Numbers 16:29, commentary and pictures

Moses set the proof of his divine commission on the manner of the rebels' death, that if Korah and his company died only an ordinary death shared by all men then he had not been sent by God and had acted from his own mind. The proof was fulfilled at once when the earth opened and swallowed them alive with all belonging to them, which was not the common death but the just wrath of God vindicating Moses and Aaron. What seemed opposition to only a human leader was rebellion against God Himself, repeating on a narrower stage the pride, ambition and envy of Satan's rebellion in heaven. Even at the edge of judgment forgiveness still lingered and the doom could have been stayed by repentance, and though the sympathizing congregation shared the guilt God in mercy distinguished the leaders from those they had led to leave time to repent. The history was preserved as a warning example especially for those living near the close of time, that challenging God's appointed leadership and rejecting His messages risks a special judgment rather than the common death, calling for a clear stand for the Lord instead of sympathizing with rebellion.

Setting and Wording

The verse stands in the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram against Moses, and against Aaron and Jehovah. Their opposition that seemed to be against only a human leader was against God's chosen instrument, and their tempting and murmuring brought destruction. The whole history was faithfully chronicled and preserved as a warning example that people must not follow, calling for careful prayerful study and genuine repentance. It stands especially as a warning against challenging God's appointed leadership, rejecting the messages given to His people, and accusing and condemning those entrusted with the work.

The rebellion involved more than its two leading men, for it included two hundred and fifty princes of the congregation, men of renown, with many sympathizers and a vast number drawn through them. Moses told the congregation to get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram and to touch nothing belonging to them lest they be consumed in their sins. Dathan and Abiram then stood at their tent doors with their wives, sons, and little children. Their course was first to gain the sympathy and confidence of the people and then to turn that influence against appointed leadership, telling deceptive stories that they had been abused when the abuse was on their own side, setting things in a perverted light with false representations, and sowing seeds of doubt toward those in whom the people should have confidence until the people honestly thought the rebels were right and Moses and Aaron were wrong.

The common death means an ordinary death shared by all men. Being visited means being visited only as all men are visited. If these men died only that ordinary death shared by all people, the divine commission failed.

Those who joined the rebels were destroyed by plague before the Lord. Nearly forty years afterward the thirsty congregation in the wilderness murmured against Moses and Aaron and wished they had died with those brethren.

Test and Fulfillment

Moses staked the proof that the Lord had sent him to do all his works, and that he had not acted from his own mind, on the manner in which Korah, Dathan, and Abiram died. If these men died only the common ordinary death shared by all men, or were visited only as all men are visited, his divine commission failed. A merely natural death was thus made the proof against Moses, leaving a miraculous new extraordinary judgment as the proof for him. After telling the congregation to get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram and to touch nothing belonging to them lest they be consumed in their sins, with Dathan and Abiram standing at their tent doors with their wives, sons, and little children, he declared this test openly. Their rebellion against the message God had given Moses was provoking the Lord, and the threatened extraordinary punishment stands as a fearful example of how the Lord will punish the rebellious.

The test was fulfilled at once when the earth opened and swallowed them alive with all that belonged to them. This was not the common death but an extraordinary special visitation, the just wrath of God, showing that they had provoked the Lord. The signal manifestation of God's power gave overwhelming evidence that removed all uncertainty that Moses was right and the rebels were wrong, vindicating Moses and Aaron and sustaining Aaron in the high-priestly office. Even after Moses entreated Israel to flee the coming destruction, that judgment could still have been stayed if Korah and his company had repented and sought forgiveness, but their stubborn persistence sealed their doom. Although the whole congregation shared the guilt by sympathizing to a greater or less degree, God in great mercy distinguished between the leaders in rebellion and those they had led, still granting the deceived people space to repent and seek forgiveness.

The episode shows that work done from self will not stand while work done in God will endure. God rejects unauthorized self-directed service, and the contrast between common and sacred fire shows that those serving God must be cleansed of selfishness, intemperance, lust, and conceit, and follow the principles God gives rather than trying to improve His plans through grasping or narrow judgment. Opposition in disaffection like that of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram cannot destroy a work that is of God, for such a work will survive rebellion, resistance, and apostasy.

Rebellion Against God

Opposition that looked like resistance to only a human leader was in truth rebellion against God Himself and provoking the Lord, for in rejecting His chosen instrument the rebels rejected Christ as their invisible leader and the Angel who went before the Hebrews, and insulted the Spirit of God. What Moses staked on whether Korah, Dathan, and Abiram died the ordinary death shared by all men or were visited only as all men are visited was proof that he had not acted from his own mind but the Lord had sent him to do all His works, so the threatened extraordinary punishment stands as a fearful example of how the Lord will punish the rebellious. Their being swallowed alive when the earth opened showed that the Lord had sent him and that they had provoked the Lord, vindicating his divine commission.

That rebellion repeats on a narrower stage the rebellion of Satan in heaven, springing from pride and ambition with envy and discontent and desire for position and honor that led Lucifer to complain against the government of God and seek the overthrow of the order established in heaven. Since his fall Satan seeks to infuse that same spirit into men, and he worked on the minds of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram to arouse self-exaltation and excite envy, distrust, and rebellion, and he leads others to copy them by raising insurrection among the people of God. This is done by a wizard-like power and moral infatuation that steels hearts against the influence of the Holy Spirit, into which the deceived enter by their own consent because they place themselves in his power.

The rebels were so deluded as to think themselves righteous while thinking those on whom God had laid the burden of His work were exalted above the people and their counsels and reproofs uncalled for, even regarding those who faithfully reproved their sins as actuated by Satan. Their work was to make God's messages of none effect, being deceived and deceiving others and strengthening the hands and minds of evildoers, setting things before the people in a perverted light with false representations until the people honestly thought the rebels were right and Moses and Aaron were all wrong. That influence drew two hundred and fifty princes, men of renown in the tribes of Israel, and through them a vast number who quoted them, to the pleasure of the enemy of righteousness, leavening minds with distrust, envy, and evil-surmising. Their course was first to gain the sympathy and confidence of the people and then to turn that influence against God's appointed leadership, telling deceptive stories that they had been abused when the abuse was on their own side, and sowing seeds of doubt toward those in whom God would have the people have confidence, while wearing a mild, devoted, religious garb.

Their course reveals separation from God with no living connection and a heart no longer under the subduing power of the Holy Spirit, showing the attributes of Satan in sending forth an influence contrary to truth and justice and righteousness. The example is selfish seeking of personal advantage without bearing burdens or responsibilities, with inward disloyalty ready to follow open rebellion when a favorable opportunity is presented, and fraudulent hidden dealing that may be concealed from brethren generally but which God marks to reward finally according to works with special divine judgment rather than the common death of all men. It is seen in oppressing fellow workers and in one institution seeking to control all others, in despising revealed guidance, and in those who draw away from the body, accuse their fellow believers, and use errors in the church to promote themselves. Men in weighty responsibilities who act thus do despite to the Holy Spirit and cast aside warnings sent from God again and again while venturing on in the same course, and a corrupt heart at war with God's appointed work draws sympathizers who cling to the rebel leader and spreads a dark influence that draws followers into darkness.

Rebellion so deceives the mind that even after marked judgment destroyed the leaders and princes, the survivors still blamed Moses and charged him with killing the Lord's people, driven by stubborn confidence that their own judgment was better and resisting clear evidence of God's judgment. The destruction that fell was not the common death of all men but the just wrath of God upon sinners against the Lord, yet disaffection manifested even under judgment, with sin, exultation, and presumptuous wickedness, brings further destruction of thousands more. Only after added evidence, as of Aaron's rod, did Israel see their past rebellion in its true light and become terrified at their fate to die in the wilderness, confessing that Moses and Aaron were right, that they themselves had sinned in rebelling against their authority, and that Korah and those who perished with him had justly suffered. Those who cannot see reproof in its true light should hold their peace and let the arrows of the Almighty fall where He directs, rather than complaining with rebels, influencing others to stand in rebellion, sympathizing with wrongdoers, charging faithful servants who correct the erring with unkindness, or standing between the offender and God.

By such rebellion Korah, Dathan, and Abiram forfeited all right to claim sacred power and to be respected as the voice of God. The same forfeiture applies to claiming great light while not obeying it at all, mingling the work with human devisings and selfishness and the claim of being especially exalted of God, hurting God's servants, the oil and the wine, and sustaining men God could not favor. Entrenching behind the sacredness of power as president of the General Conference to demand respect as the voice of God in that condition is therefore without right, just as verily as their rebellion forfeited theirs.

Mercy Before Judgment

Moses staked his divine commission on whether these men would die only an ordinary death shared by all or be cut off by an extraordinary judgment, so that a merely common end would have meant he had not been sent. In that near judgment Jesus, the Angel going before the Hebrews, was seeking to save them from destruction, with forgiveness still lingering and the nearness of judgment itself appealing to them to repent. That fulfillment came as a special, irresistible interference from heaven to arrest their rebellion, and responding to that interposition of providence could still have saved them. The judgment could still have been stayed even then if Korah and his company had repented and sought forgiveness, but their stubborn persistence sealed their doom.

Although the whole congregation shared the guilt by sympathizing with the rebels to a greater or less degree, in great mercy a distinction was made between the leaders in rebellion and those they had led. The visitation of judgment displayed divine power, while sparing the congregation showed long-suffering. That sparing left the deceived people time and space to repent and seek forgiveness.

Fleeing from the judgments through fear of destruction did not cure rebellion. The people fled to their tents in horror when the hand was stretched forth to swallow up the wrongdoers, proving the Lord had sent Moses. Those who fled returned that night terrified but not repentant. Manifesting disaffection even under judgment, with sin and exultation and presumptuous wickedness, brings further destruction of thousands more.

Warning for Later Times

The record of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram was faithfully chronicled and preserved in history as a warning example that God's people must not follow. It was written especially for admonition for those living near the close of time, upon whom the ends of the world are come. It calls for careful and prayerful study and reflection, for review in present experience, and for genuine repentance. Unbelief and rebellion and unwise conduct in that chapter stand as the conduct to be shunned.

To challenge God's appointed leadership and to reject the messages given to His people brings disastrous results. Hidden fraudulent dealing and inward disloyalty ready for open rebellion are marked by God and will finally be rewarded according to works with special divine judgment rather than the common death of all men. Those who reject the light of the Lord and oppose His work risk sharing the rebels' end. If a critical, faultfinding spirit is not changed, the same kind of experience may occur again among God's people.

The same spirit is repeated whenever His people refuse light through firm self-complacency and unwillingness to accept and acknowledge truth. It appears in pride that must be humbled and confessed, in prejudice and backsliding, in unsanctified independence that insults the Spirit of God, and in contempt and mockery and disgust for the word of the Lord. It appears in blindness of eyes and perversion of judgment, in lightness and trifling, in going on year after year in one's own mind and judgment in the face of all warnings and refusing to hear the voice of the Lord. It distorts God's messages and makes them of none effect by perverted light and false representations, until people honestly think the rebels are right and Moses and Aaron are all wrong. It distrusts the men God is teaching, guiding, and leading, weakens faith in God's instrumentalities, criticizes management God is guiding, threatens to sever all connection unless dishonoring terms are accepted, pushes ambitious projects with little faith while pride is hurt by straight testimonies, and claims to discern right from wrong while opposing the Spirit. Those not in the light will not acknowledge God's messenger in his proper position nor heed the testimony, and unless every soul repents and is converted to be healed, they will lose clear light to discern the preciousness of truth, walk in darkness and in sparks of their own kindling, have the candlestick removed, and lie down in sorrow, while God remains with His faithful messenger in grace and power. Such influence draws the two hundred and fifty princes, men of renown, and through them a vast number who quote them, to the pleasure of the enemy of righteousness, and one who does that same work stands as firm as they stood, has it charged in the books of heaven, and will meet in the day of final accounts not only his own course but the result of his influence upon other minds. Planting doubt in this way leavens other minds with distrust, envy, and evil-surmising, gives Satan advantage, creates lack of confidence that is hard to uproot, and brings upon the doubters an experience similar to that of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, drawing sympathizers into darkness and war against the third angel's work.

That repetition has taken specific forms in warring against plain testimony and straight testimonies against hurtful indulgences such as tea, coffee, snuff, and tobacco. There appetite is allowed to prevail until the sense of sacred things is perverted, self is refused no denial whatever the consequence, a wall of separation rises from those cleansing themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord, and the disaffected rally the spiritually defective, the lame, the halt, and the blind to unfurl a banner of rebellion and scatter discord while claiming the people are all right and the reproving testimonies make the trouble. It has taken form in receiving precious points of truth such as the Sabbath all prepared to hand without toil, sacrifice, privation, and trial, and then showing gratitude by rising up and reproaching those who labored to bring the truth out. It has taken form in contempt for God's word and resistance to the Spirit at Minneapolis, bringing spiritual darkness and the threat of divine judgment unless there is repentance. It has taken form when two men and their wives claimed to undeceive the whole church after more than half a century of light given through testimonies of the Spirit. It has taken form in Battle Creek managers acting in self-importance and self-sufficiency to control other institutions, in a critical faultfinding spirit, in leaders separated from God who reject warnings, resist authority, and oppress others, and in one institution seeking to control all others.

The required response is decisive action against evil workers, for had God's servants separated them from the Lord's work years earlier they would have been honored by God. People must take a clear stand for the Lord and the truth rather than support rebellion or be deceived by persuasive words, since genuine rebellion of this kind is hardly curable and must be called by its right name as rebellion and apostasy. They must sink the shaft deep into the mines of truth to distinguish precious ore from base material, heed the cautions about false prophets with heresies who would deceive even the elect, distinguish the voice of the true Shepherd from that of a stranger, and know claimants by their fruits. Accusations against those appointed to God's work must be answered with evidence and carefully investigated rather than left unresolved, with proof required. They must refuse to complain with rebels, to influence others to stand in rebellion, to sympathize with wrongdoers, to charge faithful servants who correct the erring with unkindness or with killing the Lord's people, or to stand between the offender and God; those who cannot see reproof in its true light should hold their peace and let the arrows of the Almighty fall where He directs. Those who persist in evil must undergo a decisive change of heart and be converted in thought and attitude to work in Christ's lines, or they will not see God.