May 18, 2023

What does discontentment look like for you?

Numbers 16

Ryan Moret
Thursday's Devo

May 18, 2023

Thursday's Devo

May 18, 2023

Thursday's Devo

May 18, 2023

Thursday's Devo

May 18, 2023

Big Idea

God's instruction can always be trusted.

Key Verse | Numbers 16:8-10

And Moses said to Korah, "Hear now, you sons of Levi: is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the LORD and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also?"

Numbers 16

Korah's Rebellion

1 Now Korah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. 2 And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. 3 They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?” 4 When Moses heard it, he fell on his face, 5 and he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the LORD will show who is his, 1 16:5 Septuagint The LORD knows those who are his and who is holy, and will bring him near to him. The one whom he chooses he will bring near to him. 6 Do this: take censers, Korah and all his company; 7 put fire in them and put incense on them before the LORD tomorrow, and the man whom the LORD chooses shall be the holy one. You have gone too far, sons of Levi!” 8 And Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: 9 is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the LORD and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, 10 and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also? 11 Therefore it is against the LORD that you and all your company have gathered together. What is Aaron that you grumble against him?”

12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and they said, “We will not come up. 13 Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also make yourself a prince over us? 14 Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.” 15 And Moses was very angry and said to the LORD, “Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed one of them.”

16 And Moses said to Korah, “Be present, you and all your company, before the LORD, you and they, and Aaron, tomorrow. 17 And let every one of you take his censer and put incense on it, and every one of you bring before the LORD his censer, 250 censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer.” 18 So every man took his censer and put fire in them and laid incense on them and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. 19 Then Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And the glory of the LORD appeared to all the congregation.

20 And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 21 “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” 22 And they fell on their faces and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?” 23 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Say to the congregation, Get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

25 Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 And he spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.” 27 So they got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. 28 And Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been of my own accord. 29 If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the LORD has not sent me. 30 But if the LORD creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the LORD.”

31 And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. 32 And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. 33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. 34 And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” 35 And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men offering the incense.

36  2 16:36 Ch 17:1 in Hebrew Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 37 “Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers out of the blaze. Then scatter the fire far and wide, for they have become holy. 38 As for the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they offered them before the LORD, and they became holy. Thus they shall be a sign to the people of Israel.” 39 So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned had offered, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar, 40 to be a reminder to the people of Israel, so that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, should draw near to burn incense before the LORD, lest he become like Korah and his company—as the LORD said to him through Moses.

41 But on the next day all the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the LORD.” 42 And when the congregation had assembled against Moses and against Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting. And behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared. 43 And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, 44 and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 45 “Get away from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” And they fell on their faces. 46 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the LORD; the plague has begun.” 47 So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. 48 And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. 49 Now those who died in the plague were 14,700, besides those who died in the affair of Korah. 50 And Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, when the plague was stopped.

Footnotes

[1] 16:5 Septuagint The LORD knows those who are his
[2] 16:36 Ch 17:1 in Hebrew

S2:094 Numbers 16

Listen Now

Dive Deeper | Numbers 16

They say comparison is the thief of joy. Have you ever looked around at your circumstances or belongings and thought, "Well, other people aren't in this situation. Why should I be?" We can look around and think we deserve a better career, more possessions, and greater influence. Maybe we can even think other people should have less than they do out of jealousy. When we have these thoughts, we need to recognize that what is really going through our hearts is, "My plan is better than God's." 

God made no mistake when he called Moses into leadership of His people (Exodus 3-4). When Korah stood up and began to speak against Moses and Aaron, he doubted the sovereignty of God's plans for leadership. God used Moses and the "test" to show that His appointing of Aaron and Moses was true, and there was no room for challenging His plan.

Even Moses originally felt like he had no right to lead God's people (Exodus 3:11). However, God knew that Moses was exactly who should lead. Just like Korah and Moses, we can look at our situations and circumstances that God has put us in and feel discontent. We should be humbly reminded that God does not make mistakes, and His plan is bigger than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9).

Join me in praying that we may remember that we can trust God's plan and provision for our lives. Discontentment has many faces: the zip code we live in, the cars we drive, the incomes we have, the bosses we work for, the kids we have, or the spouses we marry. I challenge us to raise our eyes and hearts to God and ask how we can glorify the kingdom in our discontent.

This month's memory verse

3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

– Philippians 2:3-4

Discussion Questions

1. What would total contentment look like for you?

2. Do you feel like if you just had that one more thing you would be happy? What is it? How many times have you used the phrase "I want" in the last week?

3. Do you believe that God has the best plans in store for you and that He is not here to take from you, but rather to provide?

4. What are areas in your life in which you feel like you deserve something different? Where do you feel like life has been "unfair" to you?

5. In what areas do you feel like you are consistently discontent? Some examples are possessions, money, power, or relationships. How can you change your discontentment to faith and trust in the Lord's provision?

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Hugh Stephenson

Good morning, Ryan. Love your opening line. One of my favorites. I especially love your contrast of hubris and humility in comparing Korah et al versus Moses. I have noted for a long time that humility and effective leadership seem to go together really well. A big ego seems to crowd out the Holy Spirit. Or maybe he just leaves. Q1. Easy answer…Heaven. Short of that…it’s lying down in a boat in a salt marsh at low tide in August. The heavy cloak of humid air feels like a blanket of salty marsh mud. Womb-like. Q2. Opposite. If I had one LESS thing…BUSYNESS. It’s a huge struggle to downsize the workload and home tasks. Q3. Absolutely no question. Zero. I have seen what happens when I try it solo. It’s an ugly crash and burn. Q4. In every area of my life I feel like I deserve something different. I deserve WORSE. Much, much worse, (Romans 3:23). Among my most valuable truths learned was the truth of GOD BIG, HUGH SMALL.
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Hugh Stephenson

So, I like the idea of imagining the mental and spiritual state of the Israelites as these events begin. -3,000 died in the golden calf rebellion. -They believed the horrific report of the 10 spies and don’t believe Joshua and Caleb. So much so that they want to stone them to death. I’m taught that stoning was the worst penalty of them all and was reserved for apostates. Clearly not the case with Joshua and Caleb. -And now, not only are they not going to get into the Promised Land but are condemned to die in the wilderness. That might put me at the end of my rope too. In all this, I see the three big lies I have been taught to recognize- —God is not good —His Word is not true —Sin is not a big deal. Clearly Korah et al believed these lies. Knowing the truth is the foundation of all blessing. Believe and you will receive. All that said, it’s the penalty that is the most horrific; eternity in Sheol without God. Which is crazy that they choose rebellion given the unbelievable lengths God went to so that they would see that He claims them as His people and He wants to dwell with them and be in unity with them. He could have chosen anyone…but He chose them. And they said “No, Thanks. We want to go back to Egypt.” And what’s amazing about that is that they they seem to also forget what happened there and what their reception might be. How will they get across the Red Sea again? Having wiped out the Pharaoh’s army, how might they be greeted? And there’s the little detail about all the first-born males dying, including the heir to the throne.
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Hugh Stephenson

Much of this comes down to understanding leadership. -You’re going to be opposed. -You’re going to be criticized. Given there is really no way to keep that from happening the best position is to be 100% obedient to God’s calling in leadership and shepherding. One scholar says this, ”To be useful to God we must not only be obedient but called.” Given the ultimate fall out my loyalty and obedience must be to God and to Him alone. This all begats another question; Given Moses’s prior intercessions, why not intercede here? Constable’s notes edify- "All the motives which he had hitherto pleaded, in his repeated intercession that this evil congregation might be spared, were now exhausted. -He could not stake his life for the nation, as at Horeb (Ex. xxxii. 32), for the nation had rejected him. -He could not [sic] longer appeal to the honour of Jehovah among the heathen, seeing that the Lord, even when sentencing the rebellious race to fall in the desert, had assured him that the whole earth should be filled with His glory (chap. xiv. 20 sqq.). -Still less could he pray to God that He would not be wrathful with all for the sake of one or a few sinners, as in chap. xvi. 22, seeing that the whole congregation had taken part with the rebels. -In this condition of things there was but one way left of averting the threatened destruction of the whole nation, namely, to adopt the means which the Lord Himself had given to His congregation, in the high-priestly office, to wipe away their sins, and recover the divine grace which they had forfeited through sin,—viz. …the offering of incense which embodied the high-priestly prayer, and the strength and operation of which were not dependent on the sincerity and earnestness of subjective faith, but had a firm and immovable foundation in the objective force of the divine appointment." So I see that only the last efforts of Aaron’s prayer in the form of incense spared the people.
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Michael Sisson

Re: Num 16:3 Num 16:3 (NASB) They assembled together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, >>>“You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?”<<< This sounds uncomfortably like something you might hear in today’s Church. Re: Num 16:1-50 Moses is a type of Messiah (Dt 18:15) and Aaron is literally G-d’s anointed (Ex 30:30) and thus also a type of the Messiah (Heb. “Mashiach” meaning “Anointed”; 1Chr 16:22 and Ps 105:15). Koran’s Rebellion is yet another link in a tragic chain of examples throughout scripture of the far off, approaching Messiah (Num 24:17a), His types, and His progenitors (and by extension, G-d Himself) being unrecognized, mistreated, and despised. Acts 6:11-14; 21:21-24,28 records “false witnesses” perjured themselves in testifying that Jesus, Stephen, and Paul taught “…blasphemous words against Moses and against God,” saying “…Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us,” even, “…teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.” These falsehoods have become accepted as fact and remain a HUGE stumbling block between Jews and the Gospel to this day. >>>Today, as gentile followers of Yeshua ha Mashiach (Jesus Christ), we’re guilty of perpetuating these same “false” accusations.<<< Instead, we should remember the lessons of Korah’s Rebellion, soberly reflect upon Paul’s admonitions in Rom 11:17-32 and 1Cor 7:17-20 with fear and trembling, and earnestly pray Ps 139:23-24.
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Sue Bohlin

Thanks, Ryan. About "comparison is the thief of joy" . . . I've been thinking about that for months, and JUST blogged about it! https://blogs.bible.org/is-comparison-always-bad/ What struck me in today's reading is that God wanted to correct the people's wrong understanding of Him--His holiness and His character. And He keeps doing that, but these days what I see more of, is that people's wrong understanding is more in the category of believing He's a mean tyrant who doesn't like them and is just waiting for them to mess up. Which is why Luke 15--the parable of the prodigal son, or more accurately. The Parable of the Crazy Grace-Filled Father--is my favorite chapter in the Bible. No other scripture, I think, conveys the true heart of God--"compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7)
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Michael Scaman

The people complained and feared but God painted a stunning picture of redemption doing it. Who were 'the sons of Korah'? The descendants of the infamous Korah? Korah died but there is a verse later in Numbers 'Not all the sons of Korah died" Numbers 23:11 "The line of Korah, however, did not die out." There is a story of the 'redemption of the family of Korah' as well Korah opposed God's holiness but his son's would be poster children of protecting God's holiness being musical bouncers in the temple who would 'rather be doorkeepers in the house of God for a day than 1000 elsewhere. Many people in the old testament trace their lineage to Korah like some of David's mighty men and Samuel and others. Asaph also. Some say the daughter's of Zelophehad who made the first successful legal challenge and God said 'they were right' were possibly related. this is , in part, discussed in an artica published in Haifa https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.15699/jbl.1383.2019.525474 The sons of Korah should be in the grave but sing on about things including redemption from the grave. They appear in 11 Psalms
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Amy Lowther

1. I don’t think I have ever had total contentment though peace helps me be content. Believing in God and walking with Jesus helps me be peaceful. God and Jesus help me celebrate good times and help me correct things if something is wrong. 2. I have moments believing that having just one more thing will make me happy. But I have found being truly happy comes from believing in God and using His values in daily life. And though I truly believe in God and Jesus, “I want” is still a phrase I frequently use. 3. Yes. 4. I always work to put my best efforts in everything I do so the best results are achieved. 5. At this time, I am not consistently discontent in any areas of my life. The lLord helps me see possessions, money, power, and relationships in good ways. Using the Lord’s values helps me achieve the highest values.
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Tonni Shook

Hi Ryan. I believe we were at the same table in ED1. Unless you have a twin! Great devo. After doing a deep dive on chapter 16, I love it so much. What I walk away with today is how do these people continue to grumble, complain, & whine?! Just days ago Miriam was saying basically the same things to Moses & Aaron. Do they (we) never learn? Nope! One more thing to note: how many times have we read, “the glory of the Lord appeared…..”? About 30 times, at least! I’m sitting here wondering if I would be on my face each time in awe or acting like these stiff-necked people. I pray I never miss out on God’s glory.