The People Rebel to the Death of Aaron

Rebellion

The people of Israel complained that they would be killed if they went into Canaan, and they argued they would've been better off staying in Egypt. They decided to choose a leader that would take them back to Egypt. Joshua and Caleb, two young men that had served as spies, cried out that the land they were headed to was good and told the people not to rebel against God. The people were about to stone Moses and Aaron when God appeared. God was angry that the people were rebelling against Him. Just when God said that He was going to disinherit the people of Israel and make another nation greater than them, Moses spoke to God.

Moses told God that if God did that, the Egyptians would hear about it. The Egyptians would say that Israel's God could not bring His people to the land He had promised them, so He killed the Israelites instead. Moses asked God to be "slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love" (Numbers 14:18, ESV®). Moses asked God to pardon the people.

God's Judgment

God told Moses that He would pardon the people of Israel, but none of the people who had been in Egypt and witnessed all the signs and wonders would ever see the Promised Land. God said that only Caleb and Joshua would because they had been faithful. Caleb's descendants would own the land. God declared that the people who had been complaining would never see the land but would die in the wilderness. They would stay there for forty years—one year for every day that the spies had been in Canaan. God then sent a plague to kill the spies who had come back and given negative reports to the people.

First Contact with the Amalekites and Canaanites

Moses told the people of Israel what God's judgment was for them. Instead of going along with what God had said, the people went into the hills and said that they were going to the Promised Land. Moses told them not to go. God was not with them. He told the people that if they went, the Amalekites and the Canaanites would kill them. The people went anyway. Moses and the ark of the covenant stayed in the camp. The Amalekites and the Canaanites came out of the hills and defeated the people of Israel that had gone against Moses' command, chasing them to Hormah.

Unintentional Sin

God told Moses to speak to the people of Israel. He told Moses that they were to make an offering. God said that it would also be a law that if the people of Israel or those that traveled with them should sin unintentionally, then they were to make a sacrifice. The priest would make this offering on behalf of all of the people. If one person unintentionally sinned, that person was to make an offering of a female goat. This also applied to those that traveled with the people of Israel. If a person sinned and reviled God, that person was to be cut off from the people.

Breaking the Sabbath

When the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they captured a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath. They brought him to Moses and told Moses what the man had done. Moses commanded that the man be put to death outside the camp. The man was brought outside the camp and stoned to death.

God told Moses that the people of Israel were to make blue tassels (long cords) and put them on their clothes. It was to be a reminder of the commandments and the need to follow the commandments and not follow after their own desires.

Moses said a prayer. He exalted God and spoke of the wrath of God for the sins of the people of Israel. He begged for God to be among them.

A censer is a covered incense burner used in religious ceremonies. Some religious denominations still use these to burn incense during ceremonies.

More Rebellion

One day, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram rose up against Moses and had among them 250 chiefs of the congregation who were well-known men. They told Moses and Aaron that they had gone too far, and they claimed that all of the men were holy and God was with them. They asked Moses why he thought he was better than these men. Moses told Korah that God would show them who was holy. He told them to put incense in censers, and God would decide. Moses asked them if they wanted to be priests and wondered why they made complaints against Aaron. Moses told Korah that he had assembled his group against God.

Moses then called Dathan and Abiram to come by his side, but they refused. They said that Moses had told them that he was taking them to a land of milk and honey, but instead, they were wandering around in the wilderness. Moses was very angry, and he told God not to respect their offerings and that he had not taken anything from the people or harmed them in any way. Moses told Korah and his men to put on a censer with incense and come before the tent the next day.

God appeared before the tent. God told Aaron to step away from these men so that He could destroy them. The men begged God for His forgiveness. God instructed Moses to tell everyone to get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Moses went to their tents and told the people to get away from them. Moses then said that God had sent him. Moses also said that if these men just died, then they were like every other man, but if the ground opened them up and they were sent to Sheol, then the people would know that these men despised God. When Moses finished speaking, the ground opened up and swallowed the tents, the households, and all the property. God then used fire to destroy the 250 men that had gathered with incense. God told Moses to have Aaron's son take the censers and make them into plates to cover the altar in order to remind anyone that was not a descendant of Aaron that if they came to burn incense, then they would suffer the same fate as Korah and his men.

The people assembled outside the tent the next day and complained that Moses and Aaron had killed the people of God. A cloud covered the tent. God told Moses to get away from the people and that He was going to destroy them. God ordered Aaron to quickly put incense in his censer and go among the people. He did this, but the plague had already started. Aaron stood among the dead and the living. The plague killed 14,700 people, not counting those who had died with Korah. When the plague stopped, Aaron returned to the tent entrance.

Staffs

God told Moses to get a staff from each of the twelve tribes (also known as houses). The people assembled the twelve staffs, and God said to write the name of each man on his staff and to write Aaron's name on the Levi house staff. He told Moses to put the staffs in the tent of the testimony. God then said that He would make the staff of the man that He chose begin to sprout and blossom. When this was done, Moses put the twelve staffs into the tent of the testimony. When he came the next morning, Aaron's staff had blossomed, and there were almonds on it. God said to put Aaron's staff back in the tent. This would stop people from complaining.

Offerings and Payments for Service

God told Aaron that he and his sons would bear the consequences of sin connected with the priesthood. The Levites were to guard the tent but not come near the vessels of the sanctuary, or they would die. God reminded Aaron that He had given him the Levites to do the services of the sanctuary. Any outsider that came near the sanctuary would die. God told Aaron that he was in charge of all the offerings made to Him. God also told Aaron that any offerings given to Him could be eaten by any member of Aaron's family in a holy place (if the family member was clean). God said that Aaron would get the firstborn men and animals of all of the tribes for his service.

God then said that He would give the Levites the tithe offering from the people. The Levites were to keep the tithe offering, except for a tithe of the tithe, which they were to give to God. This tithe given to God would be the best of the tithe given to the Levites. The Levites were free to eat of their tithe in any place. This was payment for their duties. However, if the Levites profaned holy things, they would die.

Making Holy Water

God told Moses and Aaron that they were to have Eleazar take a red heifer (young cow) that was without defect and had never had a yoke on it and make it a sacrifice outside of the camp. This sacrifice was to make holy water. Eleazar was to wash his body after this, and he would not be clean until evening. The same went for the one that burned the heifer. Another man was to gather up the ashes, take them outside of the camp, and mix them with water to make the holy water. This would be a sin offering for the people.

If anyone touched a dead body, that person would be unclean for seven days. That person was to clean themselves on the third and seventh days. If a person touched the dead and did not clean themselves, that person would be considered unclean and would be cut off from the people of Israel. If a person died in a tent, then every person, every opened vessel, and all of the furnishings in the tent needed to be sprinkled with holy water. A clean person had to sprinkle the unclean. On the seventh day, the unclean person would be considered clean by evening (after bathing).

Miriam Dies

The people of Israel came into the wilderness of Zin. The people stayed in Kadesh for the first month. During this time, Miriam died and was buried there.

Water

Once again, the people came to Moses and Aaron and complained. This time, they complained because there was no water. They said that there were no figs or pomegranates there, either. God told Moses to assemble the people near a rock and speak to the rock, and water would come. Moses struck the rock twice. God said to Moses and Aaron that because they did not believe Him, they would not go into the Promised Land.

(Note: The exact sin committed by Moses and Aaron is the source of much debate and many writings. A common belief is that because Moses did not give God the glory for the water coming forth from the rock and did not follow God's instructions to speak to the rock, but rather struck it, God was angered, and that resulted in God's punishment of Moses and Aaron.)

Edom

When the people of Israel came to Edom, Moses sent messengers to the king of Edom. Moses asked to pass through his kingdom. The king of Edom refused to allow the people of Israel passage. The king said that if the people of Israel came through his kingdom, he would send the sword against them. The people of Israel suggested to the king that if they or their livestock drank any water from the kingdom, they would pay for it. Edom's king still refused. When the Israelites got closer, the king sent out an army, and the people of Israel turned away from Edom.

Aaron Dies

The people of Israel left Kadesh and traveled to Mount Hor. God told Moses to take Aaron and Eleazar up on the mountain. God said that Aaron would not be allowed to go into the Promised Land because he and Moses had rebelled against God at the waters of Meribah. God told Moses to take the priestly garments from Aaron and give them to Eleazar. Moses dressed Eleazar in Aaron's garments, and Aaron died. After this, Moses and Eleazar came off the mountain. When the people of Israel learned that Aaron had died, they wept for him for thirty days.

Summary

This section begins with the people of Israel in rebellion. They wanted to return to Egypt. God became so angry that He was going to disinherit the people. Moses stepped in and saved the people by interceding on their behalf. God said that these people would never see the Promised Land, but their descendants would. Instead, the people would wander in the wilderness for forty years. God also said that Caleb and Joshua would see the Promised Land because they had been faithful. Some of the people of Israel threatened that they were going anyway, but Moses and the ark did not go with them, and Moses warned them that God was not with them. The Amalekites and the Canaanites came down, attacked them, and chased them.

Later in these passages, God made a law regarding what to do about unintentional sin. A man was stoned to death for working on the Sabbath. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram rose up against Moses. Their rebellion was short-lived. God sided with Moses, and Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were killed when the earth opened up and they fell in (along with all they had). Their supporters also died. The next day, a group came to the tent of the testimony complaining that Moses had killed Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. God became angry, and Moses sent Aaron into the crowd with incense before God killed all the people. God had Moses put staffs in the tent, and Aaron's staff sprouted, indicating God's favor.

God set out a plan to compensate the Levites and priests for their service. They made holy water for cleansing the unclean. Eventually, Miriam died. Later, Moses struck a rock and got water from it, but this made God angry, resulting in Moses and Aaron losing their chance to go into the Promised Land. Edom's king refused to allow the people of Israel to pass through his land. Aaron died, and Eleazar became the high priest.