Great Rebellion
317
upon the land. And they now accuse Moses of bringing them from a
good land to kill them in the wilderness, that he might be made rich
with their possessions. They inquire of Moses, in an insolent manner,
if he thought that none of all the host of Israel were wise enough to
understand his motives and discover his imposture, or if he thought
they would all submit to have him lead them about like blind men as
he pleased, sometimes toward Canaan, then back again toward the Red
Sea and Egypt. These words they spoke before the congregation, and
they utterly refused any longer to acknowledge the authority of Moses
and Aaron.
Moses was greatly moved at these unjust accusations. He appealed
to God before the people whether he had ever acted arbitrarily, and
implored Him to be his judge. The people in general were disaffected
and influenced by the misrepresentations of Korah. “And Moses said
unto Korah, Be thou and all thy company before the Lord, thou, and
they, and Aaron, tomorrow: and take every man his censer, and put
incense in them, and bring ye before the Lord every man his censer,
two hundred and fifty censers; thou also, and Aaron, each of you his
censer. And they took every man his censer, and put fire in them, and
laid incense thereon, and stood in the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation with Moses and Aaron.”
[349]
Korah and his company, who in their self-confidence aspired to
the priesthood, even took the censers and stood in the door of the
tabernacle with Moses. Korah had cherished his envy and rebellion
until he was self-deceived, and he really thought that the congregation
were a very righteous people and that Moses was a tyrannical ruler,
continually dwelling upon the necessity of the congregation’s being
holy, when there was no need of it, for they were holy.
These rebellious ones had flattered the people in general to believe
that they were right and that all their troubles arose from Moses, their
ruler, who was continually reminding them of their sins. The people
thought that if Korah could lead them and encourage them by dwelling
upon their righteous acts instead of reminding them of their failures,
they would have a very peaceful, prosperous journey, and he would
without doubt lead them, not back and forward in the wilderness, but
into the Promised Land. They said that it was Moses who had told
them that they could not go into the land, and that the Lord had not
thus said.