Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 16-18.

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The Bible does not tell us how long it was after Aaron and Miriam had challenged Moses’ leadership until Korah’s rebellion, but it still shows us how slow we as humans are to learn.  I find Korah’s accusation of Moses, and the claim he made about what he stood for strange.  Korah claims to be speaking on behalf of all of the people, on behalf of the “common man”.  Korah says that all should be equal before God, that Moses should not claim special status to speak on behalf of God.  Yet, Korah’s key followers were chiefs over others.  It seems that Korah was really just trying to change who was at the top of the power structure, not change the whole structure.  I also find the willingness of Korah’s 250 followers to burn incense before the Lord interesting.  It looks to me like they did what Aaron’s oldest son’s did by burning incense before the Lord with “strange” fire.  The results for these 250 men was the same as it was for Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons.  The day after God put down Korah’s rebellion against Moses, the people gathered to complain against him for killing the members of Korah’s rebellion.  On both of these occasions, God told Moses and Aaron to separate themselves from the people of the congregation.  Yet on both occasions, Moses and Aaron interceded with God for the people.  Despite the people listening to Korah, and despite them blaming Moses and Aaron for God killing Korah and his core followers, Moses and Aaron interceded for the people.  Moses sent Aaron among the people with his incense censer to burn incense and block the plague from spreading.

As I read this passage, I can’t help but think there is part of this story which is missing.  For example, Korah begins his rebellion by telling Moses that he had gone too far.  Yet, there is nothing in the account leading up to this which looks like the trigger for Korah saying that.  I sometimes speculate about what happened just before this, but the passage does not make it clear and doing so would distract from something I see in this passage which is important.  Despite the people supporting the rebellion against them, Moses and Aaron interceded with God for them, twice.  This is what good leaders look like.  They did not call down God’s vengeance on these “ungrateful people.”  Instead, they took action to minimize the consequences of the people’s rebellion.  Korah claimed to speak on behalf of the “common man”, but he used them as props in his quest for power.  Korah used the people to try and shield himself from the consequences of his rebellion.  Moses and Aaron, on the other hand, attempted to shield the people from the consequences of Korah’s rebellion, despite the support which the people had given Korah.  A true leader of God’s people will seek to shield those whom he leads from the consequences of their mistakes.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.