With many 100's of people dead before them, the Israelites cause the death of nearly 15,000 more. Will they never learn?

Numbers 16:41-50 Israel Rebels Again Against Moses and God Acts Strongly

Day 67. Today our church held its Annual General Meeting on-line through Zoom. Very well done and very interesting with a great turnout. Life has changed. The issue is how much of the change will stick around after Covid-19 is no longer a threat.  Our last study got several positive responses on social media and some new subscribers. Unfortunately, the comments section of the actual blog is not working well and I’m having someone look into it. But we press on. Can you believe these Israelites? They’re at it again.

The Passage

⁴¹ But on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You are the ones who have caused the death of the Lord’s people.”⁴² It came about, however, when the congregation had assembled against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tent of meeting, and behold, the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared. ⁴³ Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, ⁴⁴ and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁵ “Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them instantly.” Then they fell on their faces. ⁴⁶ Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put in it fire from the altar, and lay incense on it; then bring it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone forth from the Lord, the plague has begun!” ⁴⁷ Then Aaron took it as Moses had spoken, and ran into the midst of the assembly, for behold, the plague had begun among the people. So he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸ He took his stand between the dead and the living, so that the plague was checked. ⁴⁹ But those who died by the plague were 14,700, besides those who died on account of Korah.⁵⁰ Then Aaron returned to Moses at the doorway of the tent of meeting, for the plague had been checked.

Thoughts on the Passage

This seems to be right after the day that three entire households were swallowed up by an opening in the earth and when 250 leaders were consumed by God’s fire – and yet these Israelites are grumbling against Moses and Aaron once again, and now blaming them for the deaths of the day before.

[Can you imagine how Moses must have felt? He thought that they day before the Israelites must have finally learned their lesson. But instead they started feeling sorry for the rebels and those that perished. I’m sorry, but I have to say to those of you that follow world news, this reminds me of what is going on with politicians blame the ruling administration for Covid-19 deaths when their own people acted unwisely locally. Or I am reminded of a group that wanted to impeach the country’s head of state and failed; and right after the verdict, they indicated they are starting the process all over again. You can’t follow your own desires and agenda, and then blame others for the results. God allows us to discover that in our relationship with Him as well. Clearly the old saying, “once burned, twice shy” does not apply to God-haters and to put it mildly, idiots.]

This time, though, when the Israelites complained, God didn’t wait long to show up. Right away the glory of the Lord appeared in the vicinity of the Tabernacle. Moses and Aaron drew near and God spoke to Moses telling him to arise and get away from the people, because He wanted to consume them immediately.

As we learned to have expected by now, Moses and Aaron fall on their faces in prayer pleading to God. [There is some disagreement of opinion here as to who the “they fell on their faces” in verse 45 refers to. Most believe it to be Moses and Aaron. Some, like David Guzik, think it was the congregation. I side with the majority on this.]

This time, Moses tells Aaron to use his incense burner and on behalf of the congregation, make an atonement for them, because as Moses detected, God’s wrath had left Him and was impacting the people as a plague had begun.

Aaron immediately did as was he was asked to, running amongst the people, to atone on their behalf, although some had already died. The text says Aaron stood “between the dead and the living” causing the impact of the plague to be ‘checked’. This was a combination of a) following God’s commandments for what needed to be done when there was sin present (atonement), b) the wisdom of a man like Moses who being God’s friend and close to Him knew what to do, and c) the immediate obedience of a servant like Aaron. In addition to all that, what we have here is a beautiful picture of two intercessors at work – Moses and Aaron – the former through prayer and the application of his wisdom and the latter through his actions, which incorporated a certain amount of risk. Guzik reminds us that prayer does move the hand of God, “and moves it to stop death and to give life!” Furthermore, Guzik reminds us that “Aaron the high priest's work here is a picture of our high priest Jesus, and his work on our behalf.”

This is a place for us to ask ourselves: Do we have such intercessors on our own behalf? Am I an intercessor for some dying soul(s)? Does the world have anyone interceding for it? We need positive answers to all three of those questions. 

Nevertheless, 14,700 people died on that die. And the plague stopped.

Let me circle back for a moment to my church’s AGM held earlier today on Zoom technology because of the ‘physical distancing’ we all have to observe. To the best of my knowledge (because I cannot know the heart of men), godly leaders were joined by a godly congregation to conduct one of the best church business meetings I have attended in my close to six decades I’ve had an interest in such events. The relevant material was shared in advance; the process was described; questions were encouraged on every item; the questions were all honest without an agenda in mind; where the staff or members of the board didn’t have an answer, they promised to get back to the people; and when an error was discovered, the person who made it owned up to it. We opened and closed in prayer and thanked God for helping us as a local church body deal with some difficult things during this Covid-19 situation which not only impacts church income but also our inability to meet together.

The point that I want us to grasp here is that if there are godly leaders in place and if the congregation is in sync with what God is doing with and through them and their leaders, then there is no need for grumbling or rebellion. And that happens when both sides recognize their roles and go out of their way to help those in other roles feel safe, secure, and satisfied with the transparency of what is going on. My prayer is that is the way your church is operating.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.