In Numbers 32 half of the tribe of Manasseh, the tribe of Reuben and the tribe of dan ask to settle on the east side of the Jordan, outside the Promised Land (32:5).
Moses is initially worried that this will discourage the rest of the tribes from entering the Promised Land. But they assure Moses that they will send their fighting men with the other tribes to conquer Canaan.
Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see' (Hebrews 11:1)
The book of Numbers is given that name because in contains are two censuses. One at the beginning and one at end of the book.
Both censuses are of fighting men aged twenty years are older. The Levites are not counted because they did not fight.
The censuses are forty years apart. By the second census all those recorded in the first census have died, except for Caleb and Joshua (Moses is not yet dead, but he will not enter the Promised Land).
The second census records a slight decrease of the first. God had intended for his people to multiply, but this had been a stagnant period of time.
The second census is bookended by mention of the daughters of Zelophehad. They give us hope that the new generation will be more faithful than the last.
These women care about justice, for their father. He had died with five daughters but no sons. Without sons his name--and any allotment of land in his name--would vanish. The sisters mention that Zelophehad had not taken part in the rebellion of Korah. He was a normal sinner who died a normal death. God makes provision for the daughters to inherit and for the land to remain in the tribe, the tribe of Manasseh.
The reason that these women are to be admired so much is that they are exercising great faith. They weren't questioning God's ability to give them the land. they are already planning what to do when they get there.
Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see' (Hebrews 11:1)
She looked at me in anger and said, ‘you don’t care
about us.’ She gave me a real dressing
down. I didn’t know what to say, but for
the next few months (actually for the next couple of years) I went over that
conversation again and again. Mostly I
defended myself. But the greatest sting
of criticism is where we know there is at least some truth in it. I know that at times I do not care enough for
people.
It came to an end when she wrote me a letter of
apology. She was so kind and gracious,
because when I tried to explain that I too was at fault she explained that her
apology was unconditional. She was not
insisting I meet her halfway. Her initial
words may have been harsh, but she had allowed God reshape her heart. My heart had simply ruminated. Grace had softened her, but I had not let grace
shape me.
This morning we are looking at how God responds to
complaint. Of course, he has not done
anything wrong. While there are times
that God responds to his complaining people with acts of discipline, here he
simply responds with immense kindness.
This is a challenge for us when we are on the receiving end of
criticism.
What you should do when people
complain
‘Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together
against Moses and against Aaron. And the
people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our
brothers perished before the Lord! Why
have you brought the assembly of the LORD into the wilderness, that we might
die here, both we and our cattle? And
why have you made us come out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is not place for grain or figs or vines or
pomegranates, and there is no water to drink”’ (2-5).
Their complaint is so unfair! They have forgotten that Egypt was a place of
slavery. They had had cried out in great
suffering and God had rescued them. Besides,
it wasn’t Moses who had brought them into the wilderness, it was God. The reason they were still in the wilderness
was that they had refused to trust God and let him lead them into Canaan. They might not have figs or vines or
pomegranates, but that was their fault.
The twelve spies had brought figs and pomegranates back from the
Promised Land, along a vine so great that it took two men to carry it on a pole,
but they refused to trust God to bless them!
Moses and Aaron did what we should do when people complain
against us—they prayed! When you can’t
ever please your parents, bring it to God.
When that workmate is a faultfinder, bring it to God. When your spouse never seems pleased, bring
it to God. When your children think you
are the worst, bring it to God. ‘Lord, I
don’t know what to do. Help me! They are saying things that hurt. Please keep my heart from bitterness. Give me wisdom.’
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Take the staff, and
assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before
their eyes to yield its water. So, you
shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation
and their cattle’ (8-9).
God is so kind!
The people’s complaint against Moses and Aaron was really a complaint
against him. They were implying that he
could not be trusted, and that he had let them down. Yet he blesses them. God does not treat us as our sins deserve but
according to his loving kindness.
What you shouldn’t do when
people complain
Forty years earlier the people had also complained
about lack of water and God gave them water from a rock (Exod. 17:1-7). God had already described himself as their
rock (Gen. 49:24), so the symbolism was clear.
It’s even clearer for us, for the apostle Paul tells us that the rock
was Christ (1 Cor. 10:4). In Exodus
Moses had been commanded to strike the rock and water came gushing out. ‘In that awesome picture of grace, the Lord
was willing to be struck himself instead of his rebellious people, so that they
might receive life-giving water’ (Duguid).
Jesus takes the punishment we deserve so that we might be blessed in
him.
God was wanting to treat the people with undeserved
kindness, Moses was not! He speaks to them
harshly. ‘Hear now, you rebels’ (10a). James tells us that ‘human anger does not
produce the righteousness that God desires’ (James 1:20). He not only acts as their judge, he is
thinking of himself as their savior. ‘… shall we bring water from the rock?’
(10b). He is not the one who can make
water gush from the rock, only God can do that.
It’s tragic to see Moses act so proudly, for we have
already been told that he was the humblest man on the earth (12:3). To be on the receiving end of complaint is a
real test for our hearts. If we simply
respond with self-justification we will become proud. ‘Who are they to speak about me like
that?’ God had shown these people such
kindness and had done them no wrong. Yet
he responds to them with even more kindness.
May we seek to show the kindness of God to those who complain about us.
God’s grace poured out over
our critical spirit
What a lovely picture it would have been if Moses had
obeyed God’s command! Moses only would
have spoken and God would have delivered.
With Moses striking the rock there was the danger that Moses and his
staff would get the glory. You see the
other ‘gods’ of that region could be manipulated by sorcerers and
diviners. But if Moses had simply spoken
to the rock no one could have thought that this was God’s doing.
Despite the people complaining, and Moses disobeying,
there was abundant grace. I had never
before thought of what that word ‘gush’ implied. Here is water for six-hundred thousand
fighting men and their families and their livestock. This is not a well down the back garden, this
is a mighty waterfall. ‘Behold, what
manner of love the father has lavished on us that we should be called the children
of God’ (1 John 3:1). Where sin
increased grace increased all the more (Romans 5:20). There is more mercy in God that sin in us.
Moses’s disobedience was serious. Remember that in the pervious incident with
water from the rock Moses had been told him that, ‘I will stand there before
you on the rock’ (Ex. 17:6). Hitting the
rock may have been an expression of great anger directed at God. Be careful that your frustration with God’s
people does not turn into frustration with God.
Many people have turned away from God’s church because of their
frustration with God’s people.
Moses is disciplined for his disobedience. He will not now enter the Promised Land. I think we feel this is unfair because we
believe God owes Moses. After all Moses
had put up with these complaining people for forty years of ministry. But God does not owe us anything. You see even the best things we do are
stained with that terrible sin of pride and self-congratulation. Jesus said that at the end of our day we
should simply say, ‘we are unworthy servants who have only done our duty’ (Luke
17:10).
Yet grace does win in the life of Moses. I remember being moved when a famous preacher
that I got to listen to told us that Moses did indeed enter the Promised
Land. Remember the transfiguration. Jesus is standing in the Promised Land
revealing the beauty of his holiness, and who is there with him? Moses and Elijah. What Moses could not do because of his sin,
he could experience because of Jesus. Better
still, there is a Promised Land that awaits all those who have entrusted
themselves to God’s forgiving and transforming grace. We will share that land with the risen Jesus,
with Moses, and with all those who look forward to his appearing. He calls you to step into the gushing grace
that can cleanse us to the uttermost.
Conclusion
‘These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of
Israel quarreled with the LORD, and through them he showed himself holy’ (13).
There are two places that were named Meribah in the
Old Testament. They are the two places
where God brought water from the rock.
Meribah means ‘quarrelling’. The
people were complaining against Moses, and really criticizing God. In both cases God responds to their
complaints with waters of blessing. He
showed himself holy (or different than us) by how he responded to their
criticism.
When was the last time you complained? Both criticism and complaint are expressions
of our dissatisfaction. Maybe, like
Moses, you looked at those you live with and judged them: ‘you rebels!’ ‘You are not treating me as I deserve!’ Like the people of Israel, you may be angry
about your circumstances. Behind our
criticism and complaints can be an attitude of, ‘I deserve better’ or ‘I know
better’. We think we have been let down
by others, or even by God himself.
So, how do we change?
We change as grace teaches us that God has truly been
good to us! Remember that the rock is
Christ. If you have been swallowed up by
the love of Jesus then God does not treat you as your sins deserve but
according to his loving kindness. Jesus
is God’s assurance that he is good to his people—for he who did not spare his
own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him,
graciously give us all things? (Rom. 8:32).
So, we ask God for the grace to respond to complainers
with the kindness God has shown us. We
try not to complain by trusting God even when our circumstances test us. We ask God for the grace to see the cross and
sing of his goodness.
How you would like to be remembered?
Maybe
they would say, ‘she had faith, like Abraham’, ‘he was kind, like Boaz’, ‘she
was loyal, like Ruth,’ ‘he held on to God, like Job’, ‘he was passionate, like
Peter’, or ‘he was a great encourager, like Barnabas’. But what about Phineas? Would you like to be seen as a zealot?
Zeal
gets mixed press these days. We talk
about people with misguided zeal. We
might think of a terrorist as being zealot.
Indeed, on a surface reading it looks like Phineas is a terrorist. Zeal looks unbalanced and dangerous.
I
hope to show you that Phinehas’s zeal is worth imitating.
We should want to honour God with our eyes and
our bodies (1-4)
What
an irony that straight after God causes Balaam to bless the people they run
headlong into scandalous evil. They were
a people not counting themselves among the nations (23:9), yet now they are
behaving as the worst of the nations. God
had described their tents as lovely (24:5), and now they engage in filth. Balaam could not bring a curse upon them, but
they stir God’s anger up themselves.
We
are told later that the plan to seduce the Israelite men was Balaam’s
(31:16). Presumably he was still seeking
money from, Balak, the king of Moab.
Perhaps he said to Balak, ‘their God won’t let me curse them, but what
about getting your women to seduce them?’
The worship of Baal of Peor involved sexual rituals. The men were happy to indulge in sex and
sacrifices. Balaam would later pay for his
wicked scheming with his life (31:8).
The
Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel.
The Lord told Moses to take the chiefs of the people and hang them in
the sun before the Lord, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from
Israel. The leaders had failed to correct
the people’s idolatry and endangered the whole community. Leadership comes with increased
responsibility. James writes, ‘not many
of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we
who teach will be judged more strictly’ (James 3:1).
A
woman asked John Piper if God could ever feel such anger against people who are
in Christ. He explained that there is
now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Jesus is our chief whose death has turned
away God’s judicial anger from us. One
thing that He never feels towards us is contempt. Yet we can grieve the Holy Spirit. While those who do not have a relationship
with Jesus cannot please Him, we can. If
we are capable of pleasing Him then sadly we are capable of disappointing
Him. This story shows us how seriously
God takes sexual sin. We should want to
honour God with our eyes and bodies.
We should pray, ‘Lord, break my heart for what breaks yours’ (5-9)
The
Bible commentator, Iain Duguid, points out that Moses doesn’t seem to want to
obey God’s command to execute the tribal chiefs. Instead, he says to the judges of Israel, ‘each
of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor’
(5). It seems that Moses doesn’t even
carry out this more limited punishment.
The
people weep at the entrance of the tabernacle.
Maybe they are devastated at the sin that has infected their camp. We sometimes sing, ‘break my heart for what
breaks yours.’ May we see the awfulness
of sexual sin and idolatry for what it is!
Meanwhile a plague of God’s judgement is sweeping over God’s people.
Then
something shocking happens. ‘And behold,
one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family,
in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people
of Israel, while they were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting. When Phineas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron
the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his
hand and went after the young man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both
of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague of the people of Israel was
stopped. Nevertheless, those who died by
the plague were twenty-four thousand’ (6-9).
It
is important to realise that Phineas was not a vigilante. He was not simply talking the law into his
own hands. This is not like someone bombing
an abortion clinic or murdering a vocal enemy of God’s people. Phineas, the grandson of the High Priest, was
a part of the Levites who were reasonable for guarding the sanctuary against
defilement. We are not told exactly
where the chamber was where the man from the tribe of Simeon and the Midianite
woman were having sex but it seems to be in or near the tabernacle compound.
Are
we zealous? When we see evil vividly
portrayed before us on the news are we moved to weep and pray? Are we a people zealous for good works (Titus
2:14)? Are we moved to action when we
see the homeless on our city streets? Do
we advocate for the unborn, and tell those living in the shadow of abortion of
the God who loves to forgive? Do we
speak up for the migrant and those discriminated against? Do we seek opportunities to tell a wicked
world about the one who gave His life for our sin?
Let our godly zeal be a legacy to those who follow us (10-18)
The
final verses of this passage tell us who the main players in the story were and
how their actions affected those who came after them. We live in an individualistic society where
we think that what we do is no one’s business but ours. That is not how the Bible sees things. We are interrelated. We are parts of families. We should be connected to a church. What we do affects others. We can see that lived out all around us. The sins of the fathers and mothers have
consequences for the sons and daughters.
The godly zeal of the mothers and fathers can bring blessing. Indeed, we are inheritors of the blessing of
our older brother, Jesus.
Because
Phineas cared about the honour of God and was willing to act, God gave to him a
covenant of peace, and his descendants a perpetual priesthood. The name of the man who was killed was Zimri,
from the tribe of Simeon. When it comes to
the census later in the book of Numbers we will see that their number has
dramatically fallen. Perhaps they
suffered most in the plague. The woman,
Cozbi, was the daughter of a tribal chief of Midian. Moses is told to strike down the Midianites.
What
we do affects those connected with us.
What you look at on a screen might not just pollute your mind, it may
affect the whole spiritual climate of our church. Bitterness and unforgiveness are never simply
private sins. Likewise, we can bless
generations to come by laying a foundation of love and good deeds. You might remember me mentioning a woman
called ‘auntie Emma’ who was a matriarch in the last church I served. When I met her in a nursing home and saw that
her dementia-filled mind was bursting with love for Jesus, I believe I saw one of
the reasons why the church had a legacy of kindness and grace. There is a lovely old proverb that says, ‘a
healthy society is one where old men plant trees that they will never see
ripen.’ Let our godly zeal be a legacy
to those who follow us!
Conclusion
‘God made him who had no sin to be sin for us
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God’ (2 Corinthians 5:21).
How do we grow in
zeal? We grow in zeal as we mediate upon
the cross.
Jesus
bore our sins in his body on the tree.
He was pierced for our transgressions.
He became sin and took the punishment we deserve. He took upon himself our sexual filth and
idolatry. How awful for the one pure soul
who ever lived to bear the weight of our shame.
As the death of Zimri and Cozbi brought an end to God’s judgement, the
death of Jesus has turned God’s anger from us.
Therefore, there in now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus. In him we inherit every spiritual
blessing.
Let
zeal begin with an inward look. We are
not our own, we have been purchased at a great price. What we do with our bodies matter to the one
who loves us more than any other. Let us
ask him to help us flee from sexual sin.
May we not seek to content ourselves with the idols of comfort, control
and indulgence. Let us ask him to content
ourselves in his goodness and love.
Let
zeal cause us to speak to our brothers and sisters in Christ. It may be that we need to speak to others on
God’s behalf. Before helping them deal
with the speck in their eye make sure that we are dealing with the logs in our
own. If someone has the courage to
challenge us about our behaviour let us not react angrily of defensively (even
if we think they may have misread the situation). Make sure that we are not legalistically
robbing others of their Christian freedom.
Let us speak to them in such a way that gives them no reason to doubt
our love.
Let
zeal change the way we look at the world.
May we not be unmoved when we see evil all around us. May it cause us to cry out to God in prayer:
‘Father, you will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ Let us be salt and light when we are surrounded
with decay and darkness. Let us speak of
the one who made us in such a way that our hearts will never be satisfied until
they are satisfied in him.
May
it be said of us, ‘they had godly zeal, just like Phineas.’
A friend of mine
mentioned the danger of reading too much into our circumstances. Life has not turned out for her as she had
hoped. A significant relationship had
broken down. Certain dreams have not come
to be. In the pain of this she had begun
to think that God was angry with her.
But thankfully she regained her belief that God is good towards her.
In the unusual story of
Balaam and his donkey we see God’s desire to bless a complaining and unfaithful
people. But what does His blessing look
like?
I think we can learn a
lot about the blessed life by pondering the blessing of Aaron at the beginning of
the book of Numbers (6:24-26). To be
blessed is to have Yahweh’s face turned towards you, so that he can be gracious
to you and give you peace. The blessed
life is experienced in the realisation that God no longer treats us as our sins
deserve, but according to His loving-kindness, and the fact that He is with us
even when life is difficult.
1.
God has the power over every blessing and
curse (1-6)
The people of Moab were
the descendants of Lot, who was Abraham’s nephew. Lot who had received extraordinary kindness
from God. Yet the Moabites had quickly
abandoned God. Now they worshipped their
own god, Chemosh. Despite their hatred
of Him, God was still kind to them. He
had told the Israelites not to harass them or contend with them in battle,
‘because I have given Ar to the people of Lot for a possession’ (Deut. 2:9).
However, their king,
Balak heard that the Israelites had just defeated the Amorites. He also knew that God had delivered these
people from slavery in Egypt. The
Moabites dreaded the Israelites, ‘because they are many’ (3) and ‘they cover
the face of the earth’ (5). God had
promised Abraham that his people would be as numerous as the stars in the sky
and the sand of the seashore. God has
been working to fulfil His promises.
God had also promised
Abraham that He would bless those who blessed him and curse those who cursed
him, and that through Abraham all the nations of the world would be blessed
(Gen. 12:3). So, what should Balak and
the Moabites have done? They should have
turned to the God of Israel and blessed God’s people. Then God would have blessed him and shown them
mercy. Instead, Balak seeks to curse the
people of God.
He sends messengers to
Balaam, asking Balaam to curse the people of Israel. Notice, that he credits Balaam with the
ultimate ability to bring blessing and curse.
‘I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is
cursed’ (6). The people of the Ancient
Near East believed that there were many gods, and that those gods could be
manipulated through the practice of divination.
The truth is that there is only one true God, and He has the ultimate
power over every blessing and curse.
Some of you come from cultures where there is much more awareness of the dangers of witchcraft. Even in this country things like wicca are growing in popularity. What about things like voodoo? The Christian knows to stay away from such things. We are also comforted by the fact that our God has the power over every blessing and curse (23:23).
2.
God
blesses undeserving people (7-21)
Balak, the king of Moab, sent
the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian to Balaam ‘with fees for divination
in their hands’ (7). That is
significant. In the New Testament, the
apostle Peter tells us that was motivated by ‘the love of gain for wrongdoing’
(2 Peter 2:15). Don’t be taken in when
you hear Balaam talk of ‘the LORD my God’ (18).
Balaam is not a genuine follower of God.
People in the culture would have no problem claiming multiple gods as
their own. Balaam would happily curse
Gods people, if God had allowed him.
Look at God’s words to
Balaam: ‘you shall not curse the people because they are blessed’ (12). This story of Balaam was one of the key
reasons I wanted to preach on the book of Numbers. Here is our God continually seeking the good
of His unfaithful and complaining people.
He is the God who does not treat us according to what our sins deserve,
but according to His loving-kindness.
Balaam initially refuses
to go to Balak. But Balak, king of Moab,
sends more princes and elders, and presumably the offer of more money. Again, Balaam refuses to go with them. Yet, rather than sending them straight home Balaam
invites them to stay the night ‘so that I may know what more the LORD will say
to me’ (19). He was hoping that God
might change His mind, or that he might yet find some other way to get his
hands on Balak’s gold (Duguid). That
night God said, ‘go with them; but only do what I tell you’ (20). ‘So, Balaam rose in the morning and saddled
his donkey and went with the princes with of Moab’ (21).
3.
No power can stop God from blessing His
people (22-41)
As Balaam sets out God’s
anger is kindled against him. But why
would God be angry when He told Balaam to go with the Moabites? He is angry because He is the God who sees
the heart, and He knows that Balaam is simply motivated by the thought of
Balak’s gold. Balaam is quite happy to
curse the people God loves for profit.
But God will not let him!
Balaam’s donkey sees the
angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand. Those of us who are animal lovers don’t like what
happens next: Balaam strikes his poor loyal donkey. Indeed, the angel of the Lord will rebuke
Balaam for this. ‘Whoever is righteous
has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel’ (Proverbs
12:10).
Eventually the Lord opened
the mouth of the donkey, but even more significantly the Lord opens the eyes of
Balaam to see the angel of the Lord standing in his way with his sword drawn. There is a spiritual reality that we do not
see. Think of Elisha who had his eyes
opened to see a mountain full of chariots of fire (2 Kings 6:17). The writer to the Hebrews tells us that
angels are ministering spirits sent to serve those who inherit salvation (Heb.
1:14).
The angel of the Lord
tells Balaam that the donkey had actually saved his life. Balak responds with a shallow
repentance. I say ‘shallow repentance’
because later in the book of Numbers Balaam is still acting against God’s
people. Again, God tells Balaam to go
with the men of Moab, but to ‘only speak the word that I tell you’ (35).
The chapter finishes with
Balak taking Balaam to a high place, where Baal was worshipped, and from where
they can see a fraction of God’s people.
Yet while Balak wants Balaam to curse these people, God will only allow Balaam
bless them. I find it quite moving to
picture Balak and Balaam looking down on these people, who are unaware of the
wicked schemes against them, and God is working for their good.
Conclusion
I began this talk by
telling you of a friend of mine who looked at her circumstances and began to
wonder if God was good to her. Be
careful of making conclusions from you circumstances. God’s word tells us that God is good even
when our circumstances are hard. The
truth is that if we have allowed ourselves to be swallowed up in the love of
Jesus then we can be sure that God is always seeking our ultimate good. It is who God is, as we have seen in this
strong story.
‘If you belong to Christ,
then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs of God’s promises’ (Gal. 3:29). Paul calls Jew and Gentile who follow Jesus
‘the Israel of God’ (Gal. 6:16). God’s
people are not a nation any more. God’s
people are all who are living in Jesus.
Balaam saw that it
pleased the LORD to bless Israel (24:1).
That means that it pleases God to bless you if you love Jesus and are
trusting what He has done for us on the cross.
That blessing does not mean that life will be easy. It won’t be easy. But God shines His face in loving light upon
you, He does not treat you as your sin deserves but treats us with grace, and
He wants to with an awareness of His shalom (peace and wholeness).
‘God is not man, that he
should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and he will not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfil it’
(23:19). If you belong to Him then He HAs
chosen you, and He cannot un-chose you.
As we see Balaam’s inability to curse God’s people we remember ‘no weapon formed against us will stand’ (Is. 54:17). ‘For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, neither height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Rom. 8:38-39). For God speaks His words of blessing over us!
Walking the dog around the neighbourhood it struck me
that most of our neighbours seem to think that God is somewhat irrelevant. But our God claims incredible things for
Himself. Our God claims the right to
give life and take it. Our God commands
all people everywhere to worship Him.
Our God says that He is the one and only God. Our God will judge all people at the end of
time, and people will be assigned to heaven or hell on the basis of their
relationship with Him. Our God is
anything but irrelevant.
Since chapter 11, the people of Israel have been grumbling
against Moses and Aaron. Behind their grumbling
lies the fact that the despise God (16:30).
God is about to put an end to their grumbling.
1. Our
God is inapproachable
As we saw last week, Korah lead a rebellion in which
he claimed all people had the right to approach God without a priest. He was saying that we do not need a priest to
stand between ourselves and God. He saw
God as approachable. But when Korah and
his followers approached God to offer incense—a task reserved for the priests—they
were burned with holy fire and swallowed up by the ground.
Eleazar the priest then took the bronze censors which
had held their incense offerings and hammered in into the alter that was in the
courtyard of the temple to remind people that only the priests could approach God
in this way. We must not be presumptuous
before God!
The last church I worked in was a Methodist church in
Richhill, County Armagh. It was a lovely
church with great people who loved the Lord.
At one stage I asked each of the small groups to feed back on what attributes
came to their mind when they thought of God.
Rightly each small group included the fact that God is love. But there was one glaring omission. No one mentioned that God is holy. We live in a time and culture that can have a
very casual attitude towards God. We
know God as friend, but sometimes forget that He is also King. It is in the New Testament that we read God
dwells in unapproachable light and that He is a consuming fire.
If you have been swallowed up in the love of Christ
and are seeking with His strength to live for His glory then you are invited to
approach the throne to find grace and mercy in your time of need. But the only reason you can approach this
throne is because you have a priest, our High Priest Jesus, who has prepared
the way for us to come before God.
2. Our
God is dangerous
You would have thought that the people would have
learned to take God seriously after watching the ground swallow up Korah and
his followers. But no, the next day they
continued their grumbling. They say to
Moses and Aaron, ‘you have killed the people of the Lord’ (16:42). It wasn’t Moses and Aaron who had sent the
holy fire and opened up the ground.
Their complaint was against God!
The Lord then appeared to Moses and Aaron saying that
He was going to consume all the people.
But Moses and Aaron fell on their faces and pleaded for them. Moses told Aaron to stand between the people
and the Lord. A plague from God had already
started to consume the people. But as
Aaron stood between the dead and the loving the plague stopped. Can you see the picture of Jesus here? Jesus stands between ourselves and the
judgement we deserve. Jesus has satisfied
the demands of justice. Without Him we
have no hope in the face of the judgement of God!
These verses portray a different understanding of God
than many in our society believe. Our God
is more dangerous than they imagine. In ‘The
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’, Susan is about the meet Aslan when she is
told that Aslan is a lion. ‘I’d thought
he was a man. Is he quite safe? I feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.’ ‘Safe?’, asked Mr. Beaver, ‘who said anything
about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the king, I tell you.’ Our God is dangerous, but he is good!
One of the things that struck me about these verses is
how gracious God is to Aaron. Aaron has
the privilege of being the High Priest.
Yet, unlike our High Priest, Jesus, Aaron knew what it was to sin. After all it was Aaron who had supervised the
construction of the golden calf when Moses was up on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten
Commandments. Our holy God loves to
forgive, He loves to restore, He loves to take guilty people like you and me, wash
us and make us clean and use us in His service.
3. God
wants to bless you
I was thinking about these two chapters and I
wondered, ‘what does God think about these people?’ Think about it. At one stage He says that He is going to
consume them in His anger. They are a
wicked people. Yet, in chapter
seventeen, we see His greatest desire is actually to bless them.
In our reading we see that God moves to put an end to
their grumbling. Twelve leaders, one
from each of the twelve tribes but a staff before the ark. A staff for the tribe of Levi, with Aaron’s
name inscribed on it, is also placed there.
The staffs are left overnight, and in the morning Aaron’s staff has produced
buds, blossoms and ripe almonds. We are
probably to see that some parts were in bud, other parts in blossom and still
others had produced fruit (Wenham). This
is full of symbolism.
It demonstrates that God brings life to the dead. Aaron’s staff has been resurrected. The Christian message is one of
resurrection. We were dead in our
transgressions and sin, we have been made alive in Christ. He is the one who can make our lives
fruitful.
Almond blossoms came early in spring, and tell us that
fruit is coming. A harvest is to
follow. God blesses, and His blessings
increase. He rescues us, forgives us and
embraces in His love. But it gets better. As we lean on Him He makes us more like
Jesus. Then will come a harvest day when
those in Christ will receive resurrection bodies like Jesus and an end to death,
loneliness, pain and sin. The almond
blossom tells us we have a lot to look forward to.
But, maybe most of all, the almonds would have
reminded the people of the lampstands in the tabernacle. The lampstands in the tabernacle contained
almond shaped cups. Remember that the
lampstands shone its light onto the twelve loaves on the table. This pictured God’s desire to turn His face
towards His people, be gracious towards them and give them peace.
Our God is holy and unapproachable.
Our God is dangerous. It is a
fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But our God wants to be gracious towards you
and give you peace. He tells us that He
takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but would rather that we repent
and live. Who are these people that God
wants to bless? They are the very people
who had despised Him and grumbled against the leadership that He
appointed. There is more mercy in Him
than there is sin in us.
It has been pointed out that while sin provokes God to
righteous anger, God is love. His anger
is in settled and holy response to evil.
His love is the core of His very being.
He wants to show love to those who are by nature the subject of His
wrath.
Now look at how the people respond. They are not grumbling. They are terrified. Korah had thought that anyone could approach God, without the ministry of a priest, and his and his followers were swallowed up by the ground. He was presumptuous. Now the people move to the opposite extreme. They are simply terrified. ‘behold we perish, we are undone. Everyone who comes near to the tabernacle of the Lord, shall die. Are we to perish?’ (12-13). They have failed to see that the unapproachable God wants to bless them and bringing them close to Him. That is why He had given them a High Priest. Our High Priest, Jesus, gave Himself for our sin, a sacrifice of infinite value. Therefore, we can be sure that there is more forgiveness poured out from Christ than their sin in us, even though our sin is far more vile than we realise.
Conclusion
A friend of ours is into ‘spiritual’ things. But recently she told Caroline that she has given up on God. When Caroline told me, I couldn’t help think that that is a bit presumptuous. In our society we think that we can stand over God and judge Him. We seem to think that we are doing Him the greatest of all favours to believe in Him. But God does not need us, and one day it is Him who will stand in judgement over us. Give up on God? I am just glad that God has not given up on me, and He will never give up on you if you belong to Jesus. If you truly allow yourself to be swallowed up in the love of Jesus and lean on the Holy Spirit to enable you to follow Him, your High Priest will never give up on you.
The writer to the Hebrews explains that Jesus, 'is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lived to make intersession for them' (Hebrews 7:25). Like Aaron, Jesus prays for His people. When we sin, the accuser will point an evil finger in our direction, but Jesus points to His wounds and says, 'I died for that one!'
When our lives are in Christ the unapproachable and dangerous God becomes our loving Father. Because Jesus is our High Priest we are told to approach the throne of grace with confidence. There we will find mercy, which is what we need when we have sinned. Don't let your sense of shame and guilt stop you from going to Him. There we find grace for our time of need. When temptations seem too great, when life seems to hard, when obedience seems beyond you where are you going to turn? We should approach that throne of grace with confidence. Afterall, we have a High Priest who gave His life that we can enjoy this privilege.
Is it too small a thing? (Numbers 16)
Are you content? Do you ever feel jealous of other
people? Are you striving to prove
yourself?
Maybe you have a brother
of sister who is considered more successful than you are. Maybe you have been passed over for promotion. Maybe you wish you were born in a different
family.
I would like to be
taller. I would like to be good at
sports. I am not very academic.
When I was in my early
twenties my pastor gave me a verse he felt I needed to take to heart. ‘Godliness with contentment is great gain’ (1
Timothy 6:6). I was talking to a friend
about contentment and he said that he likes the verse in the book of
Ecclesiastes that goes, ‘what is lacking cannot be counted’ (1:15). Once you start to think about all those things
you lack you will never reach an end point.
In this passage we see a
group of people who feel disappointed with God.
1.
People with too high a view of themselves
Two groups of people rise
up against the leadership of Moses and Aaron.
They were Korah, who was a Levite, but not a priest, and Dathan, Abiram
and On who were from the tribe of Reuben.
Along with them come two hundred and fifty community leaders. They complain against Moses and Aaron, ‘You have gone too far! For all in this congregation are holy, every
one of them, and the LORD is among them.
Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?’ When Moses heard it he fell on his face (3-4).
Their complaint says more
about themselves that about Moses. We
have already been told that Moses was the humblest man on the face of the earth
(12:3). I think they are projecting on
Moses what is true about themselves.
They are the ones seeking to be exalted!
A look at the location of
the people around the tabernacle helps us understand more about these two
groups. Korah is a Kohathite, who
ministered as Levites on the southside of the tabernacle. The tribe of Reuben was situated near them,
also on the southside. The east was
considered the most important place.
After that prominence went clockwise.
Both these groups are given prominent positions just below the top tier
of their society. But that is not enough
for them. They are jealous of anyone
above them.
We follow a very
different sort of man then these. Jesus
did not push for prominence. Jesus was pleased to wash His disciples’ feet. We are called to follow His example, and
gladly consider others more significant than ourselves. Rather than pushing for places of greater
prominence we are to be looking out for those that no one seems to notice and
be willing to associate with those the world looks down on.
Moses looks at that
privileged south-sider, Korah, and asks, ‘is it too small a thing for you that
the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring
you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the Lord and to minster
to them, and that he has brought you near him … and you would seek the
priesthood also?’ (9-10). Korah mightn’t
have been among the priests, but he had been given the wonderful privilege of
ministering in the tabernacle and to God’s people.
Paul Tripp asks why envy is so strongly condemned in the Bible, and then answers: 'When your heart is ruled by envy, the attitude of "I am blessed" gets replaced with the attitude of "I deserve." Envy is selfish at its core. Envy always puts you at the centre of the world. It makes everything about you. It causes you to examine life from the perspective of your wants, needs, and feelings.. Sadly, envy causes you to question the goodness, faithfulness, and wisdom of God ... When you are convinced that a blessing that another person has ought to belong to you, you don't just have a problem with that person, you have a problem with God. When you begin to question God's goodness, you quit going to him for help. Why? Becuase you don't seek the help of someone you've come to doubt' New Morning Mercies, November 27).
I took these verses and
wrote something like this in the front of my Bible: ‘is it too small a thing
that God has made husband to Caroline, father to Anya, Ronan and Sian, that you
are called to pastor of Limerick Baptist Church, and yet you would seek to be
made more of?’
You might not be content with the way that God has made you and the roles He has given you. You might want to be in an easier family. You might want the brains, looks or talents of someone else. But maybe God wants to ask, ‘is it too small a thing that I have embraced you in My love, forgiven your guilt and removed your shame, that I call you “beloved”, that I promise never to leave you or forsake you, that I hold you in the palm of my hand, that I have commissioned you as an ambassador of Christ? Do you demand that people make more of you when I have made so much of you?’
2.
People with too low a view of God
What is envies twin sin? I wonder if the twin of envy is resentment. I think that Dathan, Abiram and On may be motivated by resentment. You see they were from the tribe of Rueben. Reuben had been the first born of Jacob's sons. Yet Reuben lost the right of firstborn when he slept with his father's concubine. He descendants had to live with the consequences. They lost privilege.
The Bible teaches that our sins have consequences. Those consequences are often felt by those we love. The alcoholic doesn't just ruin their own lives they ruin the lives around them. How sad it is to watch people say words that can not be unsaid, and even beyond apologies and forgiveness the hurt lingers. How hard it is to live in the light of the sins of another, as did Datham, Abiram and On. And yet, how great it is that our God can retore the years that the locusts ate, and can even use the hurts that others have brought on us to our benefit, as he works all things for the good of forming Christ's character in us/
Moses suggests that they
all approach the tabernacle and offer incense—a task that was reserved for the
priests. They have too small a view of
God. They do not realise that He dwells
in unapproachable light and is a consuming fire. They do not realise that they need the
priests to stand between themselves and God!
As Christians we know that we that we can approach the throne of grace
with confidence because we have a great High Priest, Jesus Christ!
Dathan and Abiram echo Moses words. ‘Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must make yourself a prince over us? Moreover, you have not brought us into the land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up’ (12-14). ‘Will you put out the eyes of these men?’ seems to be an idiom saying something like, ‘you are pulling the wool over their eyes.’
But it wasn’t Moses who
brought them out of Egypt, it was God.
Egypt was not a land flowing with milk and honey, it was slavery. They hadn’t inherited vineyards and fields
because they had refused to trust God and enter the Canaan. They claim Moses was harsh and took advantage
of them, which was simply not true. The
truth is that when we get bitter it is not long before we lose our sense of
perspective. As we ruminate we start to
attribute false motives to people.
Ultimately, their view of reality is shaped by the fact that they
despise God (30).
Those who approached God
without the ministry of the priests paid a high price for their low view of
Him. They failed to recognise that He is
holy and we are sinful. They were burned
with a holy fire and the ground opened up and swallowed two hundred and fifty
of those associated with them.
A friend told Caroline
that she had given up on God. She has
been interested in spiritual things, but feels let down by Him. Isn’t it presumptuous that we judge God and
decide whether He is worthy of our allegiance?
They real wonder for the Christian is that God has not given up on
us!
Conclusion
While the line of Dathan, Abiram and On came to an end, when we look at the census later in the book of Numbers we see that some of the descendants were spared (26:11). How could that be? It must be that some of Korah’s family repented and distanced themselves from his rebellion (Duguid). They changed sides and sided with Moses and Aaron. You may come from a family that has shown no real interest in Christianity for generations, but you can change sides. In fact, it gets better. Turn to the title of Psalm 42 and you will see that the descendants of Korah become musicians and worship leaders who wrote at least eleven of the Psalms.
God
still had great plans for the descendants of that wicked man Korah! He has plans for all those who love Him! Let us be content with how He has made and
what He has called us to do! After all, 'is it too small a thing that He has saved us from the hell we deserve, embraced in His love, and given us a purpose.'
