Standing Strong |
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Korach—Korah
Numbers 16:1– 18:32 1 Samuel 11:14– 12:22 John 13:18– 30 Jude 3-11 |
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Isaiah 11:6 2 Thessalonians 2:15 |
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How many times has ruin come from somebody trying to take too much upon themselves when it was not what HaShem wanted them to be doing? I have seen it numerous times. I have been the one overstepping my role at times in my past and I see it clearly when I look with the excellent vision of hindsight. And in this week's Parasha we see Korach leading a rebellion against Moses in that he thought the priesthood was something he could aspire to when it was established by G-d and G-d alone.
During our Parasha study in our home in Jerusalem, I had an excellent insight shared with me by a neighbor. Korach, when describing the land from which they came, uses Moses' own words. Egypt is described as a land flowing with milk and honey. How can this be? They were slaves of the Egyptians, put under harsh bondage, and he now refers to it as a land flowing with milk and honey! Well, maybe when compared with the wilderness if you didn't have G-d fighting for you and supplying you with your every need. But Korach is not speaking about the land they are in or the means of support. Maybe he learned the lesson with the quail, but his complaint is that he thinks Moses is setting himself over the people and Korach is calling him out for it. Moses falls on his face in front of Korach, either in prayer or in a sign of his humility. In either case, Moses does not call for G-d to destroy those in opposition to him. Once again he even stands in the gap to keep G-d from destroying these people rising in opposition.
How could Korach lead the people astray? They have just seen G-d do so much for them. Korach did it through using reason, as understood by man, against the commands of G-d. I have been told by some Christian leaders that G-d doesn't give any commandments without telling us why we are to do them. I find this not to be true. I further find that when we try to apply our limited reasoning to G-d we inevitably set ourselves up for failure. Rabbinic traditions state that Korach was using logic to poke holes in the commandments of G-d as explained to the people by Moses.
The story told states that Korach asked Moses if a garment that is made of pure blue wool does a person need to wear Tzitzit. For if the garment is made holy by a thread of blue then a garment of just blue thread does not need it. Moses tells Korach there is still the commandment to wear tzitzit. Korach puts forward that if a room is full of scrolls of the word of G-d is there a need for a mezuzah. Moses says yes, the commandment of G-d still stands. Korach calls this foolishness, stating that the two pieces of scripture placed in the mezuzah cover and attached to the doorposts can't sanctify the room that is full of scripture. He is doing this openly for all the people to see. He is trying to show that Moses has no logic and that He and his followers have every right to the priesthood if this man's logic can't hold up.
But G-d is not bound by the ways of man, and there are many commandments that are beyond my comprehension as to why we are to do them, based upon man's reasoning. G-d has a showdown between the priests of Korach and the anointed priests of G-d as He had established them. We know the outcome. The false priests are burned in a similar fire as those who offered a strange smoke before G-d earlier. The priests of Korach are consumed by flame coming from the L-rd. The followers of these priests are swallowed up by the earth. Not just an earthquake that opens the earth and they fall in, but the earth does something unnatural, closing up after they fall in, swallowing them up, people never to be seen again.
What was the sin of Korach? There were a few. One was to try to assume a position to which G-d did not call him. One was to mock G-d and G-d's servant publicly through trying to use man's reason to explain G-d's commandments as not being applicable. One was to describe the land from which G-d took them as the same land of milk and honey to which G-d was taking them. Not only did he reach too far, he had shown himself unworthy to assume a task of serving G-d.
Are you willing to accept G-d at His word, or do you require G-d to live up to your standards of reasoning? If you make G-d live up to your standards of reasoning, isn’t that putting yourself in the position of G-d and trying to make Him subservient to you?
It's that same sin from the Garden. "You can be as G-d". Some things never change.
Selah |