Scripture Daily

Context No. 2462 of 4322 · Numbers

Context · Reflection

Numbers 16:41-45: in context

41But on the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the LORD’s people!” 42When the congregation was assembled against Moses and against Aaron, they looked toward the Tent of Meeting. Behold, the cloud covered it, and the LORD’s glory appeared. 43Moses and Aaron came to the front of the Tent of Meeting. 44The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 45“Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment!” They fell on their faces.

The very day after the ground swallowed Korah and his rebels, and fire consumed the men offering unauthorized incense, the whole congregation turns on Moses and Aaron: you have killed the LORD's people. They have just watched God's judgment fall, and their response is to blame the two leaders. The glory of the LORD appears, and God tells Moses to stand back so he can consume them in a moment. Moses and Aaron fall on their faces.

The hardness is astonishing. Not a week later, not after memory faded, but the next morning, the people accuse Moses of the very deaths God brought. It is a portrait of a heart that will not learn, that can witness judgment and still grumble against God by nightfall. And notice the leaders' response: no self-defense, no I-told-you-so. Faced with people who just blamed them, Moses and Aaron fall on their faces and, in the verses that follow, rush to make atonement for them. The grumblers are spared by the intercession of the ones they accused.

What have I recently seen God do, only to find myself grumbling against him again by the next day?

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