Hey, Bible readers. I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap. Cora was a Koithite, the clan of Levites assigned to guard the holy vessels. Today, he and three Reubenites, his next door neighbors in the encampment, conspired against Moses and Aaron. Even with the incredible access had been given to the presence of God and the person of God, Cora was not satisfied with his calling. He wanted more power and more influence. He rallies 250 people to be on his side in a military coup, perhaps hoping that by raising up another leader, they could avoid the consequences God handed down yesterday, 38 more years in the wilderness. Cora argues that as God's chosen family, they all had been set apart, so they all should be able to do the things Moses and Aaron do. And while they all do have that specific wholeness or set apartness, they don't have the Priestley set apartness. Cora and his people were disrespecting God's appointment of these priests. Moses accuses Cora of being entitled and ungrateful, and he proposes a challenge to Cora and his companions. Okay, rebels, come offer your incense and see how it goes.

Two of the main rebels, Dathun and Abbeyron, refuse to come at Moses' request. This isn't because they realize they've gone too far and are trying to backtrack. This is basically them saying, You're not the boss of me. They accused Moses of bringing them out of a land flowing with milk and honey, which, in case it wasn't obvious, is not what Moses brought them out of. He brought them out of slavery. The land flowing with milk and honey has always been God's language in referring to Canaan. Once again, they've romanticized and idealized the past. They remember their bondage fondly. Not only that, but they were among those who refused to enter the actual land of milk and honey when God gave the opportunity. And then they accused Moses of appointing himself as ruler over them as if it weren't evident that God had made that appointment. Reading this section filled me with righteous indignation. I'm pretty sure my temperature rose. But by this point, Moses is used to being accused and he knows how to handle it. He doesn't throw his weight around and order these men to be stoned for their rebellion against God. Instead, he takes it to God and lets God sort it out.

He trusts God. He's humble. But God himself has no reason to be humble because humility is posture we adopt in response to God. So he's ready to kill them. And once again, Moses pleads for their lives. Then Moses, Aaron, the 70 elders, and God head over to the tents of Dathun and Abbeyron, who refuse to show their faces at the Incense Offering Ceremony. And Moses basically says, We're about to see who God is. If you guys die by natural causes, and I was wrong, and I'll admit it. But if God opens up a big sink hole and swallows you right now, then we'll all know you were wrong. And guess what? Sink hole. They went down to Sheil, which is the Old Testament way of saying the grave or the realm of the dead. There's a lot more we could talk about with Sheil, but we don't have time to unpack all that today. Then God consumed by fire the 250 others who had unlawfully offered encense. After this, Aaron's oldest living son, Eleazar, gathered up all their bronze encense holders and beat them into a covering for the altar to serve as a reminder of God's Holiness.

These people lots of reminders, don't we all? So surely all is well now, right? And everyone sees that Moses is following God's orders. Nope. They wake up the next morning with a brand new rebellion in their hearts. They accuse Moses of killing the people the day before. For, as if he had the power to command sink holes and consuming fires apart from God. At this point, God's ready to kill everyone again. Like, seriously, let me add him. But Moses has a quick idea to appease God. He tells Aaron to take the incense out to the people and let its holy fragrance cover them in an act of making atonement for their sins. And it does appease God's anger, even though it's righteous anger. Some people had already died by this point, but the deaths and the plague stopped when Aaron offered the incense. Remember in yesterday's reading of Numbers 14, how God promised they would all die off before he brought their children into Canaan? This is the beginning of this process. He's doing what he said he would do in response to their unbelief, idolatry, self-exaltation, and rebellion against the Kingdom of light. In case the people still doubt, God sets up one more scenario to establish Aaron the high priest as unique among all the chiefs of the other twelve tribes.

He orders them to write their names on their staffs. Then he has Moses put all 13 staffs into the Holy of Holies overnight. Despite not being the high priest, Moses is still allowed to enter the Holy of Holies because of his unique position as Israel's leader. He puts the 13 staffs inside, and in the morning, the one with Aaron's name on has sprouted an almond flower. Those don't bloom overnight. Cut almond branches can bloom, but in order for that to happen, they have to be kept in water and humid air, which doesn't exist in the desert, for weeks. So the people had to acknowledge this was a miracle of God and that he had marked Aaron as unique among the chiefs of all the tribes. After all these signs, they repent. By the way, the almond flower symbolizes a lot of things: life, Holiness, the presence of God, and the keeping of God's promises. So it was fitting that this was the sign God chose to show them. God tells Moses to store Aaron's staff in the Ark of the Covenant as a reminder to future generations. Where were you reminded of who God is today?

What was your God shot? Mine was when Aaron took the incense out and stood between the living and the dead to make an appeal for God's mercy and atone for their sins. This was risky for Aaron because as the high priest, he wasn't supposed to be near dead bodies at all. He could have been struck dead. But he risked his life to stop the plague and save the people from death through this offering to God. This was a picture of Christ to me, our great high priest, who intervened, not just risking death, but facing it and defeating it on our behalf. In Jerusalem, there's a wall all the way around the Old City, and that wall has many gates. The Eastern gate is the one scripture says Jesus will return through when he comes back again. Knowing scripture prophesies this of the Messiah, the Muslims who currently own that land sealed off that gate with concrete and built a Muslim cemetery in front of it. Because that would supposedly prevent the Messiah from coming back through it since dead bodies are there. But little do they know that he has defeated death in the grave.

He has made the unclean clean, he has fulfilled the law, and will fulfill his prophesied return as well to inaugurate his earthly kingdom, and will be with him forever. No concrete and no graves can stop him. Thank God because he's where the joy is.

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