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Home , Korah, Moses (miniseries)

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church centuries ago. And then we will learn lessons Des Moines, WA for our faith and our Christian life as we worship this Lent. March 3, 2013 1. The account of and his followers Numbers 16:1-40 We read the account in our first two Lenten Thoughts on… Rebellion Scripture readings this morning. Background 1. The account of Korah and his information will be very helpful to us in followers understanding what exactly was happening in 2. Lenten lessons for our faith and that power struggle. Looking back, the had left in a dramatic . life had led them through the parted Red Sea and ’s army had been dashed to Hymns: 385 – 302 – Distribution: 116, 124 – pieces behind them. Then the community of Closing: 114 (6-7) Israel had journeyed through the wilderness to Mt. Sinai, where they had paused for quite a All Scripture quotations from NIV 1984 while as Moses received the laws of God on the mountain. Then they had traveled northward all the way to the southern border of the Power struggles! They are common in our Promised Land. Spies had been sent to check world today: out and had returned with a negative • Nations struggle for power. We watch report: “We can’t take this land! The cities are on news channels as nations undergo too fortified and the people are too strong!” riots and depose their governmental Therefore, in Numbers 14 God declared that leaders. due to their lack of faith and their complaint • Our own Congress struggles for power. against him they would wander the wilderness Opposite sides posture for power in for 40 years. All people age 21 and older would their philosophies as to how to run our die during that time, and their children would country. be the ones to enter the Promised Land. • Labor and management struggle for After God revealed that judgment, they had power. Negotiations about benefits are rushed into the Promised Land in their held. Strikes are threatened. frustration – without God’s blessing – to begin • Power struggles can happen in a home. an attempt at conquest, and had been beaten Spouses and family members lock horns back and defeated. They were now fulfilling in a struggle for control. their sentence of wandering aimlessly. • Power struggles can even happen in a It is during this time that the incident of our visible church, as members try to get text occurs. We had read, “Korah son of , the upper hand over others instead of the son of Kohath, the son of , and certain serving them. Reubenites— and … and On—

And power struggles can happen… in the became insolent and rose up against Moses. desert. What? In the desert? Yes, today we With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known learn from an account in the Old Testament community leaders who had been appointed

where a serious power struggle was occurring. members of the council. They came as a group It is a sad story that we will recount today from to oppose Moses and and said to them, Numbers 16. We will learn about a man named ‘You have gone too far! The whole community is Korah and his followers. First, we will review holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with the details of what happened in the wilderness them. Why then do you set yourselves above something about how serious this power the LORD ’s assembly?’ ” struggle was!) Thus the power struggle begins. Who are Moses understood their envy of Aaron and the participants? One of the leaders is Korah. his priesthood, so he devised a plan. Moses’ You may have taken note of his family idea is that their group should get censers filled connections as we read those verses. His great- with incense, light them, and bring them to grandfather was Levi. The Levites had the present to the LORD at the tabernacle the next privilege of being the overseers and workers day. Do you see how this would show true with the tabernacle and worship for the nation. disdain for the LORD’s word? That was work Moses and his brother Aaron were Levites. that was only to be done by the . If they Within the tribe of Levi, Aaron had been wanted to serve that way, Moses said, bring designated by God as the first . His sons your prayer censers and offer incense! and their sons after him would be the only ones More on that later. We also have to take who would continue the priestly line of service. note of Dathan, Abiram, and On. These were For the rest of the tribe of Levi, they would be major leaders as well in this power struggle. the temple workers who maintained the These men were not Levites, but Reubenites. tabernacle, transported it, and took care of all Their forefather Reuben had been the oldest the worship details. son of . Being from the tribe of Levi, Korah was a We read that after talking to Korah, Moses tabernacle worker. He was also a cousin of summoned Dathan and Abiram. But they said, Aaron. Can you see how this power struggle “We will not come! Isn’t it enough that you had developed? Cousin Moses got to be God’s have brought us up out of a land flowing with prophet and tell the people what to do. Korah milk and to kill us in the wilderness? And was sick and tired of the glory Moses got and now you also want to lord it over us! Moreover, the “I-just-talked-to-God” look on his face. And you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with Aaron got to parade around as the high priest in milk and honey or given us an inheritance of his special robes and outfit. But Korah was in fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the the group that had to do the manual labor and eyes of these men? No, we will not come!” carry the tabernacle parts around. And he was Just think about what they were saying! fed up with it. With Moses and Aaron being in • They refused to appear the next day to their 80’s at this time, it certainly seemed like a settle this matter. Not only did they good time to raise a revolt! defy God’s appointed leaders and God This is why Moses said to Korah, “Now listen, himself, they would not appear to you Levites! Isn’t it enough for you that the God resolve the conflict. of Israel has separated you from the rest of the • They mocked Moses by using his own Israelite community and brought you near words: “Isn’t it enough…” himself to do the work at the LORD ’s tabernacle • They directly slammed God’s promise of and to stand before the community and minister a land of milk and honey, the metaphor to them? He has brought you and all your that God had made for the Promised fellow Levites near himself, but now you are Land. They said Moses had led them trying to get the priesthood too. It is against the from the land of milk and honey to a LORD that you and all your followers have land that was not milk and honey. banded together. Who is Aaron that you should (Moses, you don’t know what you’re grumble against him?” doing!) We also heard there were 250 leading men • They implied Moses had taken his of the nation that Korah had gathered. These authority too far and “lorded it over” men were well known and also appointed men them and the rest of the people. of the council of the nation. (This tells us • They accused him of blinding people to “As soon as he finished saying all this, the his leadership and incompetence. ground under them split apart and the earth This was a direct and serious threat! opened its mouth and swallowed them with What was reality? Had Moses done such their households and all Korah’s men and all things? Remember his call at the burning bush? their possessions. They went down alive into Had he arrogantly claimed power at that time? the grave, with everything they owned; the Rather, didn’t he hesitantly accept God’s earth closed over them, and they perished and command? Remember how he even made were gone.” Verse 35 continues, “ And fire came excuses for why he should not go to confront out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men Pharaoh? who were offering the incense.” And what about Mt. Sinai? Had he They had chosen their home. arrogantly usurped power to go up the 2. Lenten lessons to learn for mountain to face God and receive his laws? Rather, hadn’t the people trembled in fear and our faith and life said, “You go up there yourself and then tell us What can we learn from this account, one of what God wants”? Tragically these leaders and the most dramatic in Scripture? What can we councilmen had been given honorable positions learn from this power struggle? by God and they were not satisfied with them, A number of things! First, this Lent we must due to their envy. acknowledge the fact that our sin has been Therefore, a showdown begins the next day nothing less than rebellion against our God. at the tabernacle. Korah and the 250 men Me? A rebel? Like this? appear. The 250 have censers to attempt to be Think about it for a moment. You know priests and offer incense to God. The people of God’s commandments. Many of you have even the nation are behind them. We hear that the memorized them in the past; and if you haven’t, LORD appeared immediately and told Moses you know the gist of how they go. Yet how and Aaron to get away, because he was going to many days haven’t you broken God’s destroy the whole community. But Moses and commandments despite this? Aaron prayed to God, asking that he would not The word “transgress” from which we get destroy the whole community because of the the word transgressions and the word sins of Korah. In an amazing answer, God does “trespass” from which we get the word not destroy the community, but he said, “Move trespasses both have essentially the same away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and meaning: To step across a line and go where Abiram.” you are not supposed to. How many times have Moses walked to the tents of Dathan and you knowingly and rebelliously done this with Abiram, who had refused to appear before the God’s law? LORD that day. Their families came out to stand • You saw the speed limit sign, but put in opposition to Moses and confront him. your foot down and blew right by it. Moses then clearly warned all the people to get • You know how you are supposed to away from them and their tents. He said, “If the forgive your neighbor, but you just can’t LORD brings about something totally new, and bring yourself to forgive a person you the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, do not get along with. with everything that belongs to them, and they • You know how husbands and wives are go down alive to the grave, then you will know to love each other unconditionally, but that these men have treated the LORD with you and your spouse fight regularly and contempt.” There was no doubt as to what the hold grudges. people should know in the outcome of this • You know what language are power struggle! to use, but you continue to let those loose words fly from your lips anyway.

• You know the office policies where you • And if bitterness or rebellion isn’t work, but you think some of the directly expressed against the leaders in company rules are dumb and don’t feel a church or Christian school, what like complying. about the temptation to foster division You have trespassed and rebelled against behind the scenes? better knowledge, and have fallen into the sins • A warning is in place for students of their of Korah. To rebellious sinners, the book of teachers today also. Do you treat your Hebrews says, “If we deliberately keep on teachers in the classroom with respect? sinning after we have received the knowledge of Do you do your work diligently? Or is the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a your attitude and your mouth exhibiting fearful expectation of judgment and of raging the sins of Korah many days? fire that will consume the enemies of God” For the times you examine your heart and (10:26,27). find the sins of Korah lurking there, you need to Let’s sharpen the focus a bit. Korah’s repent. You need to confess those sins to your rebellion was against God’s own appointed holy God and take them to the cross. For there, leaders. They were God’s authorities. God still you will learn a lesson, which mirrors the final has leaders and respresentatives in the Church lesson from the account of Korah. It is the today. You have called workers over you in lesson of amazing grace. That’s right, we also our congregation: Pastors, a principal, and see amazing grace in this account. Does it seem teachers. You also have elected various men to hard to find? Look again! lead our congregation on a Church Council and We see Moses giving the rebels time to many boards and committees. Might you be consider, even a whole night to sleep on their tempted toward the sins of Korah? decision to rebel. We see Moses’ prayer for the • For example, we don’t have a traveling community when God wanted to destroy them nation of 2½ million people, but with a all. We see it in the warning to “move away congregation of over 500 people from the tents” of those whom God was going different decisions or ways of doing to judge. We see it in the zeal that God had for things can certainly occur. Decisions his plan, a plan that would raise up a prophet and direction must be decided. like Moses from the nation, who would be the Changes occur. When it happens that and Savior of the world. That’s what something doesn’t go exactly the way the whole history of the nation of Israel was you wanted in our congregation that leading toward! God’s zeal for his plan of does not involve doctrine, what is your salvation would not be thwarted by any reaction? Is it to rebel? Is it to hold on rebellion against him! to some resentment against the There are two other details of grace that leaders of the congregation? It’s no stand out even more. One is is the result of secret that some churches of the past what happened to the censers that were used have been torn apart because of a by the would-be priests. God had Eliezar, the Korah-like rebellion. son of Aaron who would serve as the next high • And what about our school? School priest, pick all of them up so they could be used decisions can certainly be a thorny – not as censers, but as a hammered-out cover world. Parents, what is your attitude for the of burnt offering! That altar would toward the authorities God has placed be a mixture of law and that would over us in our school when change clearly be seen by all the people as sacrifices occurs or a decision is made that is not were offered. The warning against rebellion one we would have voted for? Can the would be clear, and the sacrifices that were sins of Korah occur? offered on the altar would be clear pictures of the grace of God that would forgive sins. After all, there would come a day when So today, we learn lessons in an account of a Christ would be opposed, confronted, and power struggle. A sad account of sin and its arrested. As God’s representative, how come consequences. A story that warns us. And yet the ground didn’t open up to swallow those it is a story of God’s grace and love to sinners who rebelled against him and rose up to who believe in him. This Lent, may we take murder him? Because in the arrest, trial, and these lessons to heart. And may we continually murder of Christ, God the Father would work give thanks that God has had mercy and grace out your salvation. Jesus would pay for your on rebellious sinners and won their salvation in sins of rebellion against God. To do that, he his Son, Jesus Christ! Amen. would be consumed by the fire and wrath of God and he would be swallowed by the earth in the tomb that would hold him for three days. It was God’s will to save you through that! A final detail of grace is seen in the sons of Korah. Are you familiar with the sons of Korah? If you think back to what we read in this account, you didn’t hear that Korah’s family followed him in his rebellion. In fact, Numbers 26 later tells us specifically that they did not follow! Later in the Old Testament we hear in 1 Chronicles 9 that the gatekeepers of the Temple were “Shallum and his fellow gatekeepers from his family (the ). (They) were responsible for guarding the thresholds of the tent just as their ancestors had been.” God allowed the sons of Korah to continue serving! Not only that, but if you’ve read the lately, you’ll notice that some of them have headings stating that they were written by the “sons of Korah.” We have references in the Old Testament that the sons of Korah were also leading musicians for the worship of the LORD at the Temple. They wrote words in the Psalms such as: • “God is our Refuge and Strength, and ever-present help in trouble.” (46:1) • “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” () • “You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins. You set aside all your wrath and turned from your fierce anger.” (Psalm 85) How could they write such things? Through faith in the coming Messiah. What grace that God allowed them to continue in their lives of service to him and did wonderful things through them!