No rebellion among the children of Israel was as great as the one recorded in Numbers 16. Korah of the tribe of Levi took the lead, joining himself with Dathan and Abiram of the tribe of Reuben. In addition, 250 of the leaders of the assembly joined them. They gathered themselves together and spoke strong words against Moses and Aaron. This was a great rebellion. The reviling in Numbers 12 was confined to Aaron and Miriam, and was merely a murmuring behind the back. But the rebellion in chapter sixteen was corporate, and it was directly against Moses and Aaron. The rebels said, “You have gone too far!...Why then do you exalt yourselves above the congregation of Jehovah?” (v. 3). Their charges were serious and severe. We should pay attention to (1) the condition of Moses, that is, his attitude, and (2) the way he dealt with the situation, that is, his answer to them.
Verse 4 says that Moses’ first reaction was to fall on his face. This is the proper attitude of God’s servant. All of the rebellious ones were standing when they spoke; only Moses fell down on his face. Here we see a man who had touched authority. He was indeed meek; he did not have any feeling of his own. He did not vindicate himself or argue. The first thing he did was fall on his face. In verses 5 through 7 he seemed to be saying, “Jehovah will make known who is His, who is holy, and whom He will choose, and He will cause him to come near to Him. There is no need for us to argue. In the morning we will all know. I dare not say anything for myself. He will show us clearly who is His. If it turns out to be you, that is fine. If it turns out to be me, that is also fine. Let God decide. We do not have to decide anything. Tomorrow we will all come before the Lord and be tested by the censers. Let the Lord decide who is the one; we do not have to fight for it. God will choose who is His. Let us come to God and be open to His speaking.” Moses spoke these words meekly while he was falling on his face. However, the last few sentences were quite strong and serious: “You have gone too far, sons of Levi!” (v. 7). This was a sighing of grief from an elderly man who knew God. The Israelites had been wandering in the wilderness for a long time, and they were still not in Canaan yet. Moses was still hoping that they could go into Canaan; he was still hoping that he could recover them.
Verses 8 through 11 were Moses’ words of exhortation to Korah; he was trying to recover Korah. He had to deal with their accusation, which had to wait for the result of the next day. In the meantime, he was aware of the seriousness of this matter, and he was worried about them. It was not enough for him to sigh and worry; he felt that he had to exhort them as well. He seemed to say to Korah, “It is not a small thing for the sons of Levi to be chosen by God to do the service of the tabernacle of Jehovah. You should be content with this. Why do you still want to be the priests? When you do this, you do not oppose me; you oppose the Lord.” Moses was a magnanimous man, and he was confident of the things he was doing. He knew the seriousness of this matter and he was worried about the sons of Korah. This is why he exhorted them. His exhortation was not a sign of arrogance, but of humility. Others were attacking him and giving him a hard time. But no matter how wrong they were, he could still exhort them. This is a sign of a truly meek person. If we allow others to continue in their mistakes, it means that our hearts are hardened and that we have no intention to recover them. Refusal to exhort is a sign of a lack of humility; it shows that one is proud. When Moses was rebuked, he turned around to exhort his opposers and openly deal with them. He even gave them a night to think about it, hoping that they would repent.
In dealing with the rebellious ones, Moses took care of them separately. First he dealt with Korah the Levite and then with Dathan and Abiram. In verse 12 he sent for Dathan and Abiram to come, but they would not come, indicating that they wanted to break away. Here we see that even when a deputy authority is rejected, he will not want the opposing ones to break away. Instead, he will try to recover the lost ones. Dathan and Abiram said, “You have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey” (v. 13). This statement turned things around; it was exactly the opposite of the truth. They forgot that they were making bricks in Egypt. There was no milk or honey; there was not even straw to make the bricks. This is like bringing a young man to the Lord who then turns around and accuses you of bringing him to hell. It is also like the ten spies who clearly saw the riches of Canaan and yet would not enter, but murmured against Moses instead. Nothing more could be done except judgment when Dathan and Abiram’s rebellion reached its peak. Moses tried his best to recover them, but they declared twice that they would not go up. After all this, Moses gave up his hope, became angry, and went to Jehovah to settle the matter (v. 15). Then he told Korah, “You and all your company shall be present before Jehovah, you and they and Aaron, tomorrow. And let every one of you take his censer, and put incense upon it, and every one of you bring before Jehovah his censer, two hundred and fifty censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer” (vv. 16-17). Korah’s company then came before the tent of meeting, reviling Moses and Aaron again. At this point the glory of Jehovah appeared to the whole assembly.
God stepped forward to judge. Korah was the chief instigator, and the assembly followed. God was prepared to destroy not only the chief instigator but all of the assembly as well (v. 21). But Moses fell down before the Lord again. The first time Moses fell on his face before his brothers. The second time he fell before the Lord. He prayed for the whole assembly and interceded for their safety. God answered his prayer and ordered the assembly to depart from the tents of the wicked ones (vv. 22-24). Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram. (They were of the tribe of Reuben and lived in a separate place.) Since they would not come to Moses, he went to them. He ordered the assembly to depart from them, and God executed His judgment upon Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (vv. 25-33).
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