Numbers 16:1-50

I have often said that the ministry would sure be a lot easier if it did not involve people and we could just concentrate on building things.  Of course that is a comment steeped in sarcasm because we know very clearly that the ministry is PEOPLE.  Moses has his hands full of “people problems” that make his job a lot harder than in needed to be.  However, Moses had one very special thing going for him; God was on his side and made a very quick solution for the problem that he faced.  As a leader it is important to know that the Lord is our shelter and strength.  As a follower it is important to honor the leaders the Lord has established.  This chapter treats two common problems that we will often face in our own hearts and the hearts of the people with whom we work.

INSUBORDINATION: No one really likes being told what to do.  It is easy for us to imagine that if we were the leader we could do whatever needs to be done better than it is currently being done.  This is especially true when the leader is making difficult decisions.  The truth is that Moses found himself leading a group of condemned men who were literally waiting to drop dead so that their children could move forward and conquer the land that they were unwilling to enter.  It must have been easy for these men to forget that they were the reason for this punishment.  At any rate a group of them decide that Moses and Aaron are being too authoritative and that they could do a better job of leading.  They wanted to establish themselves as leaders and must have convinced themselves that God was with them.  They were sorely mistaken.  Moses had them all gather together and simply asked God to demonstrate that they were rebelling against God by opening up the ground and swallowing their entire family.  God did as Moses asked and the problem of insubordination was taken care of.  It is doubtful that God will do this to us when we are insubordinate but it does not change the seriousness of this sin.  We must always remember that our leaders are established by God and we must obey and honor them as we would Him.

INSURRECTION: As a result of the death of these leader the entire congregation begins to rebel against Moses and Aaron.  It is amazing how hard headed people can be.  One would think that after watching the ground open up and swallow those who rebelled against Moses that they would think twice before doing the same thing.  Unfortunately, this was not the case.  These people come out and think that there might be more strength in numbers and start a riot of insurrection in the camp.  Once again, they were wrong about the whole strength in numbers idea.  God shows up once again and does not wait for Moses to do anything He simply starts killing the people and makes it clear that He is about to wipe the whole nation off of the face of the earth.  Moses and Aaron, like good leaders, stand up to defend their people and plead with God to be merciful.  They make sacrifices on behalf of the people and God stops after killing only about 15,000 people.  It could have been much worse.  We must think long and hard before joining any group of people, no matter how large, to overthrow a leader that God has established.  There are times when God uses men to overthrow leaders, but we must be sure that He is calling us to do such a thing.  Taking matters into our own hands because of our own desires is a very dangerous proposition that usually turns out very, very badly.