Numbers 16:2-5

Let us go back to Numbers 16. Here we have the rebellion against Moses and Aaron led by Korah, so we identified the participants in verse 1.

These men exalted themselves before God and Moses through their desire for the priesthood in addition to the responsibilities that they already had. He claimed that he was just as good as Moses and Aaron. That is what Helel said: “I am going to go up and take God’s place, I am going to be God.” He was saying I am equal with God. Korah is following the same path, only this time, the participant is Korah, his buddies, Moses, and Aaron.

He says, “I am just as good as you are.” That was not the issue and Moses saw it immediately. The issue was God’s choice in the appointment of Moses and Aaron and Aaron’s family to that responsibility, but Korah’s pride brought him into contention with Moses and thus he forced God’s hand and what happened? God opened up the earth, and Korah and 250 others fell into it to their destruction.

Do you see where those proverbs came from? Pride produces contention which in turn produces a fall to destruction. It is a progression that cannot be avoided if pride is exercised, except through repentance. That is the only thing that has an opportunity to change, to alter, the course of the progression that is heading in that direction.

Numbers 16:4-7

This group of men—Korah, Dathan, and Abiram—lusted after that honor that had been given to the tribe of Levi, and of course that included Moses and Aaron and all of the Levites. Korah’s group’s desire was so great that it drove them to rebellion against God, and they all ended up dead.

God’s larger intention, if we would turn back to Exodus 19:5-6, would show that the covenant-people were to be a nation of priests, and because God is holy, the people that are in His possession must be holy.

The appointed priests were to discharge their duty on the behalf of the whole community, but that entire tribe of Levi was the representative of the rest of the nation before God to help them grow in their special relationship with God. In other words, the entire tribe of Levi was appointed, commissioned by God, to serve Him in helping to make the rest of Israel holy so that they could become a nation, a kingdom of priests. The principle of sacrifice plays a major role in one becoming holy, because human nature must be sacrificed and put to death.