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From Eternity Past
ished from among the congregation.” The people fled, self-condemned
as partakers in the sin.
But the judgments were not ended. Fire flashing from the cloud
consumed the two hundred and fifty princes who had offered incense.
These men were not destroyed with the chief conspirators. They were
permitted to see their end and to have opportunity for repentance; but
their sympathies were with the rebels, and they shared their fate.
The entire congregation were sharers in their guilt, for all had, to a
greater or lesser degree, sympathized with them. Yet the people who
had permitted themselves to be deceived were still granted space for
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repentance.
Jesus, the Angel who went before the Hebrews, sought to save
them from destruction. The judgment of God had come very near
and appealed to them to repent. Now, if they would respond to God’s
providence, they might be saved. But their rebellion was not cured.
They returned to their tents that night terrified, but not repentant.
They had been flattered by Korah until they really believed them-
selves to be a very good people, wronged and abused by Moses. They
had fondly cherished the hope that a new order of things was about to
be established in which praise would be substituted for reproof, and
ease for anxiety and conflict. The men who had perished had spoken
flattering words and professed great interest and love for them, and the
people concluded that Moses had by some means been the cause of
their destruction.
The Israelites had proposed to put both Moses and Aaron to death.
Yet that night of probation was not passed in repentance and confession,
but in devising some way to resist the evidence which showed them
to be the greatest of sinners. They still cherished hatred of the men of
God’s appointment and braced themselves to resist their authority.
“On the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel
murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed
the people of the Lord.” And they were about to proceed to violence
against their faithful, self-sacrificing leaders.