Numbers 16:3, commentary and pictures

Korah, Dathan and Abiram with two hundred and fifty princes and many followers gathered in deliberate conspiracy against Moses and Aaron to overthrow the order God had established through them. Their charge that the leaders seized too much authority and lifted themselves above the people falsely accused them of usurping control and denying liberty, when God Himself had set Moses as visible governor under Christ and given the priesthood to Aaron and his sons. Their plea that the whole congregation was already holy and the Lord was among them flattered a people in darkness and wrong to make reproof seem needless and to demand equality of office and independence. Gathering against God's appointed men was rebellion against the Lord Himself, repeating the envy, ambition and deceptive working that caused Satan's fall in heaven. The destruction of the leaders and the confirming of Aaron showed who was holy, and the history stands as warning that the same self-exalting resistance to correction and to plain testimony will not endure.

Rebels, Offices, and Motives

Korah, Dathan and Abiram gathered together against Moses and against Aaron with two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, men of renown and famous men. They were joined by many sympathizers and followers drawn to their side by influence and deceptive reasoning working upon minds. The rebellion spread jealousy, suspicion and hatred through the congregation, with God distinguishing the instigators from those deceived or led by them.

The chief rebels were rulers in Israel honored and placed in positions of trust. Korah was connected with the service of the tabernacle but was not satisfied with his position. The Levites had been honored because they took no part in making and worshiping the golden calf and faithfully executed God's order upon the idolaters, being given the work of erecting the tabernacle and encamping around it while Israel pitched at a distance, and of taking it down and carrying it with the ark and all the sacred furniture when Israel journeyed, with guarding and carrying the tabernacle. That honor they turned into ambition for still higher office and greater influence with the congregation.

God had established the order they opposed. Moses was chief governor and God's appointed visible leader, connected with Israel through peril and bearing their discontent, jealousies and murmurings without retaliation. Above him the invisible Leader of Israel was the Son of God, whose presence went before them and conducted all their travels, while Moses received his directions from Christ as the Angel. The priesthood with its dignity and authority had been given to Aaron and his sons and conferred upon Aaron's family, with Aaron honored by sacred consecration as high priest in his holy office. God later confirmed that distinction by making Aaron's rod blossom, showing that God and not Moses had distinguished him from the other tribes.

The motive was ambition for the priesthood and government and place as commanders. Korah was not satisfied and determined to compel Moses to change the order so he himself might be raised to the dignity of the priesthood. He drew Dathan and Abiram, descendants of Reuben, into rebellion, who reasoned that as descendants of Jacob's eldest son the chief civil authority belonged to them and that Moses had usurped it for his own advantage. All were determined to have a share in the priesthood and the government and its honors and to be on a level with their brethren. Jealousy turned to envy and then to rebellion as they talked about the position of Moses as ruler until they imagined it enviable and that any of them could fill it as well, deceiving themselves into thinking Moses and Aaron had placed themselves in office and taken priesthood and government to their own house alone.

The outbreak was a deliberate conspiracy to overthrow the authority of leaders appointed by God, unlike earlier rebellions that arose as sudden popular tumults. Rebellion was secretly worked in the congregation before breaking open, for God knew Korah was rebellious at heart and was secretly working against Moses before his rebellion developed. Matters were presented in a perverted light so that followers honestly believed the accusations, though the outcome showed who was right and who was wrong.

Meaning of the Accusation

The cry that the two leaders took too much upon themselves meant they were accused of seizing and assuming too much authority, usurping control, and lifting themselves above the congregation while denying the people liberty and independence. It painted them as overbearing, harsh, exacting, dictatorial and unyielding rulers who reproved a righteous people as though they were sinners. It made them chargeable for all the disasters, strait places and deaths in the wilderness that came through murmuring and disobedience. It also took the form of misrepresentation and imaginative complaint, told both to those who knew the leaders and to those newly come to the faith, that talented workers were set down in a corner and hid without attention for what they gave, and that credit for ability and soul put into the work was taken by others. The accusation claimed wisdom to discern the true reason for the trials, that God had opened the matter and laid the burden of changing the government before it was too late, and grew confident from success in drawing the larger part of the congregation and uniting discordant elements that this usurpation threatened the prosperity and salvation of Israel.

The plea that all the congregation were holy, every one of them, meant that Moses and Aaron were no more holy than the people. It claimed every member was holy and sanctified and equally favored with God's peculiar presence and protection. It flattered Israel when they were in darkness and wrong and deserved reproof, gaining ears and then sympathies by praising them as holy with the Lord among them. Korah cherished envy and rebellion until he deceived himself and truly believed the people were very righteous, so that the constant demand that they be holy seemed needless.

The added plea that the Lord was among them, with the question why the leaders lifted themselves above the congregation of the Lord, demanded why office should be confined to one house. It insisted it was sufficient to be on a level with the brethren, that Moses had no greater authority or special work than the rest. It insisted the people were not at fault but righteous, that talk of their murmuring bringing the wrath of God was a mistake, and that they only wanted their rights and individual independence. It promised instead a peaceful, prosperous journey straight into the promised land rather than wandering back and forth in the wilderness, dwelling on righteous acts instead of reminders of failure and sin.

The whole charge was false and self-deceived, born as jealousy turning to envy and then to discontent and rebellion. The rebels talked about the position of Moses as ruler until they imagined it enviable and that any of them could fill it as well as he. Giving themselves up to discontent they deceived themselves into thinking Moses and Aaron had placed themselves in office and had taken the priesthood and the government to their own house alone. They falsely blamed Moses for Israel's troubles and for keeping the people from the land, flattering the people that all troubles came from constant reminders of sin. They rejected the sentence that they could not enter the land as the word of Moses alone, denying that the Lord had said it.

Rebellion Against God Himself

Gathering together against Moses and against Aaron was rebellion against the Lord Himself, for the Lord had laid special responsibilities upon them by choosing them to lead and by conferring dignity and authority upon Aaron's priesthood, with Moses as the visible leader who bore peril, discontent, jealousies and murmurings without retaliation while receiving directions from Christ as the Angel, and above him the Son of God as the invisible Leader whose presence went before Israel and conducted all their travels. The rebels believed they were opposing only human leaders and serving God, yet in rejecting God's chosen instrument they rejected Christ and insulted the Holy Spirit. That rejection was contempt for the word of the Lord and for His messengers and message, and murmuring against Moses and Aaron was blasphemy against God. Firm self-complacency, pride, prejudice, backsliding and unsanctified independence refused to acknowledge light, humble the heart, confess wrong and heed testimony while claiming to be in the light, and despising the messenger was despising God who places His worker in position and sustains him by grace and power. So deluded were the rebels that they thought themselves righteous and regarded those who faithfully reproved their sins as actuated by Satan.

The outbreak repeats on a narrower stage the same spirit that led to Satan's rebellion in heaven, when Lucifer complained against the government of God and sought to overthrow the order established in heaven. Since his fall Satan seeks to put the same envy and discontent and the same ambition for position and honor into men, and he worked on Korah, Dathan and Abiram to stir desire for self-exaltation and to excite envy, distrust and rebellion. Clothed with angel robes he led them then, and he stands ready now to take any number of disaffected ones and start rebellion, working with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in minds that perish. That latter-day apostasy is of the same piece as the outbreak in the camp of Israel, claimed as the Holy Spirit while wrought by satanic agencies in unbelief and apostasy opposing Christ, who came to put down rebellion and not to aid it. Entry came only by the rebels' own consent, because they placed themselves in Satan's power.

The method was deceptive reasoning working upon minds until two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, men of renown and famous men, were drawn to join against Moses and Aaron on the charge of assuming too much authority over a holy congregation with the Lord among them. Flattery gained ears and then sympathies by praising the people as holy and sanctified when they were in darkness and wrong and deserved reproof. Matters were presented in a perverted light so that followers honestly believed the accusations, though the outcome showed who was right and who was wrong. Those in rebellion worked secretly and in darkness, refusing to go directly to those against whom they had a matter, and instead spread falsehoods, enmity, evil-surmisings and satanic misrepresentations to gain sympathy, just as Satan did with the angels under him, sowing distrust, envy, doubt and discord and persuading others to reject leadership through accusations of dishonesty. They resisted evidence that they were wrong, and their disaffection drew many others after them, including prominent leaders.

The secret cause was unwillingness to submit to the Lord's directions and restrictions, with restlessness under restraint and unwillingness to receive reproof; had they been left free to do as they pleased there would have been fewer complaints against their leader, and the same spirit of resistance has met God's servants all through the history of the church. Hostility to correction distorted judgment so that sinful men whom God had repeatedly corrected were defended, wrong was defended and those who reproved it were treated as offenders, even regarding the destroyed rebels afterward as martyrs and blaming Moses for their deaths. The people insisted they were not at fault but righteous, that talk of their murmuring bringing the wrath of God was a mistake, and that they only wanted their rights and individual independence with a peaceful, prosperous journey straight into the promised land instead of wandering back and forth in the wilderness. Korah cherished envy and rebellion until he deceived himself and truly believed the people were very righteous, Moses was a tyrannical, overbearing, harsh, exacting, dictatorial and unyielding ruler who reproved a righteous people as sinners, Moses's constant demand that the congregation be holy was needless because they were holy, and all disasters, strait places and deaths came from Moses constantly reminding them of their sins. They rejected the sentence that they could not enter the land as the word of Moses alone, denying that the Lord had said it, and falsely blamed Moses for keeping Israel from the land while claiming wisdom to discern the true reason for trials and a burden laid on Korah to change the government before it was too late.

Judgment and Last-Day Warning

The Lord's answer to the gathering against Moses and Aaron was judgment that made plain who belonged to Him and who was truly holy, and that upheld Aaron in his holy office. The leaders of the rebellion were destroyed and died before the Lord by plague, a terrible manifestation of divine judgment, while God distinguished between the instigators and those who had been deceived or led by them. Aaron's appointment to the priesthood was confirmed by the miracle of his blossoming rod, which showed that God and not Moses had set Aaron apart from the other tribes, the priesthood having been conferred by the Lord upon Aaron's family with sacred consecration as high priest. Through Aaron's intercession the plague was afterward stayed. Forty years later at Kadesh the thirsting congregation still murmured against Moses and Aaron for lack of water, called that destroyed company their brethren, and wished they had died with them in that judgment.

The whole experience with all its objectionable features was faithfully chronicled to pass into history, written for instruction and learning and recorded as admonition for those upon whom the ends of the world are come, especially for people living near the close of time. It is to be read carefully and prayerfully, reviewed and studied, with rebellion called by its right name and apostasy by its right name as a warning against being led astray by men who claim to undeceive the whole church. The outbreak in the camp is of the same piece as latter-day apostasy, showing there is no middle ground. Those who deny the leading of the Holy Spirit and are led by agencies of evil will face judgment and the sentence of death.

Stubbornness did not end with the destruction of the leaders and princes, for the survivors blamed Moses for the deaths and accused him of killing the Lord's people. After the rebels were destroyed the people still blamed Moses and regarded the dead men as martyrs, judging Moses to be harming Israel and insisting their own judgment was right. This shows how fixed opinions can deceive, how hostility to correction distorts judgment so that wrong is defended and reprovers are treated as offenders, and how people may become so deceived that even marked judgments fail to change their minds. Such hopeless genuine rebellion, extended far beyond a few men to two hundred and fifty princes of renown, is questioned whether it is ever curable, and those who repeat such unwise conduct need genuine repentance.

The chapter warns that service mixed with self and self-exaltation will not stand or endure, while work done in God will endure. It therefore distinguishes God's appointed work from self-exalting opposition to it, and calls for decisive action to separate evil workers from that work. Resistance of this kind cannot destroy a work that is of God. God's servants would have been honored for such faithfulness in guarding the work.

Repeating the Pattern Today

The same rebellion is committed now by refusing the plain straight testimony God gives through His appointed messenger and laboring to make it of no effect, which strengthens the gainsayer, unsettles minds and faith, and spreads its influence through vast numbers who quote the rebel. Acted over again at Minneapolis it meant firm self-complacency, pride, prejudice, backsliding and unsanctified independence refusing light, refusing to humble the heart, to confess wrong and to heed testimony, while claiming to be in the light. That course brings blindness of eyes and perverted judgment, mockery and lightness with jesting and joking, insult to the Spirit of God, and walking in sparks of one's own kindling to lie down in sorrow. Unless there is repentance, conversion and confession that mind and heart were not actuated by the Spirit of God, God will not heal the backsliding and will remove the candlestick out of its place, for despising the messenger is despising God who placed His worker and sustains him by grace and power. It is rejection of the third angel's message, and even if faith is afterward recovered the impressions of unbelief left in others cannot be removed.

The claim that God's people are already holy is still placed between plain testimony and the people to oppose rebuking sin, correcting wrongs and separating the corrupt from the pure. Complacent watchmen use it to dismiss warnings as excessive, seeking peace and ease rather than vigilance and labor, while resisters distort Scripture and warnings to defend their theories. The self-deceived insurrection excuses hurtful indulgences such as tea, coffee, snuff and tobacco, and those who will not deny self and sacrifice appetite raise a wall of separation between themselves and those cleansing themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit. When they unfurl their banner all the disaffected and spiritually defective rally around it to scatter discord, and their complaints against corrective testimonies and exactness place them with those who murmured against Moses.

The pattern exposes ingratitude in those who did not toil, sacrifice, suffer privation, search the evidences, pray earnestly and agonizingly for light, and labor night and day to bring out precious truths in clearness, but receive points already prepared to their hand like the Sabbath truth and then turn to reproach the burden-bearers. Such a strong spirit is a stranger to gratitude, will not yield to reason, and leads on to its own destruction. It misrepresents leaders as taking credit for ability and soul that helpers put into the work, lifting themselves above the congregation while all are holy and the Lord is among them, complaining both to those who know the leaders and to those newly come to the faith that talented workers are set down in a corner and hid without attention for what they gave. As with Aaron and Miriam honored with a part in the work as mouthpiece and helpers, they think themselves equal and very essential to the great whole, feel credit should be given to them, think Moses should not have all the honor, and seek credit and supremacy.

The pattern appears in separating, independent action, threatening to sever all connection with brethren unless one's own terms are accepted, persisting year after year in doing according to one's own mind and judgment, and refusing to hear the voice of the Lord in the face of all warnings. It claims God has spoken through them while accusing others of taking too much authority, treating personal judgment as superior, and such division and confusion is Satan's work rather than God's. It separates from the body to carry major responsibilities independently, resents that its judgment is not given honor, and opposes God's order rather than rendering faithful service. It entrenches itself behind sacredness of power and claims to be especially exalted of God with great light whose voice is to be respected as the voice of God, when all right to that claim is forfeited by professing to believe and respect the light without obeying it all, mingling the work for years with men's devisings and selfishness, hurting God's servants, and sustaining men whom God cannot favor. When the heart is not under the subduing power of the Holy Spirit that separation reveals the attributes of Satan in beginning to oppress fellow men, with an influence contrary to truth and justice and righteousness, seen in workers toward one another and in the desire of one institution to control all others, in men entrusted with weighty responsibilities who have no living connection with God, who cast aside warnings given again and again and venture on in the same course.

The pattern appears in criticism and self-esteem that resists correction, insists on personal opinions, strives to be first and puts personal interests ahead of God's work. It criticizes and finds fault so that leaders appear mistaken when the critics themselves need change, manifests no confidence in ministering brethren, leavens minds with distrust, and plants hard-to-uproot doubt about men God is teaching and leading. Driven by selfish interests and self-exalting conceited judgment, it tries to improve on God's plans instead of hiding self in God, bears false witness against brethren by those who think they have been misused, weakens faith in God's instrumentalities, and gives occasion for others to question in turn. Such a proud, rebellious course by men entrusted with work who failed in duty is grave sin, and following its deception can bring the same kind of destructive experience.

Such accusing work rising in the very midst of God's people against those God appointed, assailing them and holding them up in a ridiculous light so brethren in whom confidence had been placed are thought no longer worthy of love and fellowship, misleads the people and is an offense to God. It must not be passed over in silence or judged by human feeling that sympathizes with the wrongdoer against God's servant; when servants do the disagreeable duty of correcting the erring, those without that burden must not stand between offender and God but hold their peace and let conviction fall where God directs. Ministers must deal faithfully with wrongdoers to guard truth from stigma and reproach, for the rebellion is deep disaffection, exultation and presumptuous wickedness not cured even by God's judgment. Every charge must be openly investigated with accusers called to bring proof on every point so no lie is left uncertain and filthy garments are removed, evil workers must be decisively separated from that work, and a clear stand taken for the Lord, since separation is better than yielding to dishonoring propositions.