Daily Bible Reflection 10/26

Continuing a plan to get through the entire Bible in a year, follow as I journal through the reading. I have chosen a straightforward approach that begins in Genesis and ends in Revelation. This will not be an in-depth study or a comprehensive commentary. There are plenty of sources for such material. This is stage one Bible reading, taking the text at face value and sharing impressions.

Today’s reading comes from the book of Numbers, chapters 16 through 17, documenting Korah’s rebellion, and it’s grave consequences. Some impressions from the text:

Korah’s rebellion proves remarkable in a number of ways:
- It comes after several earlier rebellions, each of which resolved definitively in favor of God and his chosen mediator Moses.
- It was led by and widely comprised of Levites, the chosen ministers of the tabernacle who already bore an honored position. They sought more.
- It was directed against Moses as if he were a pretender. Korah and his followers acted as though the Lord was with them, and Moses had led them astray. They thought they could oppose Moses, God’s chosen mediator, yet somehow remain in God’s favor.
- They acted as though Moses was the reason they had not entered the Promised Land, rather than their own previous rebellion and God’s explicit decree. They acted as if they could overcome God’s decree by overthrowing Moses. Such folly.
Once again, God showed mercy, providing opportunity for those among the congregation to repent – to literally turn away from Korah and his cohort.
In spite of the dramatic and plainly supernatural fate which befell Korah, the people continued to grumble against Moses, blaming him for Korah’s fate! They just didn’t get it. And God had enough. The subsequent plague killed thousands, and would have killed many more but for the intercession of Moses and Aaron.