Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Berean's Corner, the podcast where we go
through books of the Biblechapter by chapter and verse by
verse.
Wherever you are in the world,thank you for joining.
Grab a glass of water, a cup ofcoffee or tea, and thank you
(00:33):
for joining me.
As always, open up your Bibleto Numbers, chapter 16.
The title of today's lesson isKorah's Rebellion, numbers 16,
and let's read Numbers 16, andlet's read Numbers 16.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Korah, son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of
Levi, and certain Reubenites,dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab
and On, son of Peleth, becameinsolent and rose up against
Moses.
With them were 250 Israelitemen, well-known community
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leaders who had been appointedmembers of the council.
They came as a group to opposeMoses and Aaron and said to them
you have gone too far.
The whole community is holy,every one of them, and the Lord
is with them.
Why, then, do you setyourselves above the Lord's
assembly?
When Moses heard this, he fellface down.
(01:29):
Then he said to Korah and allhis followers In the morning,
the Lord will show who belongsto him and who is holy, and he
will have that person come nearhim.
The man he chooses, he willcause to come near him.
You, Korah, and all yourfollowers, are to do this.
Take censers and, tomorrow, putfire and incense in them before
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the Lord.
The man the Lord chooses willbe the one who is holy.
You, levites, have gone too far.
Moses also said to Korah Nowlisten, you, levites, isn't it
enough for you that the God ofIsrael has separated you from
the rest of the Israelitecommunity and brought you near
himself to do the work at theLord's tabernacle and stand
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before the community andminister to them.
He has brought you and all yourfellow Levites near himself,
but now you are trying to getthe priesthood too.
It is against the Lord that youand all your followers have
banded together.
Who is Aaron that you shouldgrumble against him?
Then Moses summoned Dathan andAbiram, the sons of Eliab, but
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they said we will not come.
Isn't it enough that you havebrought us up out of a land
flowing with milk and honey tokill us in the desert, and now
you also want to lord it over us?
Moreover, you haven't broughtus into a land flowing with milk
and honey or given us aninheritance of fields and
vineyards.
Will you gouge out the eyes ofthese men?
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No, we will not come.
Then Moses became very angryand said to the Lord Do not
accept their offering.
I have not taken so much as adonkey from them.
Then Moses became very angryand said to the Lord.
Moses said to Korah is to takehis censer and put incense in it
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250 censers in all and presentit before the Lord.
You and Aaron are to presentyour censers also.
So each man took his censer putfire and incense in it and
stood with Moses and Aaron atthe entrance to the tent of
meeting.
When Korah had gathered all hisfollowers in opposition to them.
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At the entrance to the Tent ofMeeting, the glory of the Lord
appeared to the entire assembly.
The Lord said to Moses andAaron Separate yourselves from
this assembly so I can put anend to them at once.
But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out O God, god of
the spirits of all mankind,will you be angry with the
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entire assembly when only oneman sins?
Aaron fell face down and criedout O God, god of the spirits of
all mankind, will you be angrywith the entire assembly when
only one man sins?
Then the Lord said to Moses Sayto the assembly Move away from
the tents of Korah, dathan andAbiram.
Moses got up and went to Dathanand Abiram and the elders of
Israel followed him.
He warned the assembly Moveback from the tents of these
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wicked men, do not touchanything belonging to them or
you will be swept away becauseof all their sins.
So they moved away from thetents of Korah, dathan and
Abiram.
Dathan and Abiram had come outand were standing with their
wives, children and little onesat the entrance to their tents.
Then Moses said this is how youwill know that the Lord has
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sent me to do all these thingsand that it was not my idea.
If these men die a naturaldeath and experience only what
usually happens to men, then theLord has not sent me.
But if the Lord brings aboutsomething totally new and the
earth opens its mouth andswallows them with everything
that belongs to them and they godown alive into the grave, then
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you will know that these menhave treated the Lord with
contempt.
As soon as he finished sayingall this, the ground under them
split apart and the earth openedits mouth and swallowed them
with their households and allKorah's men and all their
possessions.
They went down alive into thegrave with everything they owned
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.
The earth closed over them andthey perished and were gone from
the community.
At their cries, all theIsraelites around them fled,
shouting the earth is going toswallow us too.
And fire came out from the Lordand consumed the 250 men who
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were offering the incense.
The Lord said to Moses TellEleazar, son of Aaron, the
priest, to take the censers outof the smoldering remains and
scatter the coals some distanceaway, for the censers are holy,
the censers of the men whosinned at the cost of their
lives.
Hammer the censers into sheetsto overlay the altar, for they
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were presented before the Lordand have become holy.
Let them be assigned to theIsraelites.
So Eliezer the priest collectedthe bronze incensors brought by
those who had been burned upand he had them hammered out to
overlay the altar, as the Lorddirected him through Moses.
This was to remind theIsraelites that no one except a
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descendant of Aaron should cometo burn incense before the Lord,
or he would become like Korahand his followers.
The next day the whole Israelitecommunity grumbled against
Moses and Aaron.
You have killed the Lord'speople, they said.
But when the assembly gatheredin opposition to Moses and Aaron
and turned toward the tent ofmeeting, suddenly the cloud
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covered it and the glory of theLord appeared.
Then Moses and Aaron went tothe front of the tent of meeting
and the Lord said to Moses Getaway from this assembly so I can
put an end to them at once.
And they fell face down.
Then Moses said to Aaron Takeyour censers and put incense in
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it, along with fire from thealtar, and hurry to the assembly
to make atonement for them.
Wrath has come out from theLord.
The plague has started.
So Aaron did as Moses said andran into the midst of the
assembly.
The plague had already startedamong the people, but Aaron
offered the incense and madeatonement for them.
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He stood between the living andthe dead and the plague stopped
.
But 14,700 people died from theplague, in addition to those
who had died because of Korah.
Then Aaron returned to Moses atthe entrance to the tent of
meeting, where the plague hadstopped.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
The last time we were together, we looked at Psalm 90
, the first and oldest Psalm.
This Psalm was written afterNumbers 15, which included the
laws of Canaan, law of thesojourner and the punishment of
Israel breaking Sabbath.
Today we are looking at therebellion of Korah.
Now, if you don't know aboutKorah, this is the same man who
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had descendants who wrote someof the Psalms.
When you go through the thebook of Psalms and you see some
of the Psalms that say the sonsof Korah, this is the same Korah
.
So he, well at least his sons,are mentioned in the psalms.
And I want to read a littlesomething about Korah so you can
kind of get a betterunderstanding.
Just in case you're listeningto this and you don't remember
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or you're maybe kind ofwondering who this Korah might
be, let's read a little bitabout him.
Cora, this rebellious Levite,was either a priest vying for
position and authority over theestablished priesthood, over a
lay person insisting that allthe congregation are holy, not
just Moses.
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When Cora and his followersrebelled against Moses and Aaron
and therefore against God, theywere killed by an act.
Korah suddenly died when he wasbit, when he was buried and
burned alive by earthquake andfire, which is something that we
are going to get into in thislesson.
So I just want to kind of giveyou a little bit of Korah's
background and who he is.
Now I want you to understandsomething even when we do evil
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in the sight of the Lord, he canstill bless us and he can still
use our bloodline.
This chapter is about trying tooverthrow a leader and or his
authority who has been givenauthority by God.
Let us remember it is God whoputs kings, ie political leaders
in our days, in their place.
If you remember, in Daniel hementioned exactly that as a
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matter of fact, just hold your.
You know, you know, if you wantto, you mentioned exactly that
as a matter of fact.
Just hold your.
You know, you know.
If you want to, you could turnwith uh, turn with me to Daniel,
but if not, you can just stayright here.
I just want to look at thisverse in Daniel and bring home
the point.
I'm going to Daniel, chapter 2,just in case you want to go
there with me, and I can showyou exactly what I'm talking
about.
Daniel, chapter 2.
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We are looking at verses 20 and21.
This is Daniel speaking.
Daniel answered and said letthe name of God be blessed
forever and ever, for wisdom andpower belong to him and is he
who changes the times and epochs.
He removes kings andestablishes kings.
He gives wisdom to wise men andknowledge to men of
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understanding.
Let us understand somethingvery, very clearly now.
This was true in the days of theIsraelites, with the situation
right here with Korah, and it iseven true in our time.
It is the Lord, the Lord God,who puts leaders in their place.
In their time it was kings, itwas.
There were prophets who did thelord's bidding.
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In our time it would bepoliticians.
Remember that, no matter who itis, the lord is the one who put
them in their place.
He's the one who put them therefor his reasons.
Sometimes the lord put themthere for reasons that are going
to benefit us, but sometimesthey may be there for things
that may not benefit us.
But the truth is is that it allis to the Lord's good.
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No matter if it's good for us,if it's bad for us, if it's in
the middle for us, it is all tothe Lord's good.
You know, it reminds me in thebook of First Kings, with Ahab,
and there was a situation thatyou know one day day, lord
willing, when we get through uh,first kings, where Ahab, who
was really not a good guy, theLord still used him for his
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purpose and he still used him toget done what he needed to get
done.
So you all need to rememberthat.
We need to remember that,whoever is in power, the Lord
put them there and your onlyduty is to give them the respect
and remember that the Lord putthem there, whether you like
them or not.
Listen, you don't have to agreewith everything that a
political leader does, but youdo have to recognize them as the
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power that the Lord puts inplace.
I hope that my point was prettyclear on that.
Now, looking at Cora and hisand his rebellion.
This chapter right here we willbreak down into 13 parts.
Part number one Korah began torise people against Moses and
Aaron.
We see this in verses onethrough three.
Now, korah, the son of his her,the son of Kohat, the son of
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Levi, with the Dan and Abiram,the sons of Eliab and on, the
sons of Pelleth, sons of Reuben,took action and they rose up
before Moses, together with someof the sons of Israel, 250
leaders of the congregationchosen in the assembly of men of
Renown and they assembledtogether against Moses and Aaron
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and said to them you have gonefar enough, for all the
congregation are holy, every oneof them, and the lord is in
their midst.
So why do you exalt yourselves?
But above the assembly of thelord?
Now did Korah forget this quick, what happened to Miriam and
Aaron back in Numbers 12, whenMiriam and Aaron did the same
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thing, when they rose up againstMoses and said God isn't only
using you, he's using all of us?
Obviously he did because hemust have forgot that God called
Moses to lead Israel withAaron's assistance.
We see this back in Exodus,your finger right here.
Let's take a quick look at that.
Go back to Exodus, chapter 3,just in case anybody forgot who
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the Lord called and put incharge here.
Exodus, chapter 3.
We're going to look at verses.
I'm starting at verse 10.
I'm going through Exodus 4, 17,exodus 3, 10 through.
Therefore, come now and I willsend you to Pharaoh so that you
may bring my people, the sons ofIsrael, out of Egypt.
But Moses said to God who am I?
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That I should go to Pharaoh andthat I should bring the sons of
Israel out of Egypt.
And he said certainly I will bewith you and this shall be the
sign to you that is I who have,who have sent you.
When you have brought thepeople out of Egypt, you shall
worship God at this mountain.
Then Moses said to God behold, Iam going to the sons of Israel
and I shall say to them the Godof your fathers has sent me to
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you.
Now they may say to me what ishis name, what shall I say to
them?
And God said to Moses I am whoI am.
And he said thus you shall sayto the sons of Israel I am has
sent me to you.
And God, furthermore, said toMoses Thus you shall say to the
sons of Israel the Lord, the Godof your fathers, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac andthe God of Jacob has sent me to
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you.
This is my name forever andthis is my memorial name to all
generations.
Go and gather the elders ofIsrael together and say to them
the Lord, the God of yourfathers, the fathers, the God of
Abraham, isaac and Jacob, hasappeared to me saying I am
indeed concerned about you andwhat has been done to you in
Egypt.
So I said I will bring you upout of the affliction of Egypt
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to the land of the Canaanite andthe Hittite and the Amorite and
the Perizzite and the Hiviteand the Jebusite, to a land
flowing with milk and honey, andthey will heed to what you say
and, with the elders of Israel,will come to the king of Egypt
and you will say to him the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has
met with us.
So now, please, let us go threedays journey into the
wilderness that we may sacrificeto the Lord, our God.
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But I know that the king ofEgypt will not permit you to go
except under compulsion.
So I would stretch out my handand strike Egypt with all my
miracles, which I shall do inthe midst of it, and after that
he will let you go and I willgrant the people favor in the
sight of the Egyptians, and itshall be that when you go you
will not go empty handed.
But every woman shall ask ofher neighbor and the woman who
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lives in her house articles ofsilver and articles of gold and
clothing that you will put themon your sons and daughters.
You will plunder egyptians.
Then moses answered and saidwhat if they will not believe me
or listen to what I say, forthey may say the lord has not
appeared to you.
And the lord said to him whatis that in your hand?
He said a staff.
Then he said throw it on theground.
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So he threw it on the groundand it became a serpent and
moses fled from it.
But the lord said to mosesstretch out your hand and grasp
it by his tail.
So he stretched out his handand caught it and it became a
staff in his hand.
That they may believe that theLord, the God of their fathers,
the God of Abraham, the God ofIsaac and the God of Jacob he
says this several times to bringthe point home has appeared to
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you.
And the Lord, furthermore, saidto him now put your hand into
your bosom.
So he put his hand into hisbosom and when he took it out,
behold, his hand was leprouslike snow.
Then he said put your hand intoyour bosom again.
So he put his hand into hisbosom again and when he took out
, he took it out of his bosom,behold, it was restored, like
the rest of his flesh.
And it shall come about that ifthey will not believe you or
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heed the witness of the firstsign, they may believe the
witness of the last sign realquick.
The reason that the Lord isdoing this is that he's giving
Moses uh, not only is hebuilding Moses confidence, but
he's telling him you can showthe people these type of things
and it will be a sign to them.
But it shall be that if theywill not believe even those two
signs or heed what you say, thenyou shall take some water from
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the now and pour it on the dryground, and the water which you
take from the now will becomeblood on the ground, the dry
ground.
Then moses said to the lordplease, lord, I have never been
eloquent, neither recently, norin a time past, nor since thou
has spoken to thy servant, for Iam slow of speech and slow of
tongue.
And the lord said to him whohas made man's mouth or makes
him dumb or deaf, or seen orblind?
(17:35):
Is it not I, the lord?
God is sovereign.
No matter how a person is born,that's just how it is.
The lord has ordained it thatway.
Sometimes it has to do withgenetics, but even if that's the
case, the lord is saying it ishe who is control of all these
things.
Now, then go even.
I will be with your mouth andteach you what you are to say.
But he said please, lord, nowsend the messenger to whoever
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thou wilt.
Then the anger of the Lordburned against Moses and he said
is there not your brother,aaron the Levite?
I know that he speaks fluentlyand, moreover, behold, he is
coming out to meet you.
When he sees you, he will beglad in his heart and you are to
speak to him and put the wordsin his mouth, and I, even I,
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will be with your mouth and hismouth.
That's Aaron, and I will teachyou what you are to do.
Moreover, you shall speak, uh,he shall speak for you to the
people, and it shall come aboutthat he shall be as a mouth for
you and you shall be as God tohim, and you shall take in your
hand this staff with which youshall perform the signs.
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Now, I went through all that toprove the point that the Lord
put Moses and Aaron in charge.
The Lord didn't say well, thereare other people who can do
this job or there's other peoplewho can speak to the Lord.
He put a particular man, inthis case two men Moses, the
leader, and Aaron, theassistants.
He put them in charge, and itis even like that to this day.
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There's a lot of people who theylook at a man who is teaching,
or maybe he's an evangelist, hehas the gift of, you know, going
door to door or being a streetpreacher, or whatever the case
may be.
And there are those who theydon't really look at that as
respect.
They say, well, you know why ishe?
You know, uh, going door todoor.
You know, I can do the samething the Lord has called me for
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.
That truth is the Lord doesn'tcall everybody for everything,
and this is Korah's problem.
He wants to stand up there andbe in the front and he doesn't
want to do the role that theLord gave him.
Back to part number two Mosesfalls to the ground on his face.
We see this in verse four.
When Moses heard this, he fellon his face.
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Why did Moses fall on his face?
I believe that Moses fell onhis face probably first of all
is because he's really sick ofdealing with these people.
I mean, these people have beena thorn in his side.
He has performed miraclesthrough the Lord, through the
Holy Spirit.
He has brought these people outof Egypt by the Lord's power
and these people are stillgrumbling.
He?
They've seen what happened toother people in some of the
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chapters we've already beenthrough and these people are
still complaining and grumbling.
Moses is probably falling onhis face because he wants to ask
the Lord for his guidance,because he's tired and weary.
Which brings us to part numberthree.
Cora and his crew are confrontedby Moses.
We see this in verses 5 to 11.
He spoke to Cora and all hiscompany saying tomorrow morning,
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the Lord this is Moses speaking.
Tomorrow morning, the Lord willshow who is his and who is holy
and will bring him near tohimself.
Even the one whom he willchoose, he will bring near to
himself.
Do this take censers foryourselves, korah and all your
company, and put fire in themand lay incense upon them in the
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presence of the Lord.
Tomorrow, and the man whom theLord chooses shall be the one
who is holy.
You have gone far enough, you,sons of Levi.
Then Moses said to Kor hear now, you, sons of Levi, it is not
enough for you that the God ofIsrael has separated you from
the rest of the congregation ofIsrael, which the Lord has done
to bring you near to himself, todo the service of the
tabernacle which is what theywere doing of the Lord, and to
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stand before the congregation tominister to them, and that he
has brought you near, korah andall your brothers, sons of Levi,
with you.
Are you seeking the priesthoodalso?
Therefore, you and all thecompany are gathered together
against the Lord.
But as for Aaron, who is hethat you grumble against him?
Moses is saying, exactly right,what the people are really
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doing is they're reallygrumbling against the Lord.
I say this a lot of times whenI hear people complaining to
believers and they have a gripewith oh you know, why did this
happen or why did that happen?
I don't understand this.
I don't understand that.
Listen, you cannot take that asan offense.
You have to understand thattheir issue is really with the
Lord, it's not with you.
Who they're really grumblingagainst is God.
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You're just the person standingthere representing the Lord.
We will move on to part four.
Dothan and Abiram hide whenMoses calls them out.
We see this in verses 12 to 14.
Then Moses sent a summit toDothan and Abiram, the sons of
Eliab, but they said we are, wewill not come up.
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It is not enough that you havebrought us up out of the land
flowing with milk and honey tohave us die in the wilderness,
but you would also Lord it overus.
Indeed, you have not brought usinto a land flowing with milk
and honey, nor have you given usan inheritance of fields and
vineyards.
Would you put out the eyes ofthese men?
We will not come up.
(22:37):
So these two are hiding becauseI think that they know that
something's going to go downwhen they come before Moses.
But I want you to noticesomething that they said.
I want you to go back to verse13.
I'm sorry, let's start back atverse 12.
Dathan and Abiram, the sons ofEliab, but they said we will not
come up.
Is it not enough that you havebrought us out of a land flowing
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with milk and honey?
Did you catch that?
These two knuckleheads saidthat I mean, moses, you brought
us out here in this wilderness.
Is it not enough that youbrought us out of a land that
flowed with milk and honey?
You might be wondering well,what's wrong with that?
They're talking about Egypt.
They're saying to Moses youbrought us up out of Egypt,
where we were slaves.
That land flowed with milk andhoney.
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Remember in previous chapterswhen they said oh wow, if we, if
only we were back in Egypt.
At least when we were slaves,we had honey to eat and we had
meat to eat and bread and we hadwater.
Yeah, we may have been slaves,but we had things to sustain us.
That's what's going on here.
The Lord has brought thesepeople out of the land of Egypt
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where they were slaves, andthese people are longing to go
back there.
Let's move on to part five.
Moses becomes angry, then praysverse 15.
Then Moses became very angryand said to the Lord do not
regard their offering.
I have not taken a singledonkey from them, nor have I
done harm to any of them.
So Moses is crying out to theLord in his anger because, like
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I said, these people are wearinghim thin.
Part six Moses issues achallenge to Korah.
Notice verses 16 to 18.
Moses said to Korah you and allyour company be present before
the Lord tomorrow, both you andthey, along with Aaron, and each
of you take his firepan and putincense on it, and each of you
bring his censer before the LordTwo hundred and fifty firepans.
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Also, you and Aaron shall eachbring his firepan.
So they each took his owncenser and put fire on it and
laid incense on it, and theystood at the doorway of the tent
of meeting with Moses and Aaron.
So Moses is putting thechallenge out here because you
know he's going to basicallycall Korah out on his words.
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Part seven the glory of the Lordappeared before Korah and
company.
We see this in verse 19.
Thus, korah assembled all thecongregation against them at the
doorway of the 10th meeting andthe glory of the Lord appeared
to all the congregation.
Now the word appeared Hebrew7200 or 7200.
(25:13):
Ra means to appear or presentoneself, so the Lord is
presenting himself Now.
You know how the Lord has beenpresenting himself as the cloud
by day and the pillar of fire bynight.
The Lord is showing hispresence here and it is
interesting that Korah is stillso thick-headed that he still is
going to go through with thischallenge.
It's just interesting to methat he doesn't think about what
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happened to the other peoplewho challenged the lord and
challenged his servants.
It's kind of, you know, liketoday, people in our time will
say man, you know, if I liveduring the time of the
israelites and the people inthat time, it would be easy for
me to believe, because the Lorddid all of these miracles.
Listen, people, no, I wouldn't.
If you don't believe now, youweren't going to believe then.
(25:55):
These people saw the miraclesthat the Lord was doing.
They saw how he moved hismighty hand and yet, and still,
these people still are grumblingagainst the Lord.
Cora already knows that theLord has struck some people down
for doing exactly what he'sdoing right now, yet he is still
doing it.
Part eight what he's doingright now, yet he is still doing
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it.
Part eight God appeared, butonly spoke to Moses and Aaron.
Look at verses 20 to 22.
Then the Lord spoke to Mosesand Aaron saying separate
yourselves from among thiscongregation that I may consume
them instantly.
But they fell on their facesand said oh God, thou, god of
the spirits of all flesh, whenone man sins, would thou be
angry with the entirecongregation?
This is a question that Aaronand Moses are asking the Lord,
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because when the Lord speaks,they know that the Lord's anger
is about the kindle and they'rereally praying off of other
people.
They're basically saying Lord,these few over here are the ones
sinning and speaking outagainst you.
Lord, are you going to take outthe whole congregation?
That's the question thatthey're asking.
But in part nine, god instructsmoses.
We see this in verses 23 and 24.
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Then the lord spoke to mosessaying speak to the congregation
, saying get back from aroundthe dwellings of korah, dathan
and abiram.
So there's your answer.
The Lord is telling Moses no,I'm not gonna take everybody out
, but you better tell the peopleto get out from around them,
the ones who don't want to be.
You know, have happen to them.
What's about to happen?
(27:22):
Part 10 Moses and the elders goto the house of Dothan and
Abraham and Moses speaks to thecoming judgment.
We see this in verses 25through 30.
Now remember that, dan andAbraham.
They went into hiding and saidwe're not going to come out, but
Moses goes to them verse 25.
Then Moses arose and went tothat, dan and Abraham, with the
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elders of Israel following him,and he spoke to the congregation
saying depart now from thetents of these wicked men and
touch nothing that belongs tothem, lest you be swept away in
all their sin.
So they got back from aroundthe dwellings of Korah, dothan
and Abiram, and Dothan andAbiram came out and stood at the
doorway of their tents, alongwith their wives and their sons
(28:04):
and their little ones.
And Moses said by this youshall know that the Lord has
sent me to do all these deeds,for this is not my doing.
If these men die the death ofall men or if they suffer the
fate of all men, then the Lordhas not sent me, but if the Lord
brings about an entirely newthing and the ground opens his
(28:25):
mouth and swallows them up andall of that is theirs and they
descend alive into Sheol, thenyou will understand that these
men have spurned the Lord.
So the Lord is speaking andbasically the Lord I mean,
excuse me, moses is tellingeverybody around.
If these things happen, youknow the Lord has spoken, but if
these things don't happen, theLord has not spoken, which does
(28:47):
remind me.
When you hear people in this21st century talk about their
prophets, you see people withprophet in front of their name.
I'm prophet this, I'mprophetess that, and these
people speak lies, which they do.
They say things that don't cometo pass.
Think about what Moses justsaid.
I'm telling you a thing that'sabout to happen, and if the
thing that I tell you happenshappens thus saith the Lord then
(29:09):
it is of the Lord, but if itdoesn't, then it's not.
It's very interesting to methat men and women nowadays can
say that the Lord spoke to them,the Lord told them these things
and those things do not happen.
The scriptures tell us, when weget to Deuteronomy, that when a
prophet or a prophetess speaks athing and it is not, so, it is
not of the Lord.
You are to get around them.
They are a false yet and still,it's really sad that people
(29:32):
will still follow these men andwomen and act like oh well, you
know, it's just a mistake thatthey made.
But the Lord is very clear whenhe says something.
There is no mistake.
Let's move on to part 11.
The rebels are executed.
We see this in verses 31 to 35.
Then it came about, as hefinished speaking all these
words to he being Moses, thatthe ground was under them split
(29:55):
open and the earth opened itsmouth and swallowed them up and
their households and all the menwho belonged to Korah with
their possessions.
So they and all that belongedto them went down alive to Sheol
and the earth closed over themand they perished from the midst
of the assembly and all Israelwho were around them fled to
(30:17):
their outcry, for they said, theearth may swallow us up.
Fire also came forth from theLord and consumed the 250 men
who were offering the incense.
Then the Lord spoke to Mosessaying say to excuse me, I'm
sorry, I went too far.
Lean back up.
Fire also came forth from thelord and consumed the 250 men
who were offering incense.
(30:37):
Sorry, that's where I wassupposed to stop.
Understand.
Now you need to understandsomething this was an earthquake
sent by the lord.
Did you hear what it said?
It said the ground opened upbeneath them.
Now the fire, you got toremember.
There's lava in the earthquake.
Now lava is between 1300 and2200 degrees Fahrenheit, so this
would have been a painful death.
So when they fell into theground, not only did they and
(31:00):
all that belong to the fall intothe ground, but there's lava
down there as well.
So they went by fire.
That's the that.
That is the way that they wentout down to Sheol.
We're going to move on to part12.
Eleazar is told by Moses thatthe Lord said to hammer the
sacred censers into sheets.
We see this in verses 36 to 40.
(31:21):
Then the Lord spoke to Moses.
When did the Lord speak toMoses after these things?
What things?
The earthquake that justhappened and swallowed up all
these people?
Say to Eleazar, the son ofaaron the priest, that he shall
take up the censers out of themidst of the blaze, for they are
holy.
And you scattered the burningcoals abroad, and excuse me.
(31:45):
As for the censers of these menwho have sinned at the cost of
their lives, let them be madeinto hammered sheets for a
plating of the altar, since theydid present them before the
lord and they are holy and theyshall be for a sign to the sons
of israel.
So eliezer the priest, took thebronze censers which the men
who were burned had offered andthey hammered them out as a
(32:08):
plating for the altar, as areminder to the sons of israel
that no layman who is not of thedescendants of Aaron should
come near to burn incense beforethe Lord, that he might not
become like Korah and hiscompany, just as the Lord has
spoken to him through Moses.
So, even though the men who hadthose censers were sinners and
(32:28):
they sinned against the Lord,the Lord said they did at one
time present those instrumentsas holy.
So we're not going to get ridof them, we're going to take
them, but we're going to hammerthem into sheets.
And then we move to part 13, themurmuring and plagues.
We look at, we look at this aswe finish up the chapter, verses
41 to 50.
But on the next day all thecongregation, the sons of israel
(32:53):
, grumbled against moses andaaron.
I'm gonna stop right there.
Did you just hear everythingthat just happened?
But but still the word says onthe next day the people were
grumbling, they grumbled againstmoses and aaron, saying you are
the ones who have caused thedeath of the lord's people.
So you see what they're saying.
They're saying that it was youwho did this, moses and Aaron.
(33:16):
They forget that it's the Lordwho's sovereign in all these
things.
But, like I said, what they'rereally doing is, in a very sly
way, they are really murmuringagainst the Lord.
Verse 42.
It came about, however, when thecongregation had assembled
against Moses and Aaron, thatthey turned towards the tent of
meeting.
And behold, the cloud coveredit and the glory of the Lord
appeared.
Then Moses and Aaron came tothe front of the tent of meeting
(33:39):
and the Lord spoke to Moses,saying get away from among this
congregation, that I may consumethem instantly.
Ok, one day later, these peopledon't get it, and the Lord is
about to give swift justiceagain.
Then they fell on their faces.
Moses and Aaron said take yourcenser and put it in the fire
from the altar and lay incenseon it.
(34:00):
Then bring it quickly to thecongregation and make atonement
for them, for wrath has goneforth from the Lord.
The plague has begun.
Then Aaron took it, as Moseshad spoken, and ran into the
midst of the assembly.
For behold, the plague hadbegun among the people.
So he put on the incense andmade atonement for the people
(34:20):
and he took his stand betweenthe dead and the living so that
the plague was checked.
But those who died by theplague were 14,700, besides
those who died on account ofKorah.
Then Aaron returned to Moses atthe doorway, the tent of
meeting for the plague had beenchecked, and that is how it
ended this day for theseIsraelites.
(34:41):
All right, that brings us tothe end of numbers, chapter 16.
As I mentioned earlier, it isvery interesting that these
people saw these thingsfirsthand, but yet and still,
this is just how prideful andand hard, you know, a man's
heart is.
Men can see things with theireyes and they still would go
through with it.
(35:01):
You know, in, in, in my culture, the old folks would say you
don't, you don't believe.
You know what I'm saying, thatfire is hot, you know.
In other words, you have to putyour hand in the fire to find
out for yourself.
You just can't stand far from aback and see that is burning
down the wood.
You can't look and see thatthis other guy put his hand in
there and his hand came out allburned up and you know he had to
(35:21):
go to the burn unit.
And you know, get, get repairsdone.
No, no, no, you have to goyourself and see it.
That's what these people arelike, and I can understand how
Moses would be tired of thesepeople.
He would be annoyed with thesepeople because the Lord has done
all these things and all thesegood things for them and yet,
and still, these people stillhave an issue with what the Lord
says.
And guess what?
All these thousands of yearslater, times have not changed.
(35:46):
All right, I hope you enjoyedthis lesson.
As I always ask, continue topray for me as we go through
these scriptures.
This lesson, as I always ask,continue to pray for me as we go
through these scriptures.
Pray that we continue, that Istay the course and finish the
race, and I am always doing thesame for you.
That's all I got to have, untilnext time, god bless.
Thank you for listening toBerean's Corner.
We appreciate you joining us aswe dive into God's word and
(36:06):
seek biblical truth together.
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(36:27):
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(36:47):
Guitar solo.
(39:00):
Thank you, thank you.
¶¶.
Thank you.
Welcome to Berean's Corner, the podcast where we go
through books of the Biblechapter by chapter and verse by
verse.
Wherever you are in the world,thank you for joining.
Grab a glass of water, a cup ofcoffee or tea, and thank you
(00:33):
for joining me.
As always, open up your Bibleto Numbers, chapter 16.
The title of today's lesson isKorah's Rebellion, numbers 16,
and let's read Numbers 16, andlet's read Numbers 16.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Korah, son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of
Levi, and certain Reubenites,dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab
and On, son of Peleth, becameinsolent and rose up against
Moses.
With them were 250 Israelitemen, well-known community
(01:08):
leaders who had been appointedmembers of the council.
They came as a group to opposeMoses and Aaron and said to them
you have gone too far.
The whole community is holy,every one of them, and the Lord
is with them.
Why, then, do you setyourselves above the Lord's
assembly?
When Moses heard this, he fellface down.
(01:29):
Then he said to Korah and allhis followers In the morning,
the Lord will show who belongsto him and who is holy, and he
will have that person come nearhim.
The man he chooses, he willcause to come near him.
You, Korah, and all yourfollowers, are to do this.
Take censers and, tomorrow, putfire and incense in them before
(01:52):
the Lord.
The man the Lord chooses willbe the one who is holy.
You, levites, have gone too far.
Moses also said to Korah Nowlisten, you, levites, isn't it
enough for you that the God ofIsrael has separated you from
the rest of the Israelitecommunity and brought you near
himself to do the work at theLord's tabernacle and stand
(02:15):
before the community andminister to them.
He has brought you and all yourfellow Levites near himself,
but now you are trying to getthe priesthood too.
It is against the Lord that youand all your followers have
banded together.
Who is Aaron that you shouldgrumble against him?
Then Moses summoned Dathan andAbiram, the sons of Eliab, but
(02:38):
they said we will not come.
Isn't it enough that you havebrought us up out of a land
flowing with milk and honey tokill us in the desert, and now
you also want to lord it over us?
Moreover, you haven't broughtus into a land flowing with milk
and honey or given us aninheritance of fields and
vineyards.
Will you gouge out the eyes ofthese men?
(02:58):
No, we will not come.
Then Moses became very angryand said to the Lord Do not
accept their offering.
I have not taken so much as adonkey from them.
Then Moses became very angryand said to the Lord.
Moses said to Korah is to takehis censer and put incense in it
(03:23):
250 censers in all and presentit before the Lord.
You and Aaron are to presentyour censers also.
So each man took his censer putfire and incense in it and
stood with Moses and Aaron atthe entrance to the tent of
meeting.
When Korah had gathered all hisfollowers in opposition to them.
(03:43):
At the entrance to the Tent ofMeeting, the glory of the Lord
appeared to the entire assembly.
The Lord said to Moses andAaron Separate yourselves from
this assembly so I can put anend to them at once.
But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out O God, god of
the spirits of all mankind,will you be angry with the
(04:06):
entire assembly when only oneman sins?
Aaron fell face down and criedout O God, god of the spirits of
all mankind, will you be angrywith the entire assembly when
only one man sins?
Then the Lord said to Moses Sayto the assembly Move away from
the tents of Korah, dathan andAbiram.
Moses got up and went to Dathanand Abiram and the elders of
Israel followed him.
He warned the assembly Moveback from the tents of these
(04:26):
wicked men, do not touchanything belonging to them or
you will be swept away becauseof all their sins.
So they moved away from thetents of Korah, dathan and
Abiram.
Dathan and Abiram had come outand were standing with their
wives, children and little onesat the entrance to their tents.
Then Moses said this is how youwill know that the Lord has
(04:49):
sent me to do all these thingsand that it was not my idea.
If these men die a naturaldeath and experience only what
usually happens to men, then theLord has not sent me.
But if the Lord brings aboutsomething totally new and the
earth opens its mouth andswallows them with everything
that belongs to them and they godown alive into the grave, then
(05:14):
you will know that these menhave treated the Lord with
contempt.
As soon as he finished sayingall this, the ground under them
split apart and the earth openedits mouth and swallowed them
with their households and allKorah's men and all their
possessions.
They went down alive into thegrave with everything they owned
(05:37):
.
The earth closed over them andthey perished and were gone from
the community.
At their cries, all theIsraelites around them fled,
shouting the earth is going toswallow us too.
And fire came out from the Lordand consumed the 250 men who
(05:57):
were offering the incense.
The Lord said to Moses TellEleazar, son of Aaron, the
priest, to take the censers outof the smoldering remains and
scatter the coals some distanceaway, for the censers are holy,
the censers of the men whosinned at the cost of their
lives.
Hammer the censers into sheetsto overlay the altar, for they
(06:22):
were presented before the Lordand have become holy.
Let them be assigned to theIsraelites.
So Eliezer the priest collectedthe bronze incensors brought by
those who had been burned upand he had them hammered out to
overlay the altar, as the Lorddirected him through Moses.
This was to remind theIsraelites that no one except a
(06:45):
descendant of Aaron should cometo burn incense before the Lord,
or he would become like Korahand his followers.
The next day the whole Israelitecommunity grumbled against
Moses and Aaron.
You have killed the Lord'speople, they said.
But when the assembly gatheredin opposition to Moses and Aaron
and turned toward the tent ofmeeting, suddenly the cloud
(07:07):
covered it and the glory of theLord appeared.
Then Moses and Aaron went tothe front of the tent of meeting
and the Lord said to Moses Getaway from this assembly so I can
put an end to them at once.
And they fell face down.
Then Moses said to Aaron Takeyour censers and put incense in
(07:27):
it, along with fire from thealtar, and hurry to the assembly
to make atonement for them.
Wrath has come out from theLord.
The plague has started.
So Aaron did as Moses said andran into the midst of the
assembly.
The plague had already startedamong the people, but Aaron
offered the incense and madeatonement for them.
(07:50):
He stood between the living andthe dead and the plague stopped
.
But 14,700 people died from theplague, in addition to those
who had died because of Korah.
Then Aaron returned to Moses atthe entrance to the tent of
meeting, where the plague hadstopped.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
The last time we were together, we looked at Psalm 90
, the first and oldest Psalm.
This Psalm was written afterNumbers 15, which included the
laws of Canaan, law of thesojourner and the punishment of
Israel breaking Sabbath.
Today we are looking at therebellion of Korah.
Now, if you don't know aboutKorah, this is the same man who
(08:34):
had descendants who wrote someof the Psalms.
When you go through the thebook of Psalms and you see some
of the Psalms that say the sonsof Korah, this is the same Korah
.
So he, well at least his sons,are mentioned in the psalms.
And I want to read a littlesomething about Korah so you can
kind of get a betterunderstanding.
Just in case you're listeningto this and you don't remember
(08:57):
or you're maybe kind ofwondering who this Korah might
be, let's read a little bitabout him.
Cora, this rebellious Levite,was either a priest vying for
position and authority over theestablished priesthood, over a
lay person insisting that allthe congregation are holy, not
just Moses.
(09:18):
When Cora and his followersrebelled against Moses and Aaron
and therefore against God, theywere killed by an act.
Korah suddenly died when he wasbit, when he was buried and
burned alive by earthquake andfire, which is something that we
are going to get into in thislesson.
So I just want to kind of giveyou a little bit of Korah's
background and who he is.
Now I want you to understandsomething even when we do evil
(09:41):
in the sight of the Lord, he canstill bless us and he can still
use our bloodline.
This chapter is about trying tooverthrow a leader and or his
authority who has been givenauthority by God.
Let us remember it is God whoputs kings, ie political leaders
in our days, in their place.
If you remember, in Daniel hementioned exactly that as a
(10:02):
matter of fact, just hold your.
You know, you know, if you wantto, you mentioned exactly that
as a matter of fact.
Just hold your.
You know, you know.
If you want to, you could turnwith uh, turn with me to Daniel,
but if not, you can just stayright here.
I just want to look at thisverse in Daniel and bring home
the point.
I'm going to Daniel, chapter 2,just in case you want to go
there with me, and I can showyou exactly what I'm talking
about.
Daniel, chapter 2.
(10:23):
We are looking at verses 20 and21.
This is Daniel speaking.
Daniel answered and said letthe name of God be blessed
forever and ever, for wisdom andpower belong to him and is he
who changes the times and epochs.
He removes kings andestablishes kings.
He gives wisdom to wise men andknowledge to men of
(10:45):
understanding.
Let us understand somethingvery, very clearly now.
This was true in the days of theIsraelites, with the situation
right here with Korah, and it iseven true in our time.
It is the Lord, the Lord God,who puts leaders in their place.
In their time it was kings, itwas.
There were prophets who did thelord's bidding.
(11:08):
In our time it would bepoliticians.
Remember that, no matter who itis, the lord is the one who put
them in their place.
He's the one who put them therefor his reasons.
Sometimes the lord put themthere for reasons that are going
to benefit us, but sometimesthey may be there for things
that may not benefit us.
But the truth is is that it allis to the Lord's good.
(11:28):
No matter if it's good for us,if it's bad for us, if it's in
the middle for us, it is all tothe Lord's good.
You know, it reminds me in thebook of First Kings, with Ahab,
and there was a situation thatyou know one day day, lord
willing, when we get through uh,first kings, where Ahab, who
was really not a good guy, theLord still used him for his
(11:50):
purpose and he still used him toget done what he needed to get
done.
So you all need to rememberthat.
We need to remember that,whoever is in power, the Lord
put them there and your onlyduty is to give them the respect
and remember that the Lord putthem there, whether you like
them or not.
Listen, you don't have to agreewith everything that a
political leader does, but youdo have to recognize them as the
(12:12):
power that the Lord puts inplace.
I hope that my point was prettyclear on that.
Now, looking at Cora and hisand his rebellion.
This chapter right here we willbreak down into 13 parts.
Part number one Korah began torise people against Moses and
Aaron.
We see this in verses onethrough three.
Now, korah, the son of his her,the son of Kohat, the son of
(12:37):
Levi, with the Dan and Abiram,the sons of Eliab and on, the
sons of Pelleth, sons of Reuben,took action and they rose up
before Moses, together with someof the sons of Israel, 250
leaders of the congregationchosen in the assembly of men of
Renown and they assembledtogether against Moses and Aaron
(12:59):
and said to them you have gonefar enough, for all the
congregation are holy, every oneof them, and the lord is in
their midst.
So why do you exalt yourselves?
But above the assembly of thelord?
Now did Korah forget this quick, what happened to Miriam and
Aaron back in Numbers 12, whenMiriam and Aaron did the same
(13:20):
thing, when they rose up againstMoses and said God isn't only
using you, he's using all of us?
Obviously he did because hemust have forgot that God called
Moses to lead Israel withAaron's assistance.
We see this back in Exodus,your finger right here.
Let's take a quick look at that.
Go back to Exodus, chapter 3,just in case anybody forgot who
(13:42):
the Lord called and put incharge here.
Exodus, chapter 3.
We're going to look at verses.
I'm starting at verse 10.
I'm going through Exodus 4, 17,exodus 3, 10 through.
Therefore, come now and I willsend you to Pharaoh so that you
may bring my people, the sons ofIsrael, out of Egypt.
But Moses said to God who am I?
(14:03):
That I should go to Pharaoh andthat I should bring the sons of
Israel out of Egypt.
And he said certainly I will bewith you and this shall be the
sign to you that is I who have,who have sent you.
When you have brought thepeople out of Egypt, you shall
worship God at this mountain.
Then Moses said to God behold, Iam going to the sons of Israel
and I shall say to them the Godof your fathers has sent me to
(14:24):
you.
Now they may say to me what ishis name, what shall I say to
them?
And God said to Moses I am whoI am.
And he said thus you shall sayto the sons of Israel I am has
sent me to you.
And God, furthermore, said toMoses Thus you shall say to the
sons of Israel the Lord, the Godof your fathers, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac andthe God of Jacob has sent me to
(14:44):
you.
This is my name forever andthis is my memorial name to all
generations.
Go and gather the elders ofIsrael together and say to them
the Lord, the God of yourfathers, the fathers, the God of
Abraham, isaac and Jacob, hasappeared to me saying I am
indeed concerned about you andwhat has been done to you in
Egypt.
So I said I will bring you upout of the affliction of Egypt
(15:05):
to the land of the Canaanite andthe Hittite and the Amorite and
the Perizzite and the Hiviteand the Jebusite, to a land
flowing with milk and honey, andthey will heed to what you say
and, with the elders of Israel,will come to the king of Egypt
and you will say to him the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has
met with us.
So now, please, let us go threedays journey into the
wilderness that we may sacrificeto the Lord, our God.
(15:27):
But I know that the king ofEgypt will not permit you to go
except under compulsion.
So I would stretch out my handand strike Egypt with all my
miracles, which I shall do inthe midst of it, and after that
he will let you go and I willgrant the people favor in the
sight of the Egyptians, and itshall be that when you go you
will not go empty handed.
But every woman shall ask ofher neighbor and the woman who
(15:48):
lives in her house articles ofsilver and articles of gold and
clothing that you will put themon your sons and daughters.
You will plunder egyptians.
Then moses answered and saidwhat if they will not believe me
or listen to what I say, forthey may say the lord has not
appeared to you.
And the lord said to him whatis that in your hand?
He said a staff.
Then he said throw it on theground.
(16:08):
So he threw it on the groundand it became a serpent and
moses fled from it.
But the lord said to mosesstretch out your hand and grasp
it by his tail.
So he stretched out his handand caught it and it became a
staff in his hand.
That they may believe that theLord, the God of their fathers,
the God of Abraham, the God ofIsaac and the God of Jacob he
says this several times to bringthe point home has appeared to
(16:29):
you.
And the Lord, furthermore, saidto him now put your hand into
your bosom.
So he put his hand into hisbosom and when he took it out,
behold, his hand was leprouslike snow.
Then he said put your hand intoyour bosom again.
So he put his hand into hisbosom again and when he took out
, he took it out of his bosom,behold, it was restored, like
the rest of his flesh.
And it shall come about that ifthey will not believe you or
(16:52):
heed the witness of the firstsign, they may believe the
witness of the last sign realquick.
The reason that the Lord isdoing this is that he's giving
Moses uh, not only is hebuilding Moses confidence, but
he's telling him you can showthe people these type of things
and it will be a sign to them.
But it shall be that if theywill not believe even those two
signs or heed what you say, thenyou shall take some water from
(17:14):
the now and pour it on the dryground, and the water which you
take from the now will becomeblood on the ground, the dry
ground.
Then moses said to the lordplease, lord, I have never been
eloquent, neither recently, norin a time past, nor since thou
has spoken to thy servant, for Iam slow of speech and slow of
tongue.
And the lord said to him whohas made man's mouth or makes
him dumb or deaf, or seen orblind?
(17:35):
Is it not I, the lord?
God is sovereign.
No matter how a person is born,that's just how it is.
The lord has ordained it thatway.
Sometimes it has to do withgenetics, but even if that's the
case, the lord is saying it ishe who is control of all these
things.
Now, then go even.
I will be with your mouth andteach you what you are to say.
But he said please, lord, nowsend the messenger to whoever
(17:58):
thou wilt.
Then the anger of the Lordburned against Moses and he said
is there not your brother,aaron the Levite?
I know that he speaks fluentlyand, moreover, behold, he is
coming out to meet you.
When he sees you, he will beglad in his heart and you are to
speak to him and put the wordsin his mouth, and I, even I,
(18:18):
will be with your mouth and hismouth.
That's Aaron, and I will teachyou what you are to do.
Moreover, you shall speak, uh,he shall speak for you to the
people, and it shall come aboutthat he shall be as a mouth for
you and you shall be as God tohim, and you shall take in your
hand this staff with which youshall perform the signs.
(18:39):
Now, I went through all that toprove the point that the Lord
put Moses and Aaron in charge.
The Lord didn't say well, thereare other people who can do
this job or there's other peoplewho can speak to the Lord.
He put a particular man, inthis case two men Moses, the
leader, and Aaron, theassistants.
He put them in charge, and itis even like that to this day.
(19:00):
There's a lot of people who theylook at a man who is teaching,
or maybe he's an evangelist, hehas the gift of, you know, going
door to door or being a streetpreacher, or whatever the case
may be.
And there are those who theydon't really look at that as
respect.
They say, well, you know why ishe?
You know, uh, going door todoor.
You know, I can do the samething the Lord has called me for
(19:21):
.
That truth is the Lord doesn'tcall everybody for everything,
and this is Korah's problem.
He wants to stand up there andbe in the front and he doesn't
want to do the role that theLord gave him.
Back to part number two Mosesfalls to the ground on his face.
We see this in verse four.
When Moses heard this, he fellon his face.
(19:41):
Why did Moses fall on his face?
I believe that Moses fell onhis face probably first of all
is because he's really sick ofdealing with these people.
I mean, these people have beena thorn in his side.
He has performed miraclesthrough the Lord, through the
Holy Spirit.
He has brought these people outof Egypt by the Lord's power
and these people are stillgrumbling.
He?
They've seen what happened toother people in some of the
(20:03):
chapters we've already beenthrough and these people are
still complaining and grumbling.
Moses is probably falling onhis face because he wants to ask
the Lord for his guidance,because he's tired and weary.
Which brings us to part numberthree.
Cora and his crew are confrontedby Moses.
We see this in verses 5 to 11.
He spoke to Cora and all hiscompany saying tomorrow morning,
(20:27):
the Lord this is Moses speaking.
Tomorrow morning, the Lord willshow who is his and who is holy
and will bring him near tohimself.
Even the one whom he willchoose, he will bring near to
himself.
Do this take censers foryourselves, korah and all your
company, and put fire in themand lay incense upon them in the
(20:50):
presence of the Lord.
Tomorrow, and the man whom theLord chooses shall be the one
who is holy.
You have gone far enough, you,sons of Levi.
Then Moses said to Kor hear now, you, sons of Levi, it is not
enough for you that the God ofIsrael has separated you from
the rest of the congregation ofIsrael, which the Lord has done
to bring you near to himself, todo the service of the
tabernacle which is what theywere doing of the Lord, and to
(21:13):
stand before the congregation tominister to them, and that he
has brought you near, korah andall your brothers, sons of Levi,
with you.
Are you seeking the priesthoodalso?
Therefore, you and all thecompany are gathered together
against the Lord.
But as for Aaron, who is hethat you grumble against him?
Moses is saying, exactly right,what the people are really
(21:34):
doing is they're reallygrumbling against the Lord.
I say this a lot of times whenI hear people complaining to
believers and they have a gripewith oh you know, why did this
happen or why did that happen?
I don't understand this.
I don't understand that.
Listen, you cannot take that asan offense.
You have to understand thattheir issue is really with the
Lord, it's not with you.
Who they're really grumblingagainst is God.
(21:56):
You're just the person standingthere representing the Lord.
We will move on to part four.
Dothan and Abiram hide whenMoses calls them out.
We see this in verses 12 to 14.
Then Moses sent a summit toDothan and Abiram, the sons of
Eliab, but they said we are, wewill not come up.
(22:16):
It is not enough that you havebrought us up out of the land
flowing with milk and honey tohave us die in the wilderness,
but you would also Lord it overus.
Indeed, you have not brought usinto a land flowing with milk
and honey, nor have you given usan inheritance of fields and
vineyards.
Would you put out the eyes ofthese men?
We will not come up.
(22:37):
So these two are hiding becauseI think that they know that
something's going to go downwhen they come before Moses.
But I want you to noticesomething that they said.
I want you to go back to verse13.
I'm sorry, let's start back atverse 12.
Dathan and Abiram, the sons ofEliab, but they said we will not
come up.
Is it not enough that you havebrought us out of a land flowing
(23:00):
with milk and honey?
Did you catch that?
These two knuckleheads saidthat I mean, moses, you brought
us out here in this wilderness.
Is it not enough that youbrought us out of a land that
flowed with milk and honey?
You might be wondering well,what's wrong with that?
They're talking about Egypt.
They're saying to Moses youbrought us up out of Egypt,
where we were slaves.
That land flowed with milk andhoney.
(23:21):
Remember in previous chapterswhen they said oh wow, if we, if
only we were back in Egypt.
At least when we were slaves,we had honey to eat and we had
meat to eat and bread and we hadwater.
Yeah, we may have been slaves,but we had things to sustain us.
That's what's going on here.
The Lord has brought thesepeople out of the land of Egypt
(23:41):
where they were slaves, andthese people are longing to go
back there.
Let's move on to part five.
Moses becomes angry, then praysverse 15.
Then Moses became very angryand said to the Lord do not
regard their offering.
I have not taken a singledonkey from them, nor have I
done harm to any of them.
So Moses is crying out to theLord in his anger because, like
(24:06):
I said, these people are wearinghim thin.
Part six Moses issues achallenge to Korah.
Notice verses 16 to 18.
Moses said to Korah you and allyour company be present before
the Lord tomorrow, both you andthey, along with Aaron, and each
of you take his firepan and putincense on it, and each of you
bring his censer before the LordTwo hundred and fifty firepans.
(24:29):
Also, you and Aaron shall eachbring his firepan.
So they each took his owncenser and put fire on it and
laid incense on it, and theystood at the doorway of the tent
of meeting with Moses and Aaron.
So Moses is putting thechallenge out here because you
know he's going to basicallycall Korah out on his words.
(24:51):
Part seven the glory of the Lordappeared before Korah and
company.
We see this in verse 19.
Thus, korah assembled all thecongregation against them at the
doorway of the 10th meeting andthe glory of the Lord appeared
to all the congregation.
Now the word appeared Hebrew7200 or 7200.
(25:13):
Ra means to appear or presentoneself, so the Lord is
presenting himself Now.
You know how the Lord has beenpresenting himself as the cloud
by day and the pillar of fire bynight.
The Lord is showing hispresence here and it is
interesting that Korah is stillso thick-headed that he still is
going to go through with thischallenge.
It's just interesting to methat he doesn't think about what
(25:35):
happened to the other peoplewho challenged the lord and
challenged his servants.
It's kind of, you know, liketoday, people in our time will
say man, you know, if I liveduring the time of the
israelites and the people inthat time, it would be easy for
me to believe, because the Lorddid all of these miracles.
Listen, people, no, I wouldn't.
If you don't believe now, youweren't going to believe then.
(25:55):
These people saw the miraclesthat the Lord was doing.
They saw how he moved hismighty hand and yet, and still,
these people still are grumblingagainst the Lord.
Cora already knows that theLord has struck some people down
for doing exactly what he'sdoing right now, yet he is still
doing it.
Part eight what he's doingright now, yet he is still doing
(26:15):
it.
Part eight God appeared, butonly spoke to Moses and Aaron.
Look at verses 20 to 22.
Then the Lord spoke to Mosesand Aaron saying separate
yourselves from among thiscongregation that I may consume
them instantly.
But they fell on their facesand said oh God, thou, god of
the spirits of all flesh, whenone man sins, would thou be
angry with the entirecongregation?
This is a question that Aaronand Moses are asking the Lord,
(26:38):
because when the Lord speaks,they know that the Lord's anger
is about the kindle and they'rereally praying off of other
people.
They're basically saying Lord,these few over here are the ones
sinning and speaking outagainst you.
Lord, are you going to take outthe whole congregation?
That's the question thatthey're asking.
But in part nine, god instructsmoses.
We see this in verses 23 and 24.
(27:00):
Then the lord spoke to mosessaying speak to the congregation
, saying get back from aroundthe dwellings of korah, dathan
and abiram.
So there's your answer.
The Lord is telling Moses no,I'm not gonna take everybody out
, but you better tell the peopleto get out from around them,
the ones who don't want to be.
You know, have happen to them.
What's about to happen?
(27:22):
Part 10 Moses and the elders goto the house of Dothan and
Abraham and Moses speaks to thecoming judgment.
We see this in verses 25through 30.
Now remember that, dan andAbraham.
They went into hiding and saidwe're not going to come out, but
Moses goes to them verse 25.
Then Moses arose and went tothat, dan and Abraham, with the
(27:43):
elders of Israel following him,and he spoke to the congregation
saying depart now from thetents of these wicked men and
touch nothing that belongs tothem, lest you be swept away in
all their sin.
So they got back from aroundthe dwellings of Korah, dothan
and Abiram, and Dothan andAbiram came out and stood at the
doorway of their tents, alongwith their wives and their sons
(28:04):
and their little ones.
And Moses said by this youshall know that the Lord has
sent me to do all these deeds,for this is not my doing.
If these men die the death ofall men or if they suffer the
fate of all men, then the Lordhas not sent me, but if the Lord
brings about an entirely newthing and the ground opens his
(28:25):
mouth and swallows them up andall of that is theirs and they
descend alive into Sheol, thenyou will understand that these
men have spurned the Lord.
So the Lord is speaking andbasically the Lord I mean,
excuse me, moses is tellingeverybody around.
If these things happen, youknow the Lord has spoken, but if
these things don't happen, theLord has not spoken, which does
(28:47):
remind me.
When you hear people in this21st century talk about their
prophets, you see people withprophet in front of their name.
I'm prophet this, I'mprophetess that, and these
people speak lies, which they do.
They say things that don't cometo pass.
Think about what Moses justsaid.
I'm telling you a thing that'sabout to happen, and if the
thing that I tell you happenshappens thus saith the Lord then
(29:09):
it is of the Lord, but if itdoesn't, then it's not.
It's very interesting to methat men and women nowadays can
say that the Lord spoke to them,the Lord told them these things
and those things do not happen.
The scriptures tell us, when weget to Deuteronomy, that when a
prophet or a prophetess speaks athing and it is not, so, it is
not of the Lord.
You are to get around them.
They are a false yet and still,it's really sad that people
(29:32):
will still follow these men andwomen and act like oh well, you
know, it's just a mistake thatthey made.
But the Lord is very clear whenhe says something.
There is no mistake.
Let's move on to part 11.
The rebels are executed.
We see this in verses 31 to 35.
Then it came about, as hefinished speaking all these
words to he being Moses, thatthe ground was under them split
(29:55):
open and the earth opened itsmouth and swallowed them up and
their households and all the menwho belonged to Korah with
their possessions.
So they and all that belongedto them went down alive to Sheol
and the earth closed over themand they perished from the midst
of the assembly and all Israelwho were around them fled to
(30:17):
their outcry, for they said, theearth may swallow us up.
Fire also came forth from theLord and consumed the 250 men
who were offering the incense.
Then the Lord spoke to Mosessaying say to excuse me, I'm
sorry, I went too far.
Lean back up.
Fire also came forth from thelord and consumed the 250 men
who were offering incense.
(30:37):
Sorry, that's where I wassupposed to stop.
Understand.
Now you need to understandsomething this was an earthquake
sent by the lord.
Did you hear what it said?
It said the ground opened upbeneath them.
Now the fire, you got toremember.
There's lava in the earthquake.
Now lava is between 1300 and2200 degrees Fahrenheit, so this
would have been a painful death.
So when they fell into theground, not only did they and
(31:00):
all that belong to the fall intothe ground, but there's lava
down there as well.
So they went by fire.
That's the that.
That is the way that they wentout down to Sheol.
We're going to move on to part12.
Eleazar is told by Moses thatthe Lord said to hammer the
sacred censers into sheets.
We see this in verses 36 to 40.
(31:21):
Then the Lord spoke to Moses.
When did the Lord speak toMoses after these things?
What things?
The earthquake that justhappened and swallowed up all
these people?
Say to Eleazar, the son ofaaron the priest, that he shall
take up the censers out of themidst of the blaze, for they are
holy.
And you scattered the burningcoals abroad, and excuse me.
(31:45):
As for the censers of these menwho have sinned at the cost of
their lives, let them be madeinto hammered sheets for a
plating of the altar, since theydid present them before the
lord and they are holy and theyshall be for a sign to the sons
of israel.
So eliezer the priest, took thebronze censers which the men
who were burned had offered andthey hammered them out as a
(32:08):
plating for the altar, as areminder to the sons of israel
that no layman who is not of thedescendants of Aaron should
come near to burn incense beforethe Lord, that he might not
become like Korah and hiscompany, just as the Lord has
spoken to him through Moses.
So, even though the men who hadthose censers were sinners and
(32:28):
they sinned against the Lord,the Lord said they did at one
time present those instrumentsas holy.
So we're not going to get ridof them, we're going to take
them, but we're going to hammerthem into sheets.
And then we move to part 13, themurmuring and plagues.
We look at, we look at this aswe finish up the chapter, verses
41 to 50.
But on the next day all thecongregation, the sons of israel
(32:53):
, grumbled against moses andaaron.
I'm gonna stop right there.
Did you just hear everythingthat just happened?
But but still the word says onthe next day the people were
grumbling, they grumbled againstmoses and aaron, saying you are
the ones who have caused thedeath of the lord's people.
So you see what they're saying.
They're saying that it was youwho did this, moses and Aaron.
(33:16):
They forget that it's the Lordwho's sovereign in all these
things.
But, like I said, what they'rereally doing is, in a very sly
way, they are really murmuringagainst the Lord.
Verse 42.
It came about, however, when thecongregation had assembled
against Moses and Aaron, thatthey turned towards the tent of
meeting.
And behold, the cloud coveredit and the glory of the Lord
appeared.
Then Moses and Aaron came tothe front of the tent of meeting
(33:39):
and the Lord spoke to Moses,saying get away from among this
congregation, that I may consumethem instantly.
Ok, one day later, these peopledon't get it, and the Lord is
about to give swift justiceagain.
Then they fell on their faces.
Moses and Aaron said take yourcenser and put it in the fire
from the altar and lay incenseon it.
(34:00):
Then bring it quickly to thecongregation and make atonement
for them, for wrath has goneforth from the Lord.
The plague has begun.
Then Aaron took it, as Moseshad spoken, and ran into the
midst of the assembly.
For behold, the plague hadbegun among the people.
So he put on the incense andmade atonement for the people
(34:20):
and he took his stand betweenthe dead and the living so that
the plague was checked.
But those who died by theplague were 14,700, besides
those who died on account ofKorah.
Then Aaron returned to Moses atthe doorway, the tent of
meeting for the plague had beenchecked, and that is how it
ended this day for theseIsraelites.
(34:41):
All right, that brings us tothe end of numbers, chapter 16.
As I mentioned earlier, it isvery interesting that these
people saw these thingsfirsthand, but yet and still,
this is just how prideful andand hard, you know, a man's
heart is.
Men can see things with theireyes and they still would go
through with it.
(35:01):
You know, in, in, in my culture, the old folks would say you
don't, you don't believe.
You know what I'm saying, thatfire is hot, you know.
In other words, you have to putyour hand in the fire to find
out for yourself.
You just can't stand far from aback and see that is burning
down the wood.
You can't look and see thatthis other guy put his hand in
there and his hand came out allburned up and you know he had to
(35:21):
go to the burn unit.
And you know, get, get repairsdone.
No, no, no, you have to goyourself and see it.
That's what these people arelike, and I can understand how
Moses would be tired of thesepeople.
He would be annoyed with thesepeople because the Lord has done
all these things and all thesegood things for them and yet,
and still, these people stillhave an issue with what the Lord
says.
And guess what?
All these thousands of yearslater, times have not changed.
(35:46):
All right, I hope you enjoyedthis lesson.
As I always ask, continue topray for me as we go through
these scriptures.
This lesson, as I always ask,continue to pray for me as we go
through these scriptures.
Pray that we continue, that Istay the course and finish the
race, and I am always doing thesame for you.
That's all I got to have, untilnext time, god bless.
Thank you for listening toBerean's Corner.
We appreciate you joining us aswe dive into God's word and
(36:06):
seek biblical truth together.
If this episode encouraged orchallenged you, be sure to
subscribe, share and leave areview on your favorite podcast
platform.
You can find Berean's Corner onBuzzsprout, apple Podcasts,
spotify, iheart, amazon Musicand more.
Let's stay connected.
If you have questions, commentsor prayer requests, reach out
(36:27):
to us atbereanscornerbuzzsproutcom,
where you can follow along withshow transcripts and leave a
message in the fan mail slot.
Also, follow us on YouTube atBereans Corner, and don't forget
to subscribe.
We'd love to hear from you.
Until next time, keep searchingthe scriptures like a Berean,
stay discerning, stay faithfuland God bless.
(36:47):
Guitar solo.
(39:00):
Thank you, thank you.
¶¶.
Thank you.
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