Is it too small a thing? (Numbers 16)

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.'