I’ve always thought it was a strange word this: murmuring. It’s used often in the Exodus story of the people’s complaints against Moses and God. But it sounds as though they never dare say it out loud, in case they’re heard. Perhaps it’s the history of being slaves - expressing dissent would have led swiftly to death. But today, there’s some complaints that get a little bit louder.
Korah contends for the priesthood
Numbers 16:3-11
The disobedience of Dathan and Abiram
Numbers 16:12-15
The glory of the Lord appears, and the intercession of Moses and Aaron
Numbers 16:16-22
The ground swallows up Dathan and Abiram
Numbers 16:23-34
The company of Korah consumed
Numbers 16:35-40
The people murmur and a plague is sent
Numbers 16:41-50
The budding of Aaron’s rod
Numbers 17:1-13
Levite responsibilities
Numbers 18:1-24
This is a substantial mutiny. Moses deals with it by falling face down. Earlier he was described as the most humble man (Numbers 12:3) But God responds more aggressively. Korah, Dathan and Abiram, together with their families, are swallowed up by the ground.
The belief then was that the underworld was the world of the dead, and this would have sent dread through the community. So God crushes the rebellion - without mercy?
He follows it up with a miracle to demonstrate that he has given Aaron his authority, the budding of his staff. The Israelites are cowed: ““We will die! We are lost, we are all lost! Anyone who even comes near the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Are we all going to die?”
James, who is reading along with me, has said to me how he feels that the God of the Old Testament is harsh and merciless, and reading Numbers 16, I find it hard to disagree.
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