Numbers 16-May 13
There are certain themes that run throughout the book of Numbers. One such theme is the sinfulness of men and the holiness of God. As we saw yesterday, mankind is sinful to the core. This sin separates us from God and angers Him as well. Make no mistake, God still detests and abhors sin! This reality is made clear once again in Numbers 16 as the people of God choose to once again rebel against Him which yields disastrous consequences.
Numbers reads like a broken record in some respects. Over and over again we see God’s people growing anxious and becoming discontent as they call into question the goodness of God and the qualifications of their leaders. In chapter 16, the protest originated from a large contingent of chiefs of the congregation. While we don’t have time to get into the details of their anger, the source of their frustration should be very familiar by now. Verse 3 gives us a glimpse into what troubles them. In short, the leaders of Israel are jealous of the position of Moses and Aaron. This should sound familiar to us by now, in fact in chapter 12 it was Aaron and Miriam who leveled a very similar complaint against Moses!
As was the case in chapter 12, God would not stand for his man to be wrongly criticized. Verses 31-32 share with us the story of the ground literally swallowing up the malcontents. This should have ended the discussion as God very clear intervened on behalf of Moses and Aaron, but unbelievably it didn’t! Instead, on the next day (that’s right the very next day!) the congregation began to grumble against Moses again.
Their charge was patently ridiculous; in verse 41 they accuse Moses of killing these rebels. Obviously, there was no way for Moses to have parted the ground underneath the feet of these men and their families. Their death was clearly brought about as a product of God’s wrath, but the people didn’t care. These “grumblers” even went so far as to call those who died in absolute disdain for God and His leaders “the people of the Lord.” Unfortunately, those who are critical of God and His leaders are not typically concerned with the truth. Instead of seeing the reality of the situation and realizing that Moses was God’s man to lead while those who protested against him were nothing but dissatisfied agitators, the stiff-necked nation of Israel chooses to continue in their protest against Moses and God.
It was at this moment that God’s anger began to burn against the Israelites again. In fact, in His holy wrath, God began to inflict a deadly plague on the people killing over 14,000 of them (v. 49) in just a few moments. Moses, however, in his love and incredible humility stood in the gap for his people. While God was giving the nation of Israel its rightful penalty for their hostility towards Him, Moses instructs Aaron to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. As Aaron runs to make atonement for the sins of the people, Moses “stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped” (v. 48).
In this way, Moses is a type or example of Christ. Just as Moses stood in submission to God on behalf of His people gaining their forgiveness by virtue of his faithfulness, so Christ stood in the gap for you and I even as we rebelled against both Christ and God the Father. You and I, by virtue of our daily sin rebel against God just as the Israelites did several centuries ago. By virtue of our sin, we need someone to sacrificially stand between us and the wrath of God that we deserve. That someone must be holy and righteous in God’s sight and willing to plead with God the Father for otherwise underserved mercy.
This is what Christ did for us on the Cross! His act of sacrifice displayed both Christ’s humility as He was beaten and mocked for our sake, and His great love as He stood in the gap pleading His blood on our behalf. Praise God for our humble Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who was willing to endure great trial for us, a stiff-necked people.