The chapter on which we have just been dwelling is what may be called a digression from the history of Israel’s wilderness life, except indeed the short paragraph respecting the Sabbath-breaker. It looks forward into the future, when, spite of all their sin and folly, their murmuring and rebellion, Israel shall possess the land of Canaan, and offer sacrifices of righteousness and songs of praise to the God of their salvation. In it we have seen Jehovah rising far above all the unbelief and disobedience, the pride and willfulness, exhibited in chapters xiii. and xiv, and looking on to the full and final accomplishment of His own eternal purpose, and the fulfillment of His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
But in chapter xvi. the wilderness story is resumed—that sad and humbling story, so far as man is concerned, but a bright and blessed story of the exhaustless patience and boundless grace of God. These are the two grand lessons of the wilderness. We learn what man is and we learn what God is. The two things lie side by side on the pages of the book of Numbers. Thus in chapter xiv. we have man and his ways; in chapter xv. we have God and His ways; and now, in the chapter which opens before us, we come back to man and his ways again. May we reap much deep and solid instruction from the double lesson.
“Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men; and they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, ‘Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?’” (Ver. 1-3.)
Here, then, we enter upon the solemn history of what the Holy Ghost, by the apostle Jude, terms, “The gainsaying of Core.” The rebellion is attributed to Korah, inasmuch as he was the religious leader in it. He seems to have possessed sufficient influence to gather around him a large number of influential men—“princes, famous men, and men of renown.” In short, it was a very formidable and serious rebellion; and we shall do well to look closely at its source and moral features.
It is always a most critical moment in the history of an assembly when a spirit of disaffection displays itself, for if it be not met in the right way, the most disastrous consequences are sure to follow. There are materials in every assembly capable of being acted upon, and it only needs some restless master-spirit to arise, in order to work on such materials, and fan into a devouring flame the fire that has been smouldering in secret. There are hundreds and thousands ready to flock around the standard of revolt, when once it has been raised, who have neither the vigor nor the courage to raise it themselves. It is not every one that Satan will take up as an instrument in such work. It needs a shrewd, clever, energetic man—a man of moral power—one possessing influence over the minds of his fellows, and an iron will to carry forward his schemes. No doubt Satan infuses much of all these into the men whom he uses in his diabolical undertakings. At all events, we know, as a fact, that the great leaders in all rebellious movements are generally men of master-minds, capable of swaying, according to their own will, the fickle multitude, which, like the ocean, is acted upon by every stormy wind that blows. Such men know how, in the first place, to stir the passions of the people; and, in the second place, how to wield them when stirred. Their most potent agency—the lever with which they can most effectually raise the masses—is some question as to their liberty and their rights. If they can only succeed in persuading people that their liberty is curtailed, and their _rights_ infringed, they are sure to gather a number of restless spirits around them, and do a vast deal of serious mischief.
Thus it was in the matter of Korah and his coadjutors. They sought to make it appear that Moses and Aaron were lording it over their brethren and interfering with their rights and privileges as members of a holy congregation, in which, according to their judgment, all were on a dead level, and one had as much right to be active as another.