Numbers 16 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Numbers 16:1-15

1 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?’

4 When Moses heard this, he fell face down. 5 Then he said to Korah and all his followers: ‘In the morning the Lord will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will make that person come near him. The man he chooses he will cause to come near him. 6 You, Korah, and all your followers are to do this: take censers 7 and tomorrow put burning coals and incense in them before the Lord. The man the Lord chooses will be the one who is holy. You Levites have gone too far!’

8 Moses also said to Korah, ‘Now listen, you Levites! 9 Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near himself to do the work at the Lord’s tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to them? 10 He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood too. 11 It is against the Lord that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?’

12 Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, ‘We will not come! 13 Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? And now you also want to lord it over us! 14 Moreover, you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you want to treat these men like slaves[b]? No, we will not come!’

15 Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord, ‘Do not accept their offering. I have not taken so much as a donkey from them, nor have I wronged any of them.’

A. Find Out:

1. Who came and said what? v.1-3
2. What was Moses’ response? v.4
3. What did he tell them to do? v.5-7
4. Of what did he accuse them? v.8-11
5. Who then did Moses summon and what was their response? v.12-14
6. What was Moses’ response? v.15

B. Think:

1. Who were the various groups opposing Moses & Aaron?
2. What was Moses’ initial response each time?
3. How would you summarize Moses’ way of dealing with problems?

C. Comment:

     It is sometimes said that Sin is equated with stupidity. There really can be no other way to explain the actions of these people. We have observed fire from the Lord (11:1) after complaints about hardship, plague after food grumbling (11:33), Miriam turned leprous (12:10) after challenging Moses, the ten unbelieving spies killed (14:37), and the warriors defeated (14:45). Surely, you would think, the message would have got through by now, but, no! Now there are two groups who come together in collaboration to gang up against Moses and Aaron.

     The first group is Korah, a Levite, and some other Levites (v.1,7). Levites were tabernacle servers but not priests. They thought they were good enough to be priests. The other group were Dathan and Abiram from the tribe of Reuben, plus some 250 other lesser leaders from various tribes. Their objection is that Moses and Aaron have elevated themselves above the rest.

     Moses’ reaction to each of these rebellions is instructive – he falls flat on his face, presumably praying. Once he’s prayed, he knows what to do. Very well, he says, you want to be a priest – come and offer incense and see what God feels about that! Meanwhile the other group refuse to turn up. Moses’ answer? To turn to the Lord again.

D. Application:

1. Don’t ever raise your hand or voice against God’s leaders.
2. If you are a leader and are opposed, take it to the Lord and let Him deal with the rebellion, for that is what it is!

Passage: Numbers 16:16-27

16 Moses said to Korah, ‘You and all your followers are to appear before the Lord tomorrow – you and they and Aaron. 17 Each man is to take his censer and put incense in it – 250 censers in all – and present it before the Lord. You and Aaron are to present your censers also.’ 18 So each of them took his censer, put burning coals and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 19 When Korah had gathered all his followers in opposition to them at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the glory of the Lord appeared to the entire assembly. 20 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 21 ‘Separate yourselves from this assembly so that I can put an end to them at once.’

22 But Moses and Aaron fell face down and cried out, ‘O God, the God who gives breath to all living things, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?’

23 Then the Lord said to Moses, 24 ‘Say to the assembly, ‘Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.”’

25 Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 He warned the assembly, ‘Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.’ 27 So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents.

A. Find Out:

1. What did Moses instruct Korah to do? v.16,17
2. So what then happened? v.18,19
3. What did the Lord appear to say He would do? v.20,21
4. What was Moses’ & Aaron’s response to this? v.22
5. How did the Lord respond? v.23
6. So what did Moses do? v.24-27

B. Think:

1. What did the Lord appear to want to do with Israel ?
2. How do you think this was another test for Moses?
3. How did the Lord appear to relent?

C. Comment:

     We’re not rushing on with this story for there are important things to note along the way and at the risk of repetition we need to take hold of them. Korah, we saw previously had challenged Moses’ position and so Moses is basically saying, very well, you want to be a priest, so come and be a priest and stand before God and release you will be answerable to Him. There are those who challenge church leadership and say, “I’m as good as them, why aren’t I a leader?” What they don’t realise is that leadership in the kingdom of God is a matter of calling – God’s calling! If you want to barge your way into a position that God has not given, beware, you will be answerable to God!

      Again the Lord expresses His intention to wipe out all Israel for Korah and his 250 community leaders is representative of the people. This is what the people think and so they will be answerable to the Lord. There is a sense whereby they are already under a forty-year death penalty so why not hasten the process. Yet again we find Moses and Aaron falling flat on their faces in intercession – praying, standing (or lying) between the Lord and the people. Moses’ appeal is on the basis of justice – only judge the sinner, not the rest. The Lord doesn’t seem to make His intentions crystal clear, but we can guess what is coming when He calls for these families to be separated out. Watch this space.

D. Application:

1. Accept the role God has assigned to you. Be at peace in it.
2. Do we rejoice in judgement of others or intercede on their behalf?

Passage: Numbers 16:28-40

28 Then Moses said, ‘This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: 29 if these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the realm of the dead, then you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt.’

31 As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions. 33 They went down alive into the realm of the dead, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. 34 At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, ‘The earth is going to swallow us too!’

35 And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.

36 The Lord said to Moses, 37 ‘Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to remove the censers from the charred remains and scatter the coals some distance away, for the censers are holy – 38 the censers of the men who sinned at the cost of their lives. Hammer the censers into sheets to overlay the altar, for they were presented before the Lord and have become holy. Let them be a sign to the Israelites.’

39 So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned to death, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar, 40 as the Lord directed him through Moses. This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before the Lord, or he would become like Korah and his followers.

A. Find Out:

1. How does Moses present what is happening to the people? v.28
2. What two possibilities does he present? v.29,30
3. What then happened to Korah and his followers? v.31-34
4. What then happened to the 250 offering incense? v.35
5. What then happened to the censers? v.36-40
6. Why? v.38c,40b

B. Think:

1. What were the two judgements described here?
2. How can there be no mistake about what is happening?
3. How was there to be an ongoing reminder of this?

C. Comment:

      We are now in the realm of major miracle, major act of God. There can be absolutely no confusion about what took place. This after all was the point of the exercise. This is an embryo nation of God and they have to learn some hard lessons early on in their history. Moses lays it on the line. He first of all requires the people to move away from the tents of the families of these three leaders of this rebellion (v.24). He makes the options clear. The point needing to be made is all about who has God’s authority and who is in rebellion. So the people stand back and watch, and Moses could now appear a foolish, arrogant leader.

     But he doesn’t because the Lord moves dramatically. The ground opens up and literally swallows these men, their families and every sign of their existence. They are totally gone! But then there are the 250 followers standing outside the Tabernacle. Suddenly lighting (?fire from heaven) strikes every one of them down. Instant death! There is, tragically, no room for any other interpretation of these circumstances other than this is the clear and terrible judgment of God. The warnings had been there; opportunity for repentance had been there, but they had been ignored. God moves and simply removes each of these groups of rebels in a very clear way.

D. Application:

1. We need to learn to respect calling and authority.
2. We need to avoid critical hearts. God is holy and we disrespect Him at our peril. Paul knew this – see 1 Cor 11:29,30.

Passage: Numbers 16:41-50

41 The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. ‘You have killed the Lord’s people,’ they said.

42 But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned towards the tent of meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared. 43 Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting, 44 and the Lord said to Moses, 45 ‘Get away from this assembly so that I can put an end to them at once.’ And they fell face down.

46 Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘Take your censer and put incense in it, along with burning coals from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the Lord; the plague has started.’ 47 So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them. 48 He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped. 49 But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah. 50 Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, for the plague had stopped.

A. Find Out:

1. What happened the next day? v.41
2. What happened at the tent of Meeting? v.42,43
3. What did the Lord say? What was Moses’ response? v.44,45
4. What did Moses tell Aaron to do? v. v.46,47a
5. But what had already happened? v.47,49
6. Yet what did Aaron achieve?.v.48

B. Think:

1. Why do you think the people were wrong in what they said?
2. Why do you think Aaron’s actions saved the people?

C. Comment:

      The first thing to notice here is the crass stupidity of the people. Again and again, they have seen the hand of judgement of the Lord come down and yet still they insist on provoking the Lord. They blame Moses for the latest deaths and in so doing they show a) their lack of understanding of the wrong of those men and, b) their lack of realization that Moses was not a magician; what had happened had been the Lord!

      So, yet again, the judgement of the Lord breaks out and people start dying. Now we have to face a strange thing that happened. Why had Aaron burning incense made the Lord stop. To understand this perhaps, we need to realize that the whole sacrificial system prefigured the coming of Christ to die to take the sins of the world – both after he came AND before he came. Thus the act of offering something was an act of obedient faith that trusted God to deal with the sin. It was not their act that paid for the sin, but the death of Christ. Their act was simply faith that opened the door for the Lord to forgive the people in question.

     When Aaron therefore steps forward and offers holy incense it is as if he claims atonement according to God’s strategy as laid down in the Law and in the eventual death of Christ (although Aaron wouldn’t know that at that time). John has the same idea (1 Jn 2:1,2) as he pictures Christ stepping forward when we sin, the people of God today. It’s as if Christ say, “Father, I died for them. Now please forgive them.”

D. Application:

1. ALL Sin is punished. Either we take it or Jesus does.
2. We rely entirely on Jesus’ death on the Cross for us. Nothing else.