeared and the judgment of the Lord began to consume the Israelites; for the second time in two days, Moses and Aaron fell on their faces and interceded for the people. Aaron took a censer and ran into the ranks of people who were already smitten, and he “stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stayed” (Num. 16:48). When they counted the corpses, they found that 14,700 people had died because of their foolish rebellion against the Lord. “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).

What is there about the human heart that makes it so easy to follow the crowd and disobey the Lord? “But what experience and history teach us is this, that peoples and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.” So wrote the German philosopher Hegel in the introduction to his Philosophy of History, and he was right. The one thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history, and that includes church history.

1. A second reminder (17:1–13). God would prove once and for all that He had chosen Aaron and his sons to serve as priests, and that any attempts on the part of any other tribe to seize the priesthood would meet with the wrath of God.

The test was a simple one. The leader of each tribe gave Moses a rod (staff) bearing the tribal name, and all twelve rods plus Aaron’s rod were put before the Lord in the Holy of Holies. The fact that all the tribes were included in the test suggests that all of them had been represented in the insurrection. The rod that sprouted would belong to the man God had chosen to be the nation’s priest. When Moses brought out the rods the next day, everybody could see that only Aaron’s rod had produced life. Aaron’s staff “had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds” (v. 8 niv). What more evidence could the Israelites want?

If Moses put Aaron’s rod back into the Holy of Holies, how could it be a reminder to the nation that the tribe of Levi was the priestly tribe? For one thing, the rulers of each tribe and many of the people saw the rods and could bear witness that Aaron’s was the only one that produced life. Each day, when the tribal leaders took up their staffs, they would be reminded that God had chosen Aaron’s sons to serve at the altar. Furthermore, the high priest could always bring out the staff of Levi as unchanging evidence that Aaron’s family alone was chosen for the priesthood.

As usual, the Israelites overreacted when they heard the news and concluded that anybody who came near the tabernacle would perish (vv. 12–13; see 14:40–45). At least they had a fear of judgment, but they didn’t have a true fear of God in their hearts. But the presence of the tabernacle in the camp should have been a source of confidence for the Jews, for it meant that Jehovah was present with them. He would guide them through the wilderness, defeat their enemies, receive their sacrifices, and grant them forgiveness. To calm their fears, Moses in the next two chapters explained the ministry of the priests and the importance of the tabernacle of the camp.

The Lord gave Israel three reminders to encourage them to obey His law and submit to His will: the tassels on their garments, the brass plates on the altar, and Aaron’s rod in the Holy of Holies. To encourage believers today to be obedient children, the Lord has given us His Word (John 17:17), the indwelling Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19–20), the Lord’s Supper, reminding us of the death of Christ and His promised return (11:23–34; 1 John 3:1–3), and the interceding Savior in heaven (Heb. 4:14–16; Rom. 8:34). Before we judge God’s ancient people, perhaps we’d better examine our own hearts to see if we’ve submitted to the authority of His Word and of His appointed leaders.