A Biblical Record of Major Crimes: Mutiny!

A Biblical Record of Major Crimes: Mutiny! 

“Tell all the truth, but tell it slant. Truth in indirection lies.” (Emily Dickenson).

A Different Look to a True Story. Emily Dickenson’s advice was to come at the truth from different angles; reveal the truth while approaching it sideways. There are times when only an indirect story will effectively grab a reader’s attention and will inspire a fresh perspective on an ancient truth. There are occasions when coming at a truth from the side through a story will go further than a didactic, systematic study using logic and reason. We seem to be created in a way in which truth can often be better understood from the side instead of head-on through a blunt statement of raw truth. This fictional story below is intended to reveal the truth of a biblical crime story in a way that brings a fresh perspective, an unexpected layer of meaning, to a familiar story. Perhaps we can learn something new in this indirect approach to the true story of the Rebellion of Korah. (Numbers 16-17).

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My Latest Journal Entry: Aaron Levi.

WHAT: The Mutinous Conspiracy to Replace Moses and Me.

WHERE: In the oasis of Kadesh-barnea, our base camp near the southern border of Canaan.

WHEN: 1470 BC, soon after our year spent at Mt. Sinai and immediately after the cowardly spies who returned from their scouting trip with a fearful, negative report of our planned occupation of the Promised Land.

WHO: Korah of Levi, the first cousin of my brother Moses and me, and an important assistant serving in the Tabernacle; Dathan and Abiram, direct descendants of Reuben, who was the first-born of the patriarch Jacob Israel; a large group of 250 established leaders who were highly regarded in the eyes of the people.

WHY: Korah staged a religious rebellion, challenging the leadership of Moses and me. He rejected the idea that the Lord had appointed me to be the high priest during this wilderness escape from Egypt as we prepared to occupy the Promised Land. In his prideful lust for power, he wanted to replace me as high priest, because he believed I was not qualified for such an important position. He also doubted the entire structure of the priesthood for the tabernacle, believing that all Hebrews were holy and thus qualified to serve as priests, having full and equal access to all sacred Tabernacle activities. The two Reubenites staged a more political rebellion against Moss and me. They believe that, as descendants of Jacob’s first-born Reuben, they were qualified to serve in higher roles of leadership. They claimed entitlement to the highest places in Hebrew leadership because Moses was not even able to guide the Jews into the Promised Land. Moses is a failure, they say, and not worthy to continue as the primary leader in the wilderness. They intended to replace Moses and me so that they don’t die in this barren wasteland and instead would be able to successfully enjoy the land of milk and honey.

MY OBSERVATIONS: 

1. I am worried about my little brother Moses. His leadership is being seriously challenged from all sides and at the same time! The well-organized conspiracy is spreading doubts about the Lord’s wisdom in appointing Moses and me to these tasks serving the Hebrews in the wilderness. I think that they are taking advantage of the shattered hopes of the people after hearing that they are all condemned to wander aimlessly for 40 years after rejecting the idea of entering the Promised Land. Moses is understandably upset that they want to replace him as leader and me as high priest, along with dismantling the entire sacred role of the appointed priesthood for the Tabernacle. Korah, the Reubenites, and the 250 rebel leaders with them are jeopardizing our very mission of occupying the Promised Land as God had decreed in our Covenant with Him.
2. Don’t these rebel leaders know that when they reject God-appointed leaders, they are actually rejecting God Himself? They are doubting the wisdom of the God who delivered them from 400 years of slavery from the most powerful empire in the world! It’s hard to believe that we have these men in our midst who have already forgotten the tragedy of Aaron’s sons, when they were consumed in the fires of God after disobeying instructions in the Holy of Holies. And have they already forgotten the surprising incident when so recently everyone witnessed Miriam contract leprosy after questioning Moses? It should be painfully obvious to everyone that the Lord doesn’t take kindly to those who challenge Him and disrespect His authority, especially during such a pivotal time in the history of His chosen people!
3. When these conspirators first approached Moses to voice their mutinous plans, my poor brother could only fall flat on his face. He lay there stretched out on the ground fully prostrate in a position of utter humility before the Lord, seeking His wisdom as to how to manage this crisis. Moses was overwhelmed, and for good reason. But my brother did hear God’s guiding directions while flat in the dirt, and he stood up with complete confidence in his plan. He proposed a test… Let all the rebels get an incense pan, start a little fire in it, and burn incense at the door of the Tabernacle tomorrow. “We will see soon who the Lord accepts as leaders as well as who He rejects.” That test turned out to be divinely inspired, as we shall see.
4. Before the incense test, though, Moses wanted to speak face to face with the leaders of the rebellion. He wanted to at least attempt to reason with them and perhaps avoid catastrophe. Korah showed no signs of changing his arrogant, stubborn mind. And when my brother asked the Reubenites to visit him for a chat, they had the gall to reject his invitation and refused to come to him! Imagine the insult! Their stiff-necked refusal to cooperate humiliated Moses, and he was forced to go to them where they lived in their tents, where they continued to challenge my brother’s place as the God-appointed leader of the Hebrews.
5. Brother Moses lost his patience with the rebels at this point after all his failed attempts to reason with them. So in his frustration he uncharacteristically asked God to reject tomorrow’s incense offerings from the rebels. He then reminded Korah as the rebel leader to make sure that all 250 of his followers come to the Tabernacle tomorrow with their burning incense offerings. So, the next day every one of those highly esteemed leaders gathered together at the door of the Tabernacle with their burning incense pans, and a shocking thing happened… God’s cloud of glory made a personal appearance for all to see, revealing to everyone that He was present and taking this whole matter seriously. He spoke out of the Cloud and told Moses and me that He’s disgusted with this whole mess, and He’d just as soon incinerate the whole mass of Hebrews right then and there!
6. My brother and I were aghast at that idea, that the Lord would destroy the whole congregation of his chosen people for just the sins of the few who are responsible. So Moses and I stretched out our arms with our hands lifted to the Cloud above us, and we interceded for the lives of those who had no guilt in this matter. We asked for the Lord to limit His punishments to those who were taking an active part in this ungodly rebellion. And the Lord heard our cry.
7. What soon followed was unimaginable. It’s still difficult to think of this series of massacres as real. Moses announced to all the people that they should immediately remove themselves from Korah, the Reubenites, and the 250 rebel leaders, if they don’t want to get what’s surely coming to those rebels. Don’t be anywhere near them, cried Moses, because God might now even do something as drastic as cracking the earth open and swallowing up these rebels for rejecting the Lord God! And believe it or not, right after Moses shouted these words of warning, his words became literally true! The ground violently shook with an earthquake never seen before by any of us, the ground opened wide, and Korah, all his immediate followers, even everyone’s possession in their tents, all fell headlong into the chasm in the ground. And they dropped clean out of sight into the cracks in the earth, the earth closed over them, and they disappeared, just like that, never to be seen again. There was absolutely no trace of Korah and most of his followers anywhere. So it appears to me that since the sins of Korah were committed by his mouth, it seems only reasonable that the Lord opened up the mouth of the earth to swallow him up for good. Moses and I were relieved to see that most of Korah’s children repented of their father’s actions, and so were saved from the Lord’s punishments.
8. But that’s not all! The Lord sent down fierce lightning from heaven and incinerated all 250 of those rebel conspirators who were still standing at the door of the Tabernacle with their incense offerings. They were all up in smoke. Poof, they’re gone!
9. Unfortunately for thousands of Hebrews, the Lord wasn’t finished with cleaning house yet! There was a huge crowd, thousands and thousands of people, that believed that the Lord made a terrible mistake in punishing so seriously all those rabble-rousers. They claimed that these men who were punished were innocent chosen ones of God! So they started gathering around Moses and me in a rather menacing way, threatening us once again, like Korah and the Reubenites had. Once again, the divine Cloud of the Presence covered over the Tabernacle, and the glory of God was obvious to everyone. And then the Lord sent a devastating plague upon everyone gathering against us, His appointed leaders. These Hebrews evidently still had the seeds of rebellion in their hearts. Moses saw this coming, so he quickly sent me for the sacred incense burning on the altar of the Tabernacle, and told me to run into the midst of that crowd before everyone gets wiped out. So I literally sprinted into the midst of the crowd who were being hit by the plague, I spread the holy smoke and fragrance around, and the Lord immediately halted His deathly punishment. By that time, though, we counted up a total of 14,700 people who had perished in the Lord’s plague. It was a very sad time for Moses and me, even though we at the same time trusted that God knew what He was doing.
10. Believe it or not, there was still a lingering doubt among many of the Hebrews about my being eligible for the role of high priest. So the Lord dreamed up a fascinating way to confirm in the minds of the people that I had been specially appointed for this role by the Lord Himself. The Lord instructed the primary chief of each of the twelve families of Jacob to put their leadership staff into the Tabernacle’s Holy of Holies, including mine representing the family of Levi. The Lord said that one of these tribal rods would blossom overnight, and that this miracle would reveal once and for all who the Lord had chosen to be high priest. The next morning, my brother tiptoed into the Most Holy Place, and sure enough, it was my tribal rod that not only sprouted with buds, but also produced blossoms and ripe almonds! Moses immediately brought my staff to show all the people, and they were finally convinced that God wants me to remain as high priest. So it finally appears that doubts about the leadership of Moses and me have been put to rest.

A Couple of Lingering Questions: 

1. Why did the Lord have to clean house this drastically, with so much death and destruction? In other words, why did God judge those men so harshly? Why did God choose to be a “consuming fire” (Deut. 4:24) in this instance? Why was their punishment so severe? On the one hand, there is no human answer to this that would be adequate or fully understandable, because God’s perfect thoughts are not our imperfect thoughts. God knows the big picture and we don’t. On the other hand, it does make sense if we think about this as a pivotal moment in the history of God’s people. Sometimes extreme measures need to be taken when an important new spiritual development is taking place, to make sure that it doesn’t pivot in the wrong direction. In this case with the two sons of Aaron or the rebellion of Korah, a new line of priesthood was being established, and the Lord needed to show everyone that He wasn’t playing games, that His holy Presence and His new system of sacred worship are not to be taken lightly. God imposed this lesson on the Israelites: Obedience to God is a serious business, and there is something profound taking place that they do not understand regarding this worship and the people He appointed to lead this worship. Looking ahead into the future, perhaps the Lord wanted to teach the same lesson of divine accountability to the new Christian community being formed after Pentecost in Acts 5:1-11. Ananias and Sapphira lied to God and His new community, and they paid the price with their lives. It was a pivotal moment in the burgeoning life of the early church. As one could easily imagine, “And great fear came upon the whole church, and upon all who heard of these things.” Certainly this was true with His chosen people in the wilderness as well. With the early Christians and with the Israelites, the lesson was undoubtedly learned. Disobedience has consequences, especially with new formative moments in the Faith.
2. What did it mean that my tribal staff developed ripe almonds, as opposed to figs, or pomegranates or  dates? Why almonds? Maybe the Lord was reminding everyone of the divinely inspired lampstand in the Holy Place. Yahweh had given strict instructions that the golden lampstand in the tabernacle was to be shaped in the form of an almond tree, with its branches, blossoms and almonds all engraved in the gold. (Exodus 25). It turns out that the Hebrew root word for “almond” was “watching.” Those two words are basically the same in Hebrew, and the Lord used the almond tree to let the people know that He would be observant over His Chosen People, alert to His word that it be performed as He said. Jeremiah said it best, “Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Jeremiah, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘I see a branch of an almond tree.’ Then the Lord said to me, ‘You have seen well, for I am always watching, ready to perform my Word.‘” (Jer. 1:11-12). In other words, almonds are a sign from God that He is always watching to make His word fruitful, to bring them through all the stages of growth, to bring forth fruit, just like my fruitful staff in the Holy Place. I am convinced now that it was no accident that my tribal rod blossomed as the branch of an almond tree. It was not random. It was all God’s design. No wonder that the Hebrew name for the almond tree was the “Watchful Tree.” Indeed, God is the watchguard of Israel, and His word will be accomplished as He said. And the more I think about it, my miraculous staff is an awesome symbol for many of God’s truths:Something dead can come to life. My budding staff is a resurrection story. My staff was a dead, lifeless branch from an almond tree. It was simply a long, sturdy stick hewn from a tree, with no roots, no sap, nothing that would result in fruit or growth of any kind. According to nature’s plan, it had no chance whatsoever of coming back to life. The blossoming of my tribal rod was God’s doing, supernatural, a miracle from heaven. It was totally unexpected to see a dead branch display all three stages of vegetable life at all, let alone at the same time. This is a story about the resurrection, a powerful picture of the fact that with almighty God, dead things can come back to life, whether it’s a lifeless branch, or dry bones, or a human heart dead in sin, or a dead human body on the Last Day.

   Something powerless can wield authority. In Pharaoh’s presence, God used a mere walking stick to exert His power. Every one of those plagues visited upon Egypt was a judgment from God on the various gods of Egypt. When I struck the Nile with this same rod, God’s power was displayed over their god of the Nile. When I waved my staff over the River and frogs inundated the land, God was giving evidence of His superiority over their worship of the frog. When I struck the ground and Egypt was immediately overwhelmed with lice and gnats, God revealed His power over their god of the biting insect. When my rod turned into a serpent that ate all the magicians’ serpents, there was no doubt whose god was most powerful… Yahweh, the God of the Israelites. My powerless staff was always a symbol of authority, and that dead symbol came to life with my staff as I wielded the very real authority of the almighty God.

   Something barren can bear fruit. My old wooden staff is now a story of miraculous fruitfulness. When it brought forth ripe almonds, literally overnight, my thoughts turned to the many times barren women in the Hebrew Bible were able to bear children only after God’s intervention. We think of Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Hannah, for starters. Only God’s miraculous power could bring this to happen. Gazing into the future again, is it any wonder that so many painters during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance painted a blossoming almond tree into Annunciation scenes? There is Mary, an unknown, common village girl, unexpectedly and miraculously bearing the fruit of her union with the Holy Spirit. With God, even the barren can bear fruit, and even the common can be miraculous, just like my wooden staff.

   I love the fact that almond trees are the first sign of spring. Their beautiful white blossoms bloom in late January. So when those pure white blossoms bloom, the people know that winter is almost over and new life is just around the corner. When my dead wooden staff brought forth living buds, and full blossoms, and ripe almonds, the Israelites were not merely assured of my leadership role in the priesthood. They were also reminded that God was always watching over them, ready to perform His word over their life in their journey to the Promised Land and beyond. In God’s powerful hands, my amazing tribal rod shows to everyone that the dead can come back to life, the powerless can wield God’s authority, the common can become miraculous, the Lord will be alert and watchful, and fruit can come in the most unexpected and timely ways.