Rebellion of Korah
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the testimony.” The blossoming of any rod was to be a token that the
Lord had chosen that tribe for the priesthood. On the morrow, “behold,
the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth
buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.” It was shown
to the people, and afterward laid up in the tabernacle as a witness to
succeeding generations. This miracle effectually settled the question
of the priesthood.
It was now fully established that Moses and Aaron had spoken
by divine authority, and the people were compelled to believe the
unwelcome truth that they were to die in the wilderness. “Behold,”
they exclaimed, “we die, we perish, we all perish.” They confessed
that they had sinned in rebelling against their leaders, and that Korah
and his company had suffered from the just judgment of God.
In the rebellion of Korah is seen the working out, upon a narrower
stage, of the same spirit that led to the rebellion of Satan in heaven.
It was pride and ambition that prompted Lucifer to complain of the
government of God, and to seek the overthrow of the order which
had been established in heaven. Since his fall it has been his object
to infuse the same spirit of envy and discontent, the same ambition
for position and honor, into the minds of men. He thus worked upon
the minds of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, to arouse the desire for
self-exaltation and excite envy, distrust, and rebellion. Satan caused
them to reject God as their leader, by rejecting the men of God’s
appointment. Yet while in their murmuring against Moses and Aaron
they blasphemed God, they were so deluded as to think themselves
righteous, and to regard those who had faithfully reproved their sins
as actuated by Satan.
Do not the same evils still exist that lay at the foundation of Ko-
rah’s ruin? Pride and ambition are widespread; and when these are
cherished, they open the door to envy, and a striving for supremacy;
the soul is alienated from God, and unconsciously drawn into the
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ranks of Satan. Like Korah and his companions, many, even of the
professed followers of Christ, are thinking, planning, and working
so eagerly for self-exaltation that in order to gain the sympathy and
support of the people they are ready to pervert the truth, falsifying and
misrepresenting the Lord’s servants, and even charging them with the
base and selfish motives that inspire their own hearts. By persistently
reiterating falsehood, and that against all evidence, they at last come