That you may put an end to their grumblings against Me, so that they will not die.”

Numbers 16:41-17:11 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible (link available on links page)

Murmuring and Plague

⁴¹ But on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You are the ones who have caused the death of the Lord’s people.” ⁴² It came about, however, when the congregation had assembled against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tent of meeting, and behold, the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared. ⁴³ Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, ⁴⁴ and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁵ “Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them instantly.” Then they fell on their faces. ⁴⁶ Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put in it fire from the altar, and lay incense on it; then bring it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone forth from the Lord, the plague has begun!” ⁴⁷ Then Aaron took it as Moses had spoken, and ran into the midst of the assembly, for behold, the plague had begun among the people. So he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸ He took his stand between the dead and the living, so that the plague was checked. ⁴⁹ But those who died by the plague were 14,700, besides those who died on account of Korah. ⁵⁰ Then Aaron returned to Moses at the doorway of the tent of meeting, for the plague had been checked.

Aaron’s Rod Buds

17 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the sons of Israel, and get from them a rod for each father’s household: twelve rods, from all their leaders according to their fathers’ households. You shall write each name on his rod, ³ and write Aaron’s name on the rod of Levi; for there is one rod for the head of each of their fathers’ households. ⁴ You shall then deposit them in the tent of meeting in front of the testimony, where I meet with you. ⁵ It will come about that the rod of the man whom I choose will sprout. Thus I will lessen from upon Myself the grumblings of the sons of Israel, who are grumbling against you.” ⁶ Moses therefore spoke to the sons of Israel, and all their leaders gave him a rod apiece, for each leader according to their fathers’ households, twelve rods, with the rod of Aaron among their rods. ⁷ So Moses deposited the rods before the Lord in the tent of the testimony.

⁸ Now on the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds. ⁹ Moses then brought out all the rods from the presence of the Lord to all the sons of Israel; and they looked, and each man took his rod. ¹⁰ But the Lord said to Moses, “Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put an end to their grumblings against Me, so that they will not die.” ¹¹ Thus Moses did; just as the Lord had commanded him, so he did.

Today's text comes after this account of God's judgment in Numbers 16:

²⁵ Then Moses arose and went to Dathan and Abiram, with the elders of Israel following him, ²⁶ and he spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart now from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing that belongs to them, or you will be swept away in all their sin.” ²⁷ So they got back from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the doorway of their tents, along with their wives and their sons and their little ones. ²⁸ Moses said, “By this you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these deeds; for this is not my doing. ²⁹ If these men die the death of all men or if they suffer the fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. ³⁰ But if the Lord brings about an entirely new thing and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that is theirs, and they descend alive into Sheol, then you will understand that these men have spurned the Lord.”

³¹ As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open; ³² and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions. ³³ So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

I think we can safely say that God does not like rebellion and disunity within the body. Daniel 2:20-21 gives us some understanding of this.

Daniel said, "Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. "It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to men of understanding.    Paul also speaks of this in Romans 13:1.    Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.

Since God raises up and establishes all authority, He views rebellion against that God ordained authority as rebellion against Him.   In today's text it says:  But the Lord said to Moses, “Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put an end to their grumblings against Me, so that they will not die.”

Does this mean we are to blindly follow all leaders both in the church and in the government? The short answer would be no. But, what we do need to do, is to be certain that we are fully submitted to God and His authority. We need to view any dissatisfaction we have with leaders from God's perspective. In the text today we see that God affirmed the leadership of Aaron and Moses.  The rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.     When we look at the leadership in the church we should first look to see if there is fruit. It may not look like we would expect it, but if God is blessing the ministry we should see some evidence of fruit being produced.  Jesus teaches about discerning by the evidence of fruit in Matthew 7:15-20

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶ You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

Even so we need to understand that if there is no fruit or bad fruit, it is God's job to remove or replace the authority He raised up, not ours.

Disunity within the body, both in the local church and the greater church as a whole comes  with a very high price.  1 Corinthians 11:28-32     But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. ²⁹ For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. ³⁰ For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. ³¹ But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. ³² But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. 

When there is disunity, when we judge others by our own standards rather than by God's it causes weakness and sickness, even death. This weakness and sickness can be in our own bodies, but it also translates to the health of the body of Christ, His church, both locally and as a whole. This disunity in the body of Christ is like when our physical bodies attack themselves with cancer or auto-immune diseases, it is the body attacking, weakening and killing itself. As we look around the world and see how many denominations there are, as we see how much division exists even with those denominations and within local bodies, is it any wonder that the church has lost it's appeal and it's power.  Paul speaks of these divisions in 1 Corinthians 1:10-13

Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. ¹¹ For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. ¹² Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” ¹³ Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 

The church is supposed to be a light to the world. When the world sees the disunity and strife that exists in the church there is little reason to be drawn to the church. Jesus says: " And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” (John 12:32)

Jesus was lifted up on a cross to pay the price for the sin of all mankind. Jesus was raised up to the Father in heaven.    He prayed John 17:

... I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. ¹⁴ I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁵ I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁷ Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹ that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, ²³ I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. ²⁴ Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. ²⁵ O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”    Amen

May we indeed be one,     I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.    May we all together lift up the name of Jesus.   Amen