Numbers 16:18, commentary and pictures

The verse describes the carrying out of the test Moses set after unjust accusations, when at his word Korah and his company of 250 came the next day each with his own censer holding fire and incense and stood together with Moses and Aaron in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. Those 250 were princes of the congregation and prominent leaders who stood with censers against Moses and Aaron to put their claim to priestly authority before God for judgment, while the congregation gathered expecting their victory over Aaron. Their opposition to Moses and Aaron was in fact rebellion against Jehovah and rejection of His chosen instruments, working out on a narrower stage the same pride, ambition and envy that prompted Satan's rebellion in heaven. The account was faithfully chronicled to pass into history as a warning for God's people in the last days against unbelief, rebellion, and accusing those on whom God has laid the burden of the work. It warns that God will not accept common fire of one's own kindling, but requires sacred fire kindled by God, for work done in self will not endure while work done in God will stand.

Test at Tabernacle

The test came after unjust accusations had greatly moved Moses to appeal to God before the people for judgment on whether he had ever acted arbitrarily, while the people in general stood disaffected by misrepresentations. At his word Korah and his company of two hundred and fifty, with Aaron, came before the Lord the next day, each man with his own censer holding fire and incense, and stood together with Moses and Aaron in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. Their coming with censers and incense belonged to the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram against Moses and Aaron, which ended disastrously for them and for those they influenced.

The two hundred and fifty were princes of the congregation, men of renown and prominent leaders, with Korah leading them as they stood with censers against Moses and Aaron. They brought their censers into the tabernacle court and stood there while the congregation gathered to witness what they expected would be their victory over Aaron. Instead the glory of the Lord appeared, and Moses and Aaron fell on their faces to plead that God would spare the congregation from judgment.

Their bringing of censers with fire and incense to the entrance and standing there with Moses and Aaron was a challenge to appointed priesthood and leadership carried out through a sacred ritual. By that act they put their claim to priestly authority before God for judgment.

Rebels' Claims and Tactics

Korah and his allies stood with censers at the tabernacle door on the open charge that Moses and Aaron had seized authority that belonged equally to all, insisting the whole congregation was holy and the Lord was among them. In that challenge they trusted their own judgment over Moses' leadership and pressed their claim to the priesthood itself.

Envy, ambition, pride and self-confidence had deceived them until Korah thought the congregation very righteous and already holy with no need to be told to be holy. In the same deception they judged Moses a tyrannical ruler for continually insisting on their holiness and reminding them of their sins, regarding faithful reprovers of sin as actuated by Satan while thinking themselves righteous.

They flattered the people that they were right and laid all their troubles to Moses. They persuaded them that Moses alone had told them they could not go into the land and that the Lord had not said it. They promised that if Korah led them by praising their righteous acts instead of reminding them of their failures, they would have a peaceful, prosperous journey straight into the promised land instead of wandering back and forward in the wilderness.

Their method was first to gain the sympathy and confidence of souls perishing for truth who will accept almost anyone who can explain the Scriptures. Then they insinuated against those in whom the people should have confidence, telling a deceptive story that they were abused men when the abuse and imposition was on the other side. They set things before the people in a perverted light with false representations against Moses and Aaron, so the people honestly thought the rebels were right, and held God's appointed workers up in a ridiculous light so that people lost confidence in them as no longer worthy of love and fellowship. Once their words were received they continued to sow seeds of doubt, strengthening evildoers and drawing a vast number after them.

Their stubborn self-confidence and disaffection did not end when God's judgment struck the leaders. Even after God stretched forth His hand and swallowed up the wrongdoers while the people fled to their tents in horror, the rebellion was not cured. The survivors wrongly accused Moses of killing the Lord's people, proving the depth of the disaffection.

Rebellion Against God

Opposition to Moses and Aaron at the censers was in fact rebellion against Jehovah, for in rejecting God's chosen instrument the challengers rejected Christ their invisible leader and insulted the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God. They murmured against Moses and Aaron yet blasphemed God, while being so deluded as to believe they were serving God and to think themselves righteous. Their sin was rebellion against the Lord, judgment followed close upon it, and Korah and those who perished with him justly suffered God's wrath.

What was worked out on that narrower stage was the same spirit that led to Satan's rebellion in heaven. Pride and ambition had prompted Lucifer to complain of the government of God and to seek the overthrow of the order established in heaven, and since his fall Satan has sought to infuse the same envy and discontent and the same ambition for position and honor into men. He worked on Korah, Dathan and Abiram to arouse desire for self-exaltation and to excite envy, distrust and rebellion, causing them to reject God as their leader by rejecting the men of God's appointment. So deluded were they as to regard those who faithfully reproved their sins as actuated by Satan.

They were deceived by Satan by their own consent, because they placed themselves in his power through a moral infatuation that steels the heart against the influence of the Holy Spirit. Satan deluded them to think they were opposing only a human leader, a man like themselves. Genuine extended rebellion of this kind, involving far more than two men — here two hundred and fifty princes of the congregation, men of renown, each with his censer standing against Moses and Aaron — is hardly ever curable and must be called by its right name as rebellion and apostasy.

By a terrible manifestation of divine judgment in the destruction of Korah and his company, in which those who rebelled died before the Lord by plague, God upheld and sustained Aaron in the holy office and sacred consecration of high priest. The same spirit appears just as soon as a man separates from God and his heart is no longer under the subduing power of the Holy Spirit. It then reveals the attributes of Satan in beginning to oppress fellow men, with an influence going forth contrary to truth and justice and righteousness. It is doing despite to the Holy Spirit, the very same spirit shown by the Jews in the days of Christ, persisting in the same course even after warnings have come from God again and again and have been cast aside. It is manifested in the relation of workers to one another and in the desire of one institution to control all others, by men entrusted with weighty responsibilities but having no living connection with God.

Warning for Last Days

The record of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, including tempting Christ and murmuring that brought destruction by serpents and by the destroyer, was faithfully chronicled to pass into history as a warning against unbelief and rebellion and against accusing and condemning those on whom God has laid the burden of the work. It was written for the instruction and admonition of God's people in the last days, especially those living near the close of time and upon whom the ends of the world are come. The history warns to learn from Israel and to repent rather than repeat its folly, for the rebellion involved far more than three men, with 250 prominent leaders joining it.

Satan leads persons to imitate Korah, Dathan and Abiram by raising insurrection among God's people and rising in opposition to plain testimony. Those who do so become self-deceived, thinking those upon whom God laid the burden of the work exalt themselves above the people and that their counsels and reproofs are uncalled for. They oppose the plain testimony God would have His servants bear in rebuking wrongs among God's people, war against straight testimonies, strive to make themselves and others believe they are untrue, and claim the people are all right and the reproving testimonies make the trouble. The same parallel warns against rejecting God's messengers and the message they bring, resisting light, and acting with pride, prejudice, criticism and distrust toward those God is leading.

They war against straight testimony because it would destroy their idols, especially testimony against hurtful indulgences such as tea, coffee, snuff and tobacco. Many waver between conviction of truth and self-indulgence until appetite prevails, their sense of sacred things perverted by slow poisons, deciding at any cost not to deny self whatever the consequence. They raise a wall of separation between themselves and those cleansing themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit and perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord, and the straight testimonies cause them uneasiness so they war against them. 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.

The experience is repeated by bringing confusion, misinterpreting and misapplying God's words and warnings, and twisting Scripture to support one's own theories. It is repeated by feeding the flock errors that cause them to go astray, so instruction appropriate at the present time is needed to keep the whole flock from being led astray. The same kind of rebellion and deception can recur, so people who know the truth must choose whom they will serve and stand faithfully on the Lord's side rather than follow rebels and repeat Israel's folly.

Zeal and a claim to special light and to being especially exalted of God do not make a message true when it draws people away from the agents God is leading and divides the church. Even prominent people may oppose truth, and contempt for God's word with an unrepentant, self-willed, unsanctified independence brings spiritual darkness and judgment unless there is repentance. Resisting God's appointed messengers and rejecting the message He sends shows that same contempt and unsanctified independence.

The same rebellion recurs when people receive the Sabbath and precious points of truth all prepared to their hand, costing them nothing while costing others much toil and sacrifice to bring out, then show gratitude by reproaching those leaders. It recurs when workers criticize and find mistakes in a work the Lord is guiding to make it appear wrong, developing the same rebellious traits of character and proving the need to change thoughts and attitude in every way to work in Christ's lines. It recurs when ministers speak hasty unadvised words, foster self-esteem, bear false witness when they think misused, leaven minds with distrust, weaken faith in God's instrumentalities, question men God is teaching and leading, plant seeds of doubt that destroy confidence, and manifest no confidence in ministering brethren, thereby giving Satan advantage to create distrust, envy and evil-surmising. It recurs when a party draws away from the body, accuses fellow believers and uses members' errors to build itself up, when corruption and rebellion hidden under a mild, devoted, religious garb clings to rebellious leaders whose influence draws followers into darkness every time and stands at war with the third angel's work and the visions, and when conduct parallels the oppression and controlling spirit of unconverted leaders who lack a living connection with God.

Genuine extended rebellion of this kind, involving far more than two men with two hundred and fifty princes of the congregation, men of renown, each with his censer standing against Moses and Aaron, is hardly ever curable and must be called by its right name as rebellion and apostasy. Those with knowledge of the truth who separate from their great Leader will 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, the false from the genuine, or the true Shepherd's voice from a stranger's. Those so misled must humble themselves before God and sincerely repent for being so easily led astray, and must test claimants by fruits rather than letting two men and their wives undeceive the whole church after more than half a century of light.

Holy Service and Duty

The chapter warns that service must use God's holy fire, not fire of one's own kindling. Work offered through self and work done in self will not stand or endure, but work done in God will stand and endure. God will not accept common fire, for His service requires sacred fire kindled by God, which consumes selfishness and other common traits.

To join that rebellion is to walk not in the Lord's light but in the sparks of one's own kindling. It means going on year after year in the face of all warnings to do according to one's own mind and judgment, refusing to hear the Lord's voice and threatening to sever all connection with brethren unless they consent to one's terms. Those who take that path imperil their souls though they have light and evidence, and they will be left as Korah, Dathan and Abiram were left, falling into the ditch and lying down in darkness.

Though they claimed great light, Korah, Dathan and Abiram forfeited all right to claim sacred power and authority because they did not obey the light but mingled their work with men's devisings and selfishness and hurt God's servants. A leader who follows that same course forfeits all right to entrench himself behind sacredness of office and to demand that his voice or the Conference voice be respected as God's voice.

The crisis shows God's servants must act decisively against evil workers, and separating them from the Lord's work would honor God. If ministers and workers had faithfully dealt with wrongdoers such rebels would not have developed among them. Dangerous ground of this kind must be met with firm rectitude and determination rather than yielding from fear. When servants of God do the disagreeable duty of correcting the erring, those without that burden must not stand between offender and God but hold peace and let God's arrows fall where He directs to pierce souls with little sense of sin.

Such a work of assailing God's appointed workers, arising in the very midst of God's people and holding them up in a ridiculous light so that people lose confidence in them, is an offense to God and must not be met with silence. Accusers must be called to bring proof on every point, and every charge must be carefully investigated. Unsupported reproach must be cleared away, so the people are not left in uncertainty thinking it may be true or may not be true or believing a lie.

Refusing the messages God gives and laboring to make them of none effect, while being deceived and deceiving others, strengthens the hands and minds of evildoers and draws a vast number after them. In that case it drew 250 princes, men of renown, who made a firm stand and set things before the people in a perverted light with false representations against Moses and Aaron so the people honestly thought the rebels were right. The result in the end proves who is right and who is wrong. Those who follow this course will in the final accounts meet not only their own actions but the result of their influence on other minds as charged in heaven's books, unless the sin is confessed and goes beforehand to judgment to be blotted out when the refreshing comes. Yet opposition of this kind cannot overcome a work truly of God, and wrongdoing that may be hidden from people is seen by God who repays each according to deeds.

Self-exaltation and striving for credit appear even among those honored with part in the work, as when Aaron was made mouthpiece for Moses and Aaron and Miriam, because honored with a part, thought they were equal to Moses and indeed an essential part of the whole. They felt credit should be given to them and that Moses should not have all the honor. The case of Korah, Dathan and Abiram is to be studied in these last days unto admonition.