After the Israelites left Egypt, the Lord gave Moses His instructions for building the Tent of Meeting, the place where God would meet with His people in the desert. God appointed Aaron and his sons, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, from the tribe of Levi, to serve Him there as priests. Then He appointed the rest of the Levites with the care, keeping, transport, taking down and setting up of the Tent of Meeting.
Kohath and his sons were given the responsibility for the transport of the sacred articles in the sanctuary. When the Lord directed the people of Israel to move camp, Aaron and his sons were to pack up the Ark of the Covenant, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the curtains, and everything else related to their use. When their job was complete, the Kohathites were to carry the sanctuary furnishings to the next place. The Levites had been set apart by God Himself for this most responsible of tasks.
Years ago my dad worked for a hardware company run by three brothers. They loved what they did, they had a great work ethic, and they worked hard to maintain good relationships with their customers. As the brothers got older though, they hoped their sons would follow in their footsteps – and one of them did – but because he hadn’t worked to build the business, his love for it, and commitment to it, didn’t match that of his father.
The young man was lazy, often coming in late, and then not doing a full day’s work. He was impatient and easily irritated if long time customers “took advantage”, as he saw it, of his father’s good nature by asking for small concessions. Customers began to complain and take their business elsewhere, while resentment built in the other employees because of the son’s poor work ethic. Before long, my dad began to wonder whether there would be anything left of the company when the father retired and the son took over.
I wonder if Kohath ever wondered about the future of his clan as he watched his offspring being trained to replace him. He should have.
Korah was the grandson of Kohath. We can read his story in the Old Testament book of Numbers, chapter 16. He, along with two men named Dathan and Abiram, “became insolent and rose up against Moses”. They managed to gather a following that included 250 others who came as a group to Moses to complain about what they thought was Moses and Aaron’s attitude of superiority over the rest of the Levites because of their God appointed leadership, and Aaron’s position as priest.
Moses replied to Korah’s insolence with this: “Now listen, you Levites! Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near Himself to do the work at the Lord’s tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to them?. . . . but now you are trying to get the priesthood too (which is what their grumbling against Aaron was all about). It is against the Lord that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?”
What was Korah’s problem? The text doesn’t spell it out exactly, but we can speculate from Korah’s actions and Moses’ response. The footnote in my Bible gives some insight as well when it says that the only example of priesthood the Israelites had before this was the one they saw in Egypt. There, the priesthood was the path to wealth and influence. Could that have been Korah’s motivation for insolence, envy, and grumbling? I think there’s a good chance that it was.
Even though Korah had a very responsible and honored position as a member of the tribe designated by God to care for His holy things, it apparently wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough to simply CARRY the holy things from the Tent of Meeting to the next camping site. Moses’ words imply that what Korah wanted was Aaron’s job! He wanted the more visible, influential – and in his eyes – potentially more lucrative job of priest.
The Lord didn’t take this rebellion against Himself and His leadership lightly. We’re told in v. 31 of Numbers 16 that the ground opened up and swallowed Korah, his family and all his possessions. Pretty serious outcome.
One of the things I love about the Bible is that God doesn’t cover up his people’s faults. Real, flawed people, people a lot like me, inhabit the pages of God’s Word. All God’s spiritual “giants” failed. Abraham lied, Moses murdered someone, David committed adultery, Peter denied the Lord, Paul refused to have Mark accompany him on one of his missionary journeys. And Korah lusted after Aaron’s job.
This brings me to some questions I need to ask myself, and you:
What kind of work has the Lord gifted you to do in His kingdom?
In 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul says that each person who believes in Jesus is given a spiritual gift to use for the good of the kingdom. The Holy Spirit gives them as HE determines. Some gifts are very visible – like pastoring or teaching – or in Aaron’s case in the Old Testament, the priesthood. Others are behind the scenes kinds of gifts – like taking care of little ones in the nursery or organizing Vacation Bible School – or, in Korah’s case, carrying the sacred articles from one place to another.
Paul says it really doesn’t matter whether we are serving in a visible way or in a behind the scenes way, because each and every gift is important to the whole. The important thing is that each one faithfully use the gift God has given for serving Him and one another.
So, how do you view the unique gift the Holy Spirit has given you?
What kind of attitude do you have toward the use of your gift? When someone asks you to serve, do you make excuses, or wait it out for something “better”, or do you say yes willingly?
How do you react when someone else gets a position you wanted for yourself? Do you consider that it might better suit their gifting, or do you feel resentful?
Is your service in any way marred by envy or resentment because you view someone else’s gift as more visible or important than yours?
I confess that there have been times when I have thought that I could do a job better than someone else in the church. Not only was I envious, but I was also guilty of a spirit of resentment.
Moses was right on target when he said to Korah: “It is against the LORD that you and all your followers have banded together.” Korah wasn’t rebelling against Moses and Aaron. He was rebelling against the Lord who had appointed Aaron for the priesthood and Korah for the task of carrying the sacred articles. Ditto for me. When I complain, or harbor envy and resentment against someone else for the task God has given them and not me, I rebel against God, the giver of the gifts.
In Korah’s day, when Israel was just starting to learn about God and His ways and discover His expectations of them as His people, the Lord reacted swiftly and seriously to quell rebellion and Korah lost his life. In the New Testament’s record of the early days of the church of Jesus Christ, the Lord did the same with the deception of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts, chapter 5). He executed swift justice on them and they each died in order that the church would know how seriously God took their sin and to stop their deception from spreading.
I’m grateful that the Lord is gracious toward me when I act with resentment and envy over the gifts and positions of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, but I can’t presume on His grace because He doesn’t strike me dead! I need to cultivate a heart of gratitude – to the Lord, the dispenser of the gifts – and for my brothers and sisters and the gifts He’s given them as we work TOGETHER to build the church. And then I need to be careful to be faithful to use the gift He’s given me and encourage my fellow believers in the use of their gifts as well.
I do not want to follow in the footsteps of Korah, do you?
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