“Thee Rebel”

Numbers 14:1-16:35 & 17:2-3

The Sabbath was the seventh day of each week; the Israelites were commanded not to work on Sabbaths.

One Sabbath day a man was noticed at work gathering sticks. Since this was against God’s law, he was put in jail until the people could find out how God wanted to punish him for his sin.

The Lord told Moses to sentence the man to death. “Tell the people to take him out of the camp and throw heavy stones upon until he was dead,” The Lord said.

So they did.

After this, three men named Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and 250 other Israelis, started a protest movement against Moses and Aaron. They said Aaron had no right to be the High Priest and that they didn’t want Moses as their leader.

Korah was one of the Levites. He helped the priests in the Tabernacle, but he was not satisfied with doing this. He wanted to be a priest. That was why he had urged these 250 men to come with him to speak against Aaron.

Moses heard what they had to say and told them to return the next day, each with an incense cup and some incense. Then the Lord would show them whether or not He had chosen Aaron alone as His High Priest.

So they all returned the next day with their incense cups, put fire in them, and sprinkled incense on the fire just as the priests did at the Tabernacle. All the rest of the people of Israel came out to watch and to encourage and support the rebels against Moses and Aaron. But the Lord was very displeased with them for coming. He commanded them to get back away from Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. So the people drew back.

Then Moses announced what God’s proof would be that God had chosen Moses and Aaron; the ground would open up under Korah, Dathan, and Abiram and swallow them alive.

Moses had hardly finished speaking before the ground opened up and swallowed them, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, with their tents and families, screaming as they went down alive into the ground, and the earth closed over them again.

All the people standing near them ran for their lives, fearing that the earth would swallow them too. And the Lord sent fire from the sky that killed the 250 other rebels.

But the next day all the people murmured against Moses and Aaron again. “You murdered Korah, Dathan, and Abiram and those 250 other good men,” they said.

Then the Lord was very angry. He said to Moses and Aaron. “Get away from these people, for I am going to destroy them.” But Moses and Aaron lay flat on their faces before the Lord and prayed for all the Israelis. The Lord refused to listen, for even while they were praying God sent a terrible plague among the people and many of them died.

When Moses realized what was happening, he said to Aaron, “Quick! Take an incense cup and put fire in it from the altar of burnt offering. Sprinkle incense on the fire, and run out among the people, and offer up the incense to the Lord.

Aaron did as Moses said. He ran out among the people and stood with the burning incense between those who had died and those still living, and the Lord stopped the plague. But 14,700 people had already died.

The Lord said for the people of Israel to give a dead stick to Moses, and for Aaron to give one to him too. Then Moses took the two dead sticks into the Tabernacle and left them in front of the Ark all night.

The next day Aaron’s dead stick had blossoms and almond nuts growing on it!

Moses brought out the sticks and showed them to the people. God used this miracle to show everyone that He had chosen Aaron as the High Priest and hadn’t chosen anyone else.

God told Moses to take Aarons stick back into the Tabernacle again and to keep it there as a reminder that God had chosen Aaron alone as His High Priest. And when Aaron and his sons were dead, then their sons would be the Priests. All the men in Aaron’s family in all the years to come would be priests, but no one else could be.

Then God reminded the people again that the men of the tribe of Levi would be helpers to Aaron and his sons and would do the work at the Tabernacle.

The Lord said that all the other tribes of Israel must give the priests and Levites part of their grain and fruit and cattle. The priests and Levites wouldn’t have farms in the Promise Land as the other tribes would, for their work was to care for the Tabernacle and to help the people worship. That is why the other tribes were commanded to give a tenth of their grain, fruit, and cattle, and of everything they earned to the priests and Levites.

Questions:

What happened to the man who worked on the Sabbath?

Why?

What happen to Korah, Dathan, and Abiram?

Why?

What happened to Aarons stick?

What did this prove to the people?