GOD’S TIPPING POINT

By Jill Roberts and Michael Canalé

 

You recall that Michael so wisely said,

 

“The best goal on Earth is to find your puzzle pieces.”

 

For we need not reflect very long to see the rough road ahead when we look at life and are baffled or, in other words, are puzzled by the pieces we do see.

 

When this happens, the first thing we should do is to remind ourselves of one very important thing. That is, the LORD of LORDS, God Almighty, the Rock of Ages, is never, ever, the author of confusion. (1 Corinthians 14:33) KJV This point is made so robustly in this week’s lesson  —   A study of two incidents possessing one profound theme, i.e. How God spoke to the Israelites then and how He speaks to us today in what Michael powerfully calls, “God’s Tipping Point.”

 

How often, we hear people or, in some cases, we hear ourselves say, that the thing we most desire is to hear God’s voice with regard to any given question or situation. Both accounts of God speaking in today’s study, which we are drawing from the Old Testament Book of Numbers, give us guidance on how God speaks.

 

Michael introduces us to this entire topic with a truly astute insight:

 

“God talks in layman’s terms in the Old Testament. If you’re going to talk to the masses, you have to talk this way.”

 

This is compelling because we often think just the opposite. The perception is that the God of the Universe speaks in a lofty language, best understood by theologians and the like. We are convinced that if we lack a seminary degree and an enviable command of Hebrew and Greek, we are living on the outskirts of understanding town. This misconception is dealt with in each of this week’s stories.

 

The first story predates the Israelites turning back from the Promised Land. The second postdates it. The common thread between the two is that, in each, Moses is the target.

 

In the first passage, it is Moses’ siblings, Miriam and Aaron, who are the naysayers:

 

“Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses…’Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?’ They asked. Hasn’t he also spoken through us?’ And the LORD heard this.”

(Numbers 12:2) NIV

 

How reminiscent this is of the scene at the Fall of Mankind in the Garden of Eden, when the snake asked Eve, “Did God really say?” (Genesis 3:1) NIV

 

And then, what an image, as here, for Miriam and Aaron to speak rebellion against God and His servant, His plan, and for God to, of course, hear this! 

 

God immediately reacted by summoning Moses and the offenders, Miriam and Aaron to a meeting. During it, He speaks of Moses and, also, to us. God describes how He speaks to mankind:

 

“…my servant Moses;

 he is faithful in all my house.

With him I speak face to face,

clearly and NOT IN RIDDLES.”

 

After this, concerning Miriam and Aaron,

 

“The anger of the LORD burned against them…”

 

The consequence of the attempt to usurp God’s power and to speak against Moses was severe. God caused Miriam to be stricken with leprosy and to be confined outside the camp for seven days. 

 

Two points are central:

 

God did not then and does not today speak in riddles. He is straightforward. We would not try to confuse those whom we love by answering them in riddles. How much less so then, the  perfectly loving God Who wants so much for us to understand Him when He talks to us!

 

Secondly, God clearly warns humanity before He acts with severe punishment. It is highly instructive and public regarding Miriam’s punishment by God. He announced to all the Israelites not to question His choice of Moses or to speak ill of His servant. For seven days, Miriam was removed with a disease that is exceedingly visible – leprosy. As stated, God does not speak in riddles; He is crystal clear. The Israelites stood warned.

 

Fast forward to the second and most dramatic incident about how God thinks and speaks —  our second story. The setting is after the Israelites have refused to enter the Promised Land and, as a result, have been sentenced by God to wander forty years in the wilderness. During this period, the most remarkable rebellion arose. Once again, some of the Israelites became highly critical of Moses, and, this time, Aaron as well. Apparently, the lesson with Miriam had not been learned. Korah, in the line of the Levites, Dathan and Abiram, along with some descendants of Reuben,

 

“…became insolent AND ROSE UP AGAINST MOSES. With them were 250 Israelite men, well known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council. They came as a group to OPPOSE MOSES AND AARON.”

(emphasis added)

(Numbers 16:1-3) NIV

 

And what was their complaint? They said to Moses and Aaron,

 

“You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why do you set yourselves above the LORD’s assembly?”

(Numbers 16:3) NIV

 

Moses reacts as he so often does:

 

“When Moses heard this, he fell facedown.”

(Numbers 16:4) NIV

 

The frustration of Moses is clear. Soon, we will see God’s reaction. Moses then says to Korah and the mob that were his followers:

 

“In the morning the LORD will show who belongs to him and who is holy…”

(Numbers 16:5) NIV

 

Then Moses gave very specific directions:

 

“You, Korah, and all your followers are to do this: Take censers (tabernacle holders of incense) and tomorrow put burning coal and incense in them before the LORD. The man the LORD chooses will be the one who is holy. You Levites have gone too far!”

(Numbers 16:6-7) NIV

 

Moses added,

 

“Now listen, you Levites! Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near himself to do the work at the LORD’s tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to them? He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near himself, but NOW YOU ARE TRYING TO GET THE PRIESTHOOD TOO. IT IS AGAINST THE LORD that you and all your followers have banded together.”

(emphasis added)

(Numbers 16:8-11) NIV

 

This passage begins with the word “insolent.” That attitude continues:

 

Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram…But they said,

 

 ‘We will not come! Isn’t it enough (mocking Moses’ use of this phrase) that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? And now you want to lord it over us! Moreover, you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you want to treat these men like slaves? No, we will not come!”

(Numbers 16:12-14) NIV

 

Insolence personified! When we hear this coming from the very men who THEMSELVES REFUSED to go and take the Promised Land, who THEMSELVES PROPOSED to choose a leader to take them back to Egypt and to their slavery there, we can only be amazed at the blindness of these men.

 

Michael sums it up so well:

 

“The most tragic thing is to see people who were slaves and all of a sudden, they’re trying to make themselves equal to God by saying they should be in the very top tier, where God had placed Moses and Aaron. Out of the extreme generosity of God, these men were given power but they are not satisfied. THEY wanted to decide what is only God’s decision to make – who among them was to be the ultimate leader. Oh, the danger of a little power when the real ambition is for greater power, whether God ordains it or not!”

 

Understandably, Moses was angered. He had only served these people, never asking for anything in return. Increasingly, he had asked God to withhold judgment against them.

 

The following day, the assembly before God took place. Before it, Moses said,

 

“This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my own idea. If these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all mankind, then the LORD has not sent me. But if the LORD brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the realms of the dead, then you will know that these men have TREATED THE LORD WITH CONTEMPT.”

(emphasis added)

Numbers 16:29-31) NIV

 

As stated earlier, the LORD does not speak in riddles; he speaks in such a way as to leave no ambiguity about His view of the matter before Him. The following verses describe what God’s word was on the subject:

 

“As soon as he (Moses) finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with all their possessions. They went down alive into the realm of the dead, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community…And fire came from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.”

(Numbers 16:31-34) NIV

 

Could God have spoken any more clearly! As Michael says,

 

“God’s patience was gone. This was an ungrateful group. They had complained against Moses and Aaron  —. Moses, the translator for God, Aaron, His High Priest. Their true complaint was against God, Himself, and His hierarchy of command. Altogether, this was God’s tipping point.”

 

These men who were swallowed up and burned were in mid-sentence when it happened. Moses said that if it occurred this way, then it was God’s idea that he lead and not his own. It bears repeating, God does not speak in riddles. No one present had to wonder how God felt about this. His feelings were public and persuasive.

 

As Michael says,

 

“They were dismantled for challenging God one more time in a long series of challenges.”

 

Remarkably, this entire sequence of events fell on deaf ears:

 

“The next day the WHOLE ISRAELITE COMMUNITY grumbled against Moses and Aaron, ‘You have killed the LORD’s people,’ they said.”

(emphasis added)

(Numbers 16:41) NIV

 

After this, God said to Moses, with Aaron present,

 

“Get away from the assembly so I can put an end to them at once.’ And they fell face down.”

(Numbers 16:45) NIV

 

To close out the chapter, Moses told Aaron to, ironically, take his censer and to make atonement for the surviving, dissenting Israelites, saving some from the plague God had immediately sent:

 

“He (Aaron) stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped.”

(Numbers 16:48) NIV

 

Michael powerfully sums up all we have studied this week. He speaks of how God spoke, so unambiguously, without riddles, without mystery, saying it in a thousand ways, that Moses was His one chosen leader. And STILL the Israelites insulted and questioned this. As Michael says, they questioned Moses, “God’s man.”

 

We close today with Michael’s summing up:

 

“When a person, in the Book of Numbers or in the present age, readjusts God’s words that express His will, making these words into that person’s own, this is substance abuse with the clear message of God’s words and actions. It is what the Israelites did and it took them right off the face of the Earth.”

 

It is a strong and timeless message. To say it is sobering is quite the understatement.

 

Postscript:

 

It is very interesting to know that the censers used by the 250 men were not lost in these men’s destruction:

 

“The LORD said to Moses, ‘Tell Eleazar, son of Aaron, the priest, to remove the censers from the charred remains and scatter the coals some distance away, for THE CENSERS ARE HOLY —. the censers of the men who sinned at the cost of their lives. Hammer the censers into sheets to overlay the altar, for they were presented before the LORD and HAVE BECOME HOLY. Let them be a sign to the Israelites.

 

So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned to death, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar, as the LORD directed him through Moses. This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before the LORD, or he would become like Korah and his followers.”

(emphasis added)

(Numbers 16:36-40) NIV