The Rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram
By J. W. Westphal
MUCH is said in these days about the papal spirit in the church. We are taught and warned against it. It is taken into account in our organization, that no man in position of responsibility shall assume undue authority. And this is right. Man is so constituted that, except for the grace of God, he will readily become a pope. There was the same danger in the Jewish church that there is now, and the Lord knew it. Every believer in the Bible will readily recognize that it was never manifested by Moses and Aaron (despite the universal complaint to the contrary), save when smiting the rock twice. But the papal spirit manifested itself among the people many times. The most noted instance was the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. It pervaded the entire Israelitish ranks on that occasion, and was determined on driving from among them those whom God had appointed to lead his people. They wished to put themselves and their authority in the place of God and his authority. Only by divine interposition was it prevented. The spirit they accused Moses of possessing was in them. It thus appears that there is the same danger of popery from the many as from the one, from those not in authority as from those who are. The triumph of the spirit of prophecy in the congregation dethroned popery. The recognition of the voice of God is the only thing that will keep popery out of any organized church, however perfect. How they misjudged and misinterpreted the words and actions of Moses and Aaron! He whom they looked upon as their enemy and oppressor was their best friend. His jealousy for sacred institutions was not for himself, but for God and the good of his people. How often had he demonstrated his love! His interests were all bound up with the interests of the Jewish people. When judgments were visited, it was only to prevent the whole lump from becoming leavened. After having carried the heavy load for some time, feeling their jealousy and criticisms, accused of wanting to domineer over them, and finally of killing “the people of the Lord,” he is always the first to plead their pardon. “Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the Lord; for the plague is begun. And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.” Num. 16: 46-48. How just was the Lord in dealing with all on that occasion! The three leaders in the rebellion were first punished, and in a most signal, exemplary way. The families of Dathan and Abiram boldly took their position with them till the last, and so were destroyed with them. It seems that the family of Korah did not fully share his spirit, and when Moses told the people to depart from their tents, his family left him in his tent alone, and he alone perished. Num. 16: 26-33; 26: 9-11. The two hundred and fifty who, contrary to the Lord’s arrangement, took upon themselves the responsibility of offering incense before the Lord were consumed by fire that came forth from him, as had been Nadab and Abihu when they offered strange fire before the Lord. The congregation had been led into the mutiny. They had not gone so far as the leaders. They were not so responsible as the rest. The Lord heard Moses’ prayer in their behalf, and they would have gone unpunished had they not afterward continued their complaints and rebellion. May we not believe that the fourteen thousand seven hundred who died of the plague were those who, as leaders, raised again the standard of rebellion? Now for the first time they resigned themselves to their lot to fall in the wilderness. Hitherto they had hoped in some way to reach the promised land. Believing that the word that they should die was only from Moses, they saw no reason why they might not enter. Referring to the impending judgments, Moses had said: “Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind.” Verse 28. They at last saw the utter hopelessness of all their efforts to escape their well-merited punishment. In despair they cry, “Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish. Whosoever cometh anything near unto the tabernacle of the Lord shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?” Num. 17: 12, 13.