Numbers 16:14, commentary and pictures

Dathan and Abiram answered Moses' summons with defiant refusal to come up, sarcastically charging him with putting out men's eyes by blinding and deceiving them, while turning the Lord's promise of a land flowing with milk and honey with fields and vineyards for an inheritance into a description of Egypt, forgetting their bondage and suffering there. They accused Moses of failing to bring Israel into the promised land, of leading them blindly in the wilderness for tyrannical ambition and selfish gain, and blamed him for hardships that were punishment for their own murmuring and disobedience. Their rebellion against Moses and Aaron as men of God's appointment was rebellion against Jehovah Himself, against Christ their invisible leader and the Spirit of God, working out on a narrower stage the same spirit as Satan's rebellion in heaven. By Satan's delusion they thought themselves righteous while opposing only a human leader, spread false representations to gain sympathy until two hundred and fifty princes and a vast number honestly thought them right, and stubbornly persisted even after judgment fell. The account was faithfully chronicled for admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come, especially warning God's people near the close of time not to follow that example of unbelief, criticism and resistance to testimony, since joining such leaders shares their rebellion and fall.

Speakers and Wording

The words are the reply sent back by Dathan and Abiram when Moses summoned them, closing with a flat, defiant refusal to come up. That refusal was disobedience to Moses and Aaron and a defiant rejection of Moses' authority.

The question about putting out the eyes was sarcasm, charging that Moses meant to blind the men to his motives. It accused him of misleading and deceiving the people and of treating them as unable to see what he intended. It further portrayed him as a tyrant who would lead them blindly, whether on toward Canaan or back into the wilderness, for his own ambition.

In making their charge they took the Lord's own description of Canaan — a land flowing with milk and honey, with fields and vineyards as promised inheritance — and applied it to Egypt. They spoke as if Egypt had been that land of abundance and plenty, the land of their bondage from which Moses had brought them out only to let them die in the wilderness. To call Egypt such a land showed how rebellion had made them forget their suffering there and the plagues brought upon Egypt.

The stand was not that of two men alone, but of Korah, Dathan and Abiram joined with two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, leaders of the congregation, men of renown. Through them a vast number besides were drawn in, so that many honestly thought the rebels were right.

False Charges Against Moses

Dathan and Abiram accused Moses of failing to bring Israel into the promised land and of giving them no inheritance of fields and vineyards. Their question about putting out the eyes charged that he would blind the people to his motives, deceiving them and treating them as unable to see what he intended. They portrayed him as a tyrant who led them blindly toward Canaan or back into the wilderness for his own ambition and gain, seeking to dominate them. They applied the Lord's description of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey, to Egypt, the land of bondage and plenty from which he had brought them to die in the wilderness, and then refused to come up at his summons. That claim showed rebellion had made them forget their suffering in Egypt and the plagues brought upon Egypt.

They blamed Moses for the wilderness journey and for exclusion from Canaan, denying that the Lord had decreed their death there. That exclusion was punishment for their own sins, murmuring and disobedience, yet they charged that Moses, not the Lord, had decreed it and had deliberately prevented them from entering. They gave a selfish, Satan-prompted motive for his lifelong interest and care for Israel, in order to hold the people and to quiet consciences disturbed by the memory of his self-sacrificing patience and his disinterested efforts for them in Egyptian bondage. They charged that his apparent care was a scheme to keep Israel wandering in the wilderness until all or nearly all perished, so that he could come into possession of their property and seize their possessions. The wilderness hardships that followed murmuring and disobedience were blamed on the supposed mismanagement of Moses and Aaron, while Korah promised that under his leadership the people would have a peaceful, prosperous journey to the land.

The complaint came from pride and ambition, envy and discontent, distrust and rebellion, with desire for self-exaltation and for position and honor. It came from self-exaltation and hunger for credit and honor, thinking that because they had a share in the work they were equal to Moses and he should not have all the honor.

Rebellion Against God

Joining Korah in defiant refusal against Moses and Aaron was rebellion against Jehovah Himself, blasphemy against God and rejection of God as leader by rejecting the men of His appointment. Their charge of failure to bring Israel into abundance was false, for the people were condemned to die in the wilderness and would not enter the promised land because of their own course.

Rejecting Moses, God's chosen instrument, was rejecting Christ, their invisible leader, and insulting the Spirit of God. They were deluded to think they opposed only a human leader, a man like themselves, while a wizard-like moral infatuation steeled the heart against the influence of the Holy Spirit and judgments followed close upon their sin. They were deceived by their own consent, by placing themselves in Satan's power through refusal implicitly to trust and obey God.

It works out on a narrower stage the same spirit that led to Satan's rebellion in heaven, infused by Satan into Korah, Dathan and Abiram. As Lucifer complained of the government of God and sought the overthrow of the order established in heaven, so their complaint expressed pride and ambition, envy and discontent, distrust and rebellion, and desire for self-exaltation and for position and honor.

Work rooted in self and rebellion will not endure, while work done in God will endure. Such disaffection and resistance against a work God has established does not prevent God's work from surviving.

The destruction of Korah and his company was a terrible manifestation of divine judgment by plague before the Lord, which sustained Aaron in the holy office of the priesthood. Through Aaron's intercession the plague following that judgment was stayed. After forty years of wandering the congregation at Kadesh in the Desert of Zin repeated the same unbelief and murmuring when thirsting for water, wishing they had died with those brethren.

The Israelites later acknowledged that they had rebelled against that authority and sinned against the Lord. They acknowledged their guilt and that the rebels had justly suffered the Lord's wrath.

Pattern of Deception

Satan's wizard-like moral infatuation deluded the rebels to think they were opposing only a human leader, a man like themselves, steeling the heart against the influence of the Holy Spirit, yet they were deceived by Satan only by their own consent, because they placed themselves in his power by refusing to implicitly trust and obey God. While blaspheming God they were so deluded as to think themselves righteous and to regard those who faithfully reproved their sins as actuated by Satan. Their unbelief was worked by satanic agencies while it was called the Holy Spirit, carried on secretly and in darkness by falsehoods, enmity, evil-surmisings and false representations to gain sympathy, as Satan did with the angels under him.

Wicked men gained the sympathy and confidence of souls perishing for truth, presented themselves as abused men when the abuse was on their own side, and then sowed seeds of doubt about those in whom God would have the people have confidence. They put Moses and Aaron in a perverted light as all wrong and labored to make their appointed authority of none effect, deceiving and being deceived and strengthening the hands and minds of evildoers. They assailed fellow men and presented them in a ridiculous light to destroy confidence, love and fellowship toward brethren and sisters once trusted. Distrust and accusation against God's appointed leaders in this complaint arose from a rebellious spirit. That course deceived others so that two hundred and fifty princes, men of renown, and a vast number through them joined the stand and honestly thought the rebels were right, gathering many sympathizers. It creates dissension, false sympathy and false impressions that cut off influence, lead others into the same error and endanger souls.

They stubbornly trusted their own judgment over Moses', accused him of harming Israel, believed he was harming Israel, and resisted correction. Even after God's judgments destroyed the leaders and princes, the survivors blamed Moses for the deaths and continued the rebellion by accusing him of killing the Lord's people, revealing how rebellion deceives the mind and makes people resist correction. Their disaffection was so deep that it is not cured even when God stretches forth His hand and swallows up the leaders and the people flee in horror, the pattern of wrongdoers who when faithfully reproved refuse correction and turn sympathy against the reprover. When the rebellious unfurl their banner all the disaffected and the spiritually defective, the lame, the halt and the blind, rally around the standard to scatter and sow discord.

It is contempt for the word of the Lord and for the messengers and the message God sends, not merely for the human instrument, with spiritual eyesight blinded and judgment perverted, mockery and disgust at God's word, and unsanctified independence insulting the Spirit of God. People in this rebellion distort God's word and warnings to defend their own ideas, resist evidence, reject God's appointed messenger and the message God sent, and reject truth while treating error as truth. Their party is an example of people who separate from the body, accuse their brethren, and use others' errors to build themselves up. They act selfishly and would follow that wicked course if given the opportunity, with wrongdoing hidden from others but seen by God who will repay them according to their deeds.

Warning for Last Days

The record of Korah, Dathan and Abiram with the two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly was faithfully chronicled to pass into history for instruction and admonition upon those on whom the ends of the world are come, to take heed not to follow that example of unbelief. Their tempting of Christ and murmuring brought destruction, and what befell them stands as example and warning for people living in the last days. The account is to be read carefully and prayerfully and studied, for it was preserved especially as a warning to God's people living near the close of time.

The same rebellion and deception will recur until the close of time, and turning people against God's work by portraying its leaders as dishonest follows the same pattern to disaster. Satan leads persons to imitate them by raising insurrection among God's people and rising in opposition to plain testimony and to reproof of wrongs. That reproof includes hurtful indulgences such as tea, coffee, snuff and tobacco, opposed because it would destroy idols, and when undecided between conviction and appetite many let appetite prevail and refuse to deny self. They find relief in warring against straight testimonies and saying the people are all right and that the reproving testimonies make the trouble.

The same spirit appears in criticism, faultfinding and refusal to come under the discipline of God's word, and in resisting direct testimonies with little faith in the messages given. It appears in resisting a message from God and in contempt for His word with defiance of His appointed messengers, applied to resistance to spiritual light and the Holy Spirit. It appears in going on year after year by one's own mind and judgment in the face of all warnings, refusing to hear the voice of the Lord and threatening to sever all connection with brethren unless terms are met. It appears when men without living connection with God resist warnings, try to control others and oppress fellow workers, revealing the attributes of Satan in sending forth an influence contrary to truth and justice and righteousness and doing despite to the Holy Spirit after warnings cast aside again and again.

It is manifested when one institution desires to control all others, and when those who have not shared the labor of God's work rise up and reproach those entrusted with its burden. It is manifested by people who themselves need converting and need to change thoughts and attitude in every way, yet criticize and find mistakes in a work the Lord is guiding and talk to make it appear that mistakes have been made, as instanced in the conduct of Battle Creek leaders. It appears when those having knowledge of the truth take the great leader of apostasy and name him Christ our Righteousness because they have not dug deep into the mines of truth and cannot distinguish precious ore from base material. It appears when two men and their wives claim to undeceive the whole church after more than half a century of light and declare God's messenger a fraud and a deceiver, and the same course is followed by unsanctified men who take advantage of people who will accept almost anyone who can explain the Scriptures.

Genuine rebellion of this kind is hardly ever curable and must be called by its right name as rebellion and apostasy. It is rejecting light and evidence sent from heaven and following another spirit instead of God, walking not in the Lord's light but in sparks of one's own kindling to lie down in sorrow and darkness. Those who cherish that spirit in firm self-complacency, pride, prejudice, backsliding and refusal to hearken while God desires to bless and heal, walk with spiritual eyesight blinded and judgment perverted, in mockery and disgust at God's word. They are left by God to fall into the ditch, in the greatest danger and imperiling their souls, having light but not seeing it and evidence but not acknowledging it. They will have no clear light to discern the preciousness of truth until pride is humbled, confession made that they were not actuated by the Spirit of God, and repentance and conversion sought that God should heal them.

Whoever joins such leaders and walks with them shares their rebellion and will fall with them. Such a course puts appointed authority in a perverted light as all wrong to make it of none effect, deceives and is deceived, strengthens the hands and minds of evildoers, and gathers sympathizers until even honest minds think the rebels right. It strengthens the gainsayer, unsettles minds and shakes faith in the testimonies, labors hard to do the very work Satan is doing and gives him triumph. Even if faith is later recovered nothing is gained because the sown unbelief remains in other minds, in direct opposition to the faith Christ asks whether He will find on earth when He comes. Such a course is charged in the books of heaven to be met in the day of final accounts, and the result testifies who was right and who was wrong.

Dealing With Rebels

The chapter stands as a warning that in an emergency decisive action may be needed to separate evil workers from the Lord's work. Genuine rebellion of this kind is hardly ever curable and must be called by its right name as rebellion and apostasy. When those walking in their own mind year after year against warnings refuse to hear and threaten to sever connection unless terms are met, such threatenings are to be met with firm rectitude and determination rather than consent, for it is better that separation take place, the propositions dishonor the maker, and God calls him to his senses to keep off that ground.

Such accusing work arising in the very midst of God's people, assailing fellow workers and presenting them in a ridiculous light to destroy confidence, love and fellowship toward once-trusted brethren, is an offense to God. It must not be met with silence that leaves people to think their brethren are no longer worthy of love and fellowship. Every charge must be carefully investigated and made certain, accusers must be called to bring proof on every point, those misled must be undeceived and done justice so they are not left uncertain or believing a lie, and every unsubstantiated reproach must be lifted from the guiltless servant. Left unmet, it creates dissension, false sympathy and false impressions that cut off influence, lead others into the same error and endanger souls.

When ministers fail to guard the cause by dealing with wrongdoers as commanded, such rebels develop among believers, following the pattern of those who when faithfully reproved refuse correction and turn sympathy against the reprover. Their disaffection is so deep that it is not cured even when God stretches forth His hand and swallows up the leaders and the people flee in horror. Sacredness of office and all right to claim sacred power to be respected as the voice of God is forfeited when great light is claimed and professed but not fully obeyed, when years of work are mingled with human devisings and selfishness and claims of special exaltation, when God's servants, the oil and the wine, are hurt, and when men God cannot favor are sustained. No leader who follows that course retains any right to entrench himself behind position and demand that his voice be respected as the voice of God.

The rebellious challenge of Dathan and Abiram serves as a pattern for the rebellious course of supporting traitors and being deceived into opposing God. The same kind of rebellion and deception will recur until the close of time.