The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 226

for themselves, and the deeper line of application will be followed. Consider, therefore- !. THAT KORAB'. ON ONE SIDE, DATHAN AND AnmA\I ON THII: OTHER HAD HARDLY ANY• THING IN COMMON EXCEPT DISLIKE TO TBE RULE OF MOSES, TBE MEDIATOll. 011' ISRAEL AND 1mm rN JESHURUN (Deut. xxxiii. 5). His dislike was ecclesiastical, tkeii·s was poli- tics.I ; but this common dislike made them allies, and gave them a "tabernacle " in common (ver. 27). Even so amongst the many who say, "We will not have this man to reign over us" (Luke xix. 14), there are to be found the most various <li~p_ositions, and_!_he mo~t distinct ci:-,uses of complaint. _As in the days of his earthly mmtstry (Mark m. 6; xiv. 64, "all ), so now the opposition to him and to his sole governance is made up of the most heterogeneous, and at other times dissociate, element.s. II. THAT KORAH WAS HIMSELF A LE\'ITE OF SOME DISTINl1TION, AND WAS THE SOUL 01!' 'fHE CONSPIRACY. Even so it is hardly possible to find in history any grave assault upon the work or doctrine of Christ ,vhich has not been inspired by some one whose ecclesiastical position has given him both aptness and influence for this evil. III. THAT KOR.A.H REPRESENTED MOSES AND AARON IN AN INVIDIOUS LIGHT, AS MKN. WHO KEPT THE PEOPLE IN SPIRITUAL. SUBJECTION, AND DENIED TO THEM 'l'BEIB COMMON RIGHTS AS CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. Even so the constant clamour of unbelief is that Christianity is a system devised in the interests of tyranny and obscurantism in order to keep men in moral slavery, and to rob them of their freedom of thought, and to fetter their freedom of action. IV. THAT Koll.AH ASSERTED TRUE FACTS AND APPEALED TO TRUE PRINCIPLES IN OP- POSITION TO WHAT BAD BEEN DIVINELY APPOINTED, AND WAS TO BE DIVINELY VINDI- CATED, Even so do men continually bring against the Truth himself facts which are undeniable, and principles which must be admitted. Herein is the real danger when war upon the Truth is waged with half-truths plausibly paraded as whole, with truths on one side confidently assumed to be fatal to the complemental truths on the other side. The liberty, e. g., of private judgment ia arrayed against the authority of inspiration ; the nniversal fatherhood of God against any distinction of the children of God, or necessity for the mediation of Christ; the fact that we are all members of one body against any mutual subordination or distribution of functions amongst those members. V. T~T KoRAH WAB PROBABLY SINCERE IN SO FAR AS HE BAD PERSUADED BillfBELI!' THAT BE WAS RIGHT, otherwise he would hardly have ventured upon the fatal test. Even so the leaders of opposition to Christ are commonly 1:1incere ; only vulgar in• tolerance brands them off-hand with hypocrisy or self-seeking. And this i~ their power, for men are led by personal regard and trust much more than by any ability to judge between rival systems. The only way to meet the sincerity and zeal. of error is by showing a more transparent sincerity and a more ardent zeal on the side of truth (2 Jor. vi. 3-10 i 1 Tim. iv. 12-16; Titus ii. 10). VL THA, WHEN MosEB BEARD THE INDICTMENT AGAINST HIMSELF AND AARON Ill!: COULD BUT RE.I- l!:R IT TO TliE DECISION OF THE LORD. The people were either actively' or passively on the side of Korah, and argument had been unavailing. Even so when' Christianity at large, or any system which we believe to be an integral pa.rt. of Christianity, is assailed with popular and plausible arguments, there is really nothmg. to be done but to refer it to the arbitrament of God himself. Arguments convince. only those that are convinced ; clamours onlr intensify prejudice; ~utual a?cusa•' tions only repel-Moses himself effected nothmg by the angry words mto which he was betrayed. And the arbitrament of God is unequivocally declared by our Lord• to be the practical outcome of our religion in our lives (Matt. vii. 16, 20; John xiii. 35). That the test is not capable of easy or of immediate application, that it has to· be applied broadly, and with many allowances for disturbing causes, is true ; but yet, it ie the test, and the only test, to which our Lord calls us. It is the test out of whicb. Aaron, with all the weight of popular opinion against him, will ultimately come triumphant; in which Korab, with all his sincerity and plausibility, will _come to· nothing. And note that while religious questions must be referred to the arbitrament of God, and that arbitrament is not always distinct or immediate in this world, there ia II further decision which will be absolutely certain and conclusive, " Even to- t:B. XVI, 1-40.] THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 207