Word of Salvation – April 2011

 

Numbers 16 – DESCENT INTO HADES – by Rev. John Westendorp

(Sermon 16 in a series on Numbers)

 Scripture reading: Numbers 16:1-35.

Singing: Book of Worship 67 / 95a / 514 / 296

 

Introduction: In recent times we’ve seen again the horror of a major natural catastrophe.

When a huge earthquake (like in Haiti or Chile or Japan) strikes we see the scenes of utter devastation.
We know instinctively that there’ll be many victims so we grimly await the body count.
As the days pass the toll rises from the hundreds to the thousands.
We hear the figures: 1200 and counting… more reports are sure to come in.
The devastation is bad enough… but the horrible loss of life is far worse.

 

In a sense that is what we have here in Numbers 16.
It’s not the devastation of a natural catastrophe… this is a man-mad catastrophe.
As the chapter opens we know there will be victims and we grimly await the body count.
As the chapter progresses the toll rises from the hundreds to the thousands.
We read the figures: 250 and counting… more reports are sure to come in.
And sure enough; by the end of the chapter the toll has risen to almost fifteen thousand.

 

In my opinion this is the worst episode in the whole story of Israel’s wilderness wanderings.
It pictures the deepest descent of Israel into rebellion and anarchy.
It’s one of the great horror chapters of the Bible as Israel descends into a hell of its own making.

Our studies in Numbers have repeatedly shown us a grumbling nation.
Some ten times they have grumbled against Moses and against God.
And now they’re at it again… but in Numbers 16 the grumbling is now on steroids.
Grumbling turns into outright rebellion on a major scale.
And as the grumbling escalates so does the body count.
Korah, Dathan and Abiram with their families die.
So do the 250 leaders whom they have roped into their cause.

 

The really sad part of the story is that these people don’t learn from that sorry episode.
In vs.41 we read of the community blaming Moses and Aaron for all those casualties.
“You are the ones who have caused the death of the Lord’s people.”
At that point God strikes the nation with a plague and another 14,700 people die.

 

Today it’s tempting to write this sordid story off as just some ancient history.
All this happened thousands of years ago and it’s totally irrelevant for us today. Right?
No! Sorry! Jude, in the New Testament, mentions Korah as someone we should learn from.
That’s one reason why you can’t just dismiss this pathetic story in Number 16.
The other reason is that the whole of the Bible is about the Lord Jesus Christ.
And if that’s true then somehow we are going find pointers to Him also in this chapter.

 

A] THE NATURE OF THE REBELLION.

 

1. To help us understand this rebellion we have to understand its source.

In Numbers 2 God gives Moses instructions for the layout of the camp.
The most important place is on the eastern side of the tabernacle.
The order of importance then decreases clockwise around the tabernacle.
Judah, Issachar and Zebulun are on the Eastern side in the place of prominence.
Reuben, Simeon and Gad are on the southern side… the second most important spot.

The tribe of Levi has a special place between the tabernacle and people.
And again the most important place is on the east – so the priests camp there.
Then in decreasing order of importance we have:
the clan of Kohath to the south, Gershon to the west and Merari to the north.

 

Now ask yourself: where do the leaders of these grumblers come from…?
Verse 1 of Numbers 16 mentions: Korah, son of Izhar, the son of Kohath…!
Korah’s camping place was on the south… the second best spot around the tabernacle.
And look at the others mentioned in vs.1: Certain Reubenites… Dathan… Abiram… and On….!
These Reubenites too are camped on the south… the second best spot.

 

This is a Southside uprising.
That area of the camp of Israel becomes a hotspot of discontent… a seedbed of rebellion.
And immediately there are a couple of lessons that come out of that.

First: these are all people from the second most privileged position.
It seems second best wasn’t good enough for them.
Korah wanted to be with the priests… and those Reubenites envied the people of Judah.

Discontent and grumbling often arises from our jealousy of others.
Why is he so blest and why do I miss out? Why does someone else get the best spots?
Jealousy needs to be nipped in the bud before it leads to grumbling.

A second lesson is that grumbling spreads… discontent spreads.
In fact they manage to rope in another 250 prominent people for their cause.
Grumblers always manage to find one another. They seek each other out.

And that still happens in the church today over and over.
Just let there be unhappiness about a pastor… you’ll easily find another listening ear.
What we need to do is deal with it and not drag others into our unhappiness.

 

Here the discontent grows into outright rebellion under leadership of Korah, Dathan, Abiram and On.

Yet within that rebellion there are two distinct groups of people with two distinct agendas.

 

1. There’s Korah – a Levite – and he’s got his own agenda.
   He’s got problems especially with the Priesthood and he’s gunning for Aaron.

   His complaint (in v.3) is a one-sided argument for full equality of all the people.
   “You have gone too far. The whole community is holy, everyone of them, and the Lord is with them.
   Why then do you set yourself above the Lord’s assembly?”

   Is Korah right about that? In the first part of his argument…? Absolutely!
   His argument is based on a truth of a passage such as Exodus 19:6… where God says:
   “You are to be for me a Kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

   It’s based on the preceding story at the end of Numbers 15 where Israel is called to wear tassels.
   Those tassels on their garments were a sign of the holiness of the whole nation.
   And now Korah uses those ideas as an argument against Moses and Aaron.
   Especially against Aaron and his position as the High Priest of the nation.

 

2. Dathan, Abiram and On – those Reubenites – have a slightly different agenda.
   Their complaint is in reaction to them now not entering Canaan but returning to the wilderness.

   We hear their complaint in verses 13 and 14.
   In an amazing twist of logic Egypt is glorified as a land flowing with milk and honey.
   And Moses is blamed for taking them out of that paradise and for not bringing them into Canaan.
   These men have Moses in their sights and are gunning for his leadership.

   They speak about Moses blinding the eyes of the people.
   In other words: you tricked people and made them blindly follow you. But we’ve seen through it.

 

2. Two different agendas – but united in a common cause against the nation’s leadership.

I want you to see though, that the true nature of these rebellions goes much, much deeper.

1. Dathan and Abiram’s rebellion is simply an extension of the rebellion of Numbers 14.
   Israel there decided they would not do what God wanted them to do.
   Instead they decided to go back to Egypt… lest the Canaanites destroy them.

   In Dathan and Abiram we see that unbelief even more clearly.
   What we have here is really a direct attack on God’s plans and purposes for His people.
   More than that – it is an attack on God’s character and being.

   We see that especially in that God does not rate a mention in the arguments of these Reubenites.
   They conveniently leave God out of the picture as if God has nothing to do with real life.
   You’re familiar with that. Don’t bring God into everything… keep him for devotions and worship.

   Here is the view that is so common – sometimes even among Christians.
   They’ll go to worship services… and they may even say their prayers.
   But by and large God is irrelevant for daily life in the factory and in the office.
   God is for Church and for the life of the world to come… here in this life it’s all about us.

   These people leave God out of the equation. The Exodus was merely orchestrated by Moses.
   Clever man that he is with all his magic tricks… but it was all for his own power and glory.
   And now he has to take the blame for their failure to enter Canaan.
   What an insult that is to almighty God who had led them all this time.

 

2. Korah’s rebellion has a somewhat different focus.
   Korah forgets that equality does not cancel out God-appointed leadership.
   Leadership in the church is not something people take on themselves for their own glory.
   There is a special place for those whom God calls to lead and give oversight.

   Furthermore – the people may be holy, but that doesn’t cancel out the need for a priesthood.
   Because of sin man needs an intermediary.
   And we see that most graphically later on when God strikes the nation with a plague.
   When that plague strikes its progress is halted by Aaron.
   Aaron stands as High Priest with a censer in his hand between the dead and the living.

   That makes us realise the true nature of Korah’s complaint.
   His is an attack on Aaron and the priesthood and the whole sacrificial system.
   And if you do away with that then there is no-one to stand between a sinner and an angry God.

   That takes us today to the Lord Jesus Christ… whom Aaron represented and portrayed.
   Jesus is the great Mediator… the great intermediary.
   Today, like Korah… you can despise the idea of needing an intermediary between you and God.
   Korah felt he didn’t need Aaron… and you can think you don’t need Jesus as your high priest.
   But if you do… then you’ll be added to the body count of those who will descend into hell.

 

B] THE NATURE OF GOD’S RESPONSE.

 

1. Numbers 16 also records for us God’s response to this uprising in the south of Israel’s camp.

And God needs to respond. Because this rebellion has brought the whole community into danger.

 

God had said that only Moses and Aaron could approach God.
Anyone else who presumed to approach God would die.
They could approach God only through the God-appointed leaders and priests.
So Korah’s argument put the whole community in danger of instantaneous death.

 

God arranges then through Moses to have Korah and his followers take censers.
They are to put fire and incense in them.
And the offerings which God accepts will the ones God chooses as holy.
So judgment will be based on whose fire God will accept.
In this way Korah is invited to test his claims that he makes against Moses and Aaron.

 

I find it rather surprisingly that Korah actually expected to have his cause vindicated.
I’m surprised because there had been an earlier episode in which Levites had died.
Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu had been killed.
The reason was that they had not closely followed God’s instructions for sacrifices.
They too had come with censers – on their own terms and had died for their troubles.
And now Korah does something very similar and he expects to get away with it.

 

It’s telling that Dathan and Abiram refuse to front up for this showdown.
Moses calls them to be part of this test at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
But in their arrogance they refuse to attend and instead stay in their tents.

 

God – and not Moses and Aaron – God… is going to judge who is acceptable to Him.

And without flinching Korah and his 250 supporters put the fire and the incense into their censers.

 

2. But there is also a second element in God’s judgment.

And this is now directed at those who defied Moses and stayed in the camp.
It’s aimed especially at Dathan and Abiram and their supporters.

 

Moses, as God’s spokesman says:
If these men die a natural death… then the Lord has not sent me.
But if the Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them… and everything that belongs to them… and they go down alive into the grave (sheol),
then you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt.

 

What an horrendous scene follows.
We’ve seen the scary scenes of earthquakes on television.
Buildings shaking as the earth moves… and we’ve seen the devastating results.

And now here is something even more frightening.
Not just an unstable and moving ground… but ground that opens up.
And it opens up right under the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.
And the earth swallows up those whole families with their tents and possessions.

 

What a frightening judgement of descending alive into the realm of the dead.
The Hebrews called it Sheol – the Greeks called it Hades. Buried alive.
Or was it even more sinister than that…?
The Bible tells us that two men – Enoch and Elijah – went bodily into heaven.
Did these people descend bodily into hell?
We don’t know – we’re not given enough information – but it is an awful scene.

Not long ago I read of an “honour killing” in a Muslim country.
A girl had been found buried after going out with unapproved boys.
But the report told in some detail of evidence that she had been buried alive.
What a nightmare… what a horrible way to die.
And here all these men and their families suffer a similar fate… or worse.

 

On the Internet I came across what was called an Annotated Sceptics Bible.
That Sceptics Bible has a field day with Numbers 16.
It accuses God of being a cruel and vindictive God to murder real human beings like this.

 

The people who put those notes together have never realised the truth of the matter:
That God does something totally unique.
But He does it to show that He is sovereign and that He is holy.
And because He is a holy God… He is a God who is not to be messed with.

 

Perhaps nothing more clearly shows us today why we need Jesus in our life.
We are people who in our own way mess with God in different ways over and over.
We fail to do the things God commands us to do.
We do the things He warns us against doing.
We mess up every day again.
And what these people got is something that we all deserve.
It’s only because Jesus stands between us and holy God that we are not destroyed.

 

Here in our text the body count is horrible.
Not only are there all of these people who are swallowed up by the earth.
The fire of God also falls and strikes down the 250 leaders who got involved in this rebellion.
And later in the plague there are another 14,700 of Israel who die.
All because God is a holy God who is not to be messed with.

 

3. You no doubt think all of this heavy and that Numbers 16 is a terrible chapter of the Bible.

Okay… it is. But let me give you another angle on this chapter.

There is also evidence of grace in this story. And in a number of ways.

 

Perhaps first of all in that On, the son of Peleth, is not mentioned in the judgment that fell.
I say ‘perhaps’ because I’m not sure. We’re not told.
Perhaps he was just a small bit player in this scene and that he therefore gets overlooked.
Perhaps!
But I like to think that by the grace of God he had second thought about it all.
It’s a distinct possibility that he repented and was spared.

 

What is much more clear is some of Korah’s sons did not perish in this terrible destruction.
That’s surprising for we specifically read that the families of these people perished with them.
But we know that was not true for all the children of Korah.

In 1Chron.6:33f we read that some of Korah’s descendents became temple singers.
In fact some of our loveliest Psalms were written by Korah’s offspring.
Psalms like Psalm 84:
How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty.
My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord;
My heart and flesh cry out for the living God.

Moses called on those wanting to be saved to step away from the tents of these godless people.
And apparently there were some sons who stepped away from their father.
And their children’s children… sons of Korah… became temple singers and song-writers.

 

There is one other way in which I want to see grace in this story.
I mentioned earlier that what happened to these rebels is – in a way – what we all deserve.
We too are rebels against almighty God.
But I think of the One who took our place.

He is the greater Mediator figure who entered Sheol – the realm of the dead.
No more than that… He went to hell and back for us.
But it was to spare you a horrible descent into Hades.
Today… don’t mess with God…!
Trust in the One whom He sent to redeem His people from the judgment of Hell.

Amen