Numbers 16:5, commentary and pictures

Tomorrow the Lord himself will make known who belongs to him and who is holy, and the one he has chosen he will bring near to himself. Moses gave that answer in anguish when Korah charged him, appointing the next day for the proof by censers with fire and incense before the Lord, where only those God appointed were authorized to minister. The test settled that sacred office belongs to God's choice and not to human ambition or self-claim. To rise against Moses and Aaron in this matter was to rise against Jehovah himself, repeating on a narrower stage Satan's prideful rebellion against God's government in heaven. That history was faithfully chronicled as instruction and admonition for those on whom the ends of the world are come, warning God's people near the close of time against persisting in the same rebellious, critical spirit to disastrous results.

Rebellion Setting and Test

Moses fell on his face in anguish as he listened to Korah's charge, then answered Korah and all his company that on the morrow the Lord would show who were His and who was holy and would cause him whom He had chosen to come near to Him. The proof was to be censers with fire and incense brought before the Lord, where the man the Lord should choose would be shown to be holy. He turned the charge back upon the sons of Levi that they took too much upon themselves, since the God of Israel had already separated them from the congregation to bring them near to Himself to do the service of the tabernacle and to stand before the congregation to minister, and had brought Korah and all his Levite brethren near, yet they sought the priesthood also. Their gathering together was against the Lord and not merely against Aaron, and murmuring against Aaron was misplaced because Aaron had assumed no office of himself but God had placed him in the sacred office.

The decision was set for the next day so the people could have time to reflect, with those claiming the priesthood to offer incense before the congregation. Only those appointed by God were authorized to minister in the sanctuary, and God Himself, not human claims, would settle who belonged to Him and was holy and whom He had chosen to bring near. The test thus answered Korah's challenge to the authority given to Moses and Aaron over sacred service, declaring that the choice of that service belonged to God and not to human ambition or self-claim.

The rebellion extended beyond a few men to two hundred and fifty princes of renown and drew many sympathizers, yet God would identify those who were His and establish whom He had chosen. The outcome confirmed that Moses and Aaron were right and that Korah and those who perished with him had sinned against the Lord and justly suffered His wrath. The later sign of Aaron's rod budding confirmed that God had chosen Aaron's house for the priesthood, and the destruction of Korah and his company by divine judgment upheld Aaron's God-given priestly office.

God stretched forth His hand and swallowed up the wrongdoers while the people fled to their tents in horror, and their brethren died before the Lord by plague, yet their rebellion was not cured. When Israel later thirsted in the wilderness and found no water, they murmured against Moses and Aaron and wished they had died with those brethren rather than suffer thirst and hunger in that evil place. The history therefore warns those who claim to believe the truth not to judge from human feelings and sympathize with the wrongdoer, and not to stand between the offender and God when His servants do the disagreeable duty of correcting the erring, but if they cannot see matters in the light presented to hold their peace and let God's arrows fall where He directs to pierce souls with little sense of sin.

God Chooses and Draws Near

The Lord himself will make known whom he claims as his own and who is holy, and the one he has chosen he will cause to come near to himself. This belongs to the account of Korah's rebellion, which stands as instruction and warning against rebellion and unbelief. Moses answered the challenge by declaring that the showing would come on the morrow, that God would identify those who belonged to him and bring near the chosen one. That rebellion against Moses was not opposition to a merely human leader, for Moses was God's chosen instrument, so that to reject him was to reject Christ their invisible leader and to insult the Spirit of God, and judgment followed. The rebels were deceived yet consented to the deception by placing themselves in Satan's power, and their opposition brought disastrous results to those who took part in it, while proving that disaffection of this kind cannot destroy a work that is truly of God.

The same showing becomes a test of service, for work done from self will not stand, but work done in God will endure. Service must therefore use what comes from God and not a self-kindled substitute, trusting God's own holy fire and not another, since his approval and not self-exaltation or claims of piety determines who may serve with his authority. His representatives must reflect Christ's character, put away selfishness and other common and sinful traits, and depend on the Holy Spirit rather than human schemes.

God and not human ambition, self-judgment, or self-exaltation determines who is holy and chosen to come near, and Korah's defiance of that order warns against persisting in a course contrary to the Lord's direction. Mere claim to be especially exalted of God and to speak with sacred authority as the voice of God gives no right to that claim. Those who receive great light without fully obeying it, whose work is mingled with human devising and selfishness, who hurt God's servants, and who sustain men whom God cannot favor forfeit all right to entrench themselves behind sacred power, as verily as Korah, Dathan, and Abiram did.

God himself settles opposition to his appointed messengers by revealing who belongs to him and who is right and who is wrong, and he vindicates the one he has chosen. When he chooses a man for a certain work and honors others with a part in it, as Aaron was made mouthpiece for Moses, the helpers must not think themselves equal to the appointed leader or a very essential part of the whole and must not feel that credit and honor should come to them rather than to the leader, for such striving for credit is self-exaltation rooted in self. To refuse the testimonies God gives and to labor to make them of no effect repeats the work of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, deceiving the doer and deceiving others, with both a person's own course and the strengthening of opposers through that influence charged in the books of heaven to be met in the day of final accounts. The call to make known whom he claims and has chosen for holy service therefore requires decisive action when rebellion threatens God's work, for those who resist and dishonor him cannot serve him rightly unless their hearts are decisively changed.

Rebellion Against God Himself

Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in rising against Moses and Aaron rose against Jehovah himself, for the morrow would show whom the Lord claimed as his own and holy and would bring near the one he had chosen. They supposed they opposed only a human leader, but Moses was God's chosen instrument, so to reject him was to reject Christ their invisible leader and to insult the Spirit of God. That distinction exposes opposition to God's appointed leadership as no true service to God even when the opposers believe it is, and those who persist place themselves in Satan's power by consenting to deception until judgment follows.

Their course repeats on a narrower stage the rebellion of Satan in heaven, where pride and ambition moved Lucifer to complain against the government of God and to seek the overthrow of the order established there. Since his fall Satan has sought to infuse the same envy and discontent and the same ambition for position and honor into men, and he worked upon Korah, Dathan, and Abiram to arouse desire for self-exaltation and to excite envy, distrust, and rebellion. By rejecting the men of God's appointment they rejected God as their leader, and while murmuring against Moses and Aaron they blasphemed God, yet were so deluded as to think themselves righteous and to regard those who faithfully reproved their sins as actuated by Satan.

The rebels were stubborn in their own opinions and confident in their own judgment, deciding their judgment was better than that of Moses and that Moses was doing great injury to Israel. They thought those upon whom God had laid the burden of his work exalted themselves above the people and that their counsels and reproofs were uncalled for, and a spirit not of God made them stubborn and difficult to convince. So fearful was that deception that even after God in marked judgment destroyed the leaders and the princes, the survivors came the next morning accusing Moses of killing the people of the Lord. To turn aside the counsel of God to suit self and to lessen confidence in the testimonies he sends is rebellion against God as certainly as theirs, and those who take such positions must render an account to God for how they treat his message, for it is his work.

Satan still leads persons to imitate Korah, Dathan, and Abiram by raising insurrection among God's people and rising in opposition to plain testimony that reproves wrongs. This appears especially when straight testimonies against hurtful indulgences such as tea, coffee, snuff, and tobacco irritate those unwilling to sacrifice appetite and destroy their idols. Many waver unsettled between conviction of truth and self-indulgence until appetite prevails and they decide at any consequence not to deny self, while their sense of sacred things is perverted by slow poisons. A wall of separation then rises between them and those cleansing themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit and perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. Uneasy under reproof, they war against straight testimony, claim the people are all right and the reproving testimonies make the trouble, and when they unfurl their banner all the disaffected rally around the standard, with all the spiritually defective, the lame, the halt, and the blind uniting to scatter and sow discord. The record of the Lord showing who are his and who is holy stands written as a warning for God's people, especially those living near the close of time.

Genuine rebellion of this kind is hardly ever curable and must be called by its right name as rebellion and apostasy. It was extended and included more than two men, being led by two hundred and fifty princes of the congregation, men of renown. Those who stand against God's light become so self-deceived that they call truth error and error truth, a spirit shown in rejecting the truths of the third angel's message. The experience of ancient Israel with all its objectionable features was faithfully chronicled to pass into history for the admonition of those upon whom the ends of the world are come. That admonition teaches the need to sink deep into the mines of truth, to distinguish precious ore from base material and the voice of the true Shepherd from that of a stranger, and to know teachers by their fruits, for men and women who have knowledge of the truth yet take the great leader of apostasy and name him Christ our Righteousness show they are separated from their great Leader.

The rebellion of Korah and his company, with Dathan and Abiram, thus stands as disaffection against God's work and light and serves as the comparison for opposing his work. God himself would identify whom he had chosen and whom he regarded as holy and would bring that person near to him. Opposition like that cannot destroy a work that is truly of God, which is the warning not to join their rebellious course.

Warning for the Last Days

The history of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram with all its objectionable features was faithfully chronicled to pass into history for instruction, for ensamples, and for admonition to later generations and to those upon whom the ends of the world are come. It is to be read carefully and prayerfully as timely instruction for the church, guarding against errors that could lead people astray. The rebellion extended beyond a few men to include two hundred and fifty princes of the congregation, men of renown, and genuine rebellion of this kind is hardly ever curable and must be called by its right name as rebellion and apostasy.

It is a warning especially for God's people near the close of time that rebellion and confusion will recur and bring the same kind of judgment and disastrous results. If a person persists in a rebellious, critical spirit and refuses correction, the same kind of judgment can occur among God's people. People will misinterpret and misuse God's Word and His warnings to support theories that have no basis in truth.

The admonition teaches the need to sink deep into the mines of truth, to distinguish precious ore from base material and the voice of the true Shepherd from that of a stranger, and to know teachers by their fruits. Men and women who have knowledge of the truth yet take the great leader of apostasy and name him Christ our Righteousness show they are separated from their great Leader, have not sunk deep, and are not able to make that distinction. Refusing God's decision, by which the Lord Himself makes known who are His and whom He has chosen to come near Him, brings an experience like theirs through hasty unadvised words, self-esteem, feeling misused, bearing false witness against brethren, leavening the minds of others with distrust, weakening faith in God's instrumentalities, and questioning and doubting the men God is teaching, guiding, and leading.

Their course proves separation from God when the heart is no longer under the subduing power of the Holy Spirit, revealing the attributes of Satan in oppressing fellow men and sending forth an influence contrary to truth and justice and righteousness. This appears among workers in their relation to one another and in the desire of one institution or managers to control all others. Men entrusted with weighty responsibilities but having no living connection with God do despite to the Holy Spirit in this same spirit, resist Him, use position to oppress and seek control, and though warned by God again and again cast warnings aside and venture on in the same course, and the assumption at Battle Creek that managers could take control of other institutions belongs to that rebellion through self-importance and self-sufficiency in challenging God's order.

The rebellion is acted over when firm self-complacency, unwillingness to accept and acknowledge heaven-sent light, pride, prejudice, unsanctified independence, contempt for the word of the Lord, mockery and disgust at His word, and despising His messengers and message are cherished. The Lord desires to come near to bless and heal backsliding, but those in this spirit will not hearken, will not heed testimony, will not set their hearts to seek Him, and obscure their spiritual eyesight. Unless every soul repents and is converted to be healed, humbles pride and confesses lack of the Spirit of God, those who have light and evidence but will not see or acknowledge it, who resist reproof and turn others against God's testimony, who support rebellion or take a halfhearted position in a time of testing, and who walk not in the light of the Lord but in sparks of their own kindling will be left to the end they have chosen to fall into the ditch, to walk in darkness, to lie down in sorrow and in darkness, and the candlestick will be removed out of its place.

Applying the Warning Today

To turn aside God's counsel to suit self and to lessen His people's confidence in the testimonies He has sent is rebellion against God as certainly as the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Their rebellion was stubbornness in their own opinions, deciding that their judgment was better than that of Moses and that Moses was doing great injury to Israel. The deception upon the mind through a spirit not of God is so fearful that even after marked judgment destroyed the leaders and the princes, the survivors came to Moses the next morning saying he had killed the people of the Lord. Refusing the testimonies God gives and laboring to make them of no effect repeats their work, deceiving the doer and deceiving others. Both a person's own course and the result of that influence upon other minds in strengthening opposers is charged in the books of heaven to be met in the day of final accounts, for those who take such positions must render an account to God for the manner in which they treat His message, for it is God's work.

The work of Korah is repeated when men assail those God has appointed to do work for Him, hold them up to ridicule, and present them in a ridiculous light. Such work arising in the very midst of God's people is an offense to God and must be met and not left in silence. Silence is unjust to the accusers and to those misled by them and leaves the people to think that brethren in whom they have had confidence are no longer worthy of love and fellowship. Such unjust charging creates a sentiment that cuts off influence, makes false impressions, causes dissension in the church, creates false sympathy, leads others into the same error, and endangers souls. The Lord showing who are His and who is holy means every charge must be met, the accusers called upon to bring their proof on every point, every charge carefully investigated with nothing left uncertain, the people undeceived and not left to believe a lie, and every unsubstantiated reproach lifted so the filthy garments are removed from God's servant.

The account stands as a warning against accusing and condemning those on whom God has placed responsibility for His work and drawing away from the agents He is leading. Those who draw away from the church, accuse fellow believers, and use others' errors to build themselves up follow the pattern of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. The same experience repeats when people whose thoughts and attitude still need converting criticize and find fault with a work the Lord is guiding. They talk against the management and make it appear full of mistakes, instead of changing to work successfully in Christ's lines.

The history warns those who claim to believe the truth not to judge from human feelings and sympathize with the wrongdoer, and not to stand between the offender and God when God's servants do the disagreeable duty of correcting the erring. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram complained and influenced the people to stand with them in rebellion against God's servants, and God stretched forth His hand and swallowed up the wrongdoers while the people fled to their tents in horror, yet their rebellion was not cured. If they cannot see matters in the light presented they are to hold their peace and let God's arrows fall where He directs to pierce souls with little sense of sin. Their example marks selfish and fraudulent conduct as wicked, for God sees even what others do not see and will finally reward people according to their actions. Their challenge against those leading His work, when God would reveal whom He had chosen, could bring them to the point of rebellion.

Those who receive the Sabbath truth without sharing the labor behind it should not reproach its burden-bearers, as Korah, Dathan, and Abiram rose against those God had entrusted with the burden of His work and whom He promised to show He had chosen. Contempt for God's message and refusal to acknowledge the position He has given belongs to this same rebellion against His appointed leadership, as in the resistance at Minneapolis. There God would make clear whom He recognized as His and holy, and whom He had chosen to come near to Him.