Daily Devotion | Numbers 16:15–35 | 2026 May 14

Title: Daily Devotion | Numbers 16:15–35 | 2026 May 14

Scripture: Numbers 16:15–35 (ESV, reference only)

Date: 2026 May 14

Speaker: Rev. John Chen

Transcribed, translated & edited by: Joseph Wang (Yufan)

Alright, dear brothers and sisters, peace be with you. We thank God for His grace that we have come to a new day to study our daily devotion together. The passage we are studying today is Numbers chapter 16, from verse 15 to verse 35. Alright, let us pray. Lord, we thank You now that You have loved us in such a way. You established for us the Mediator, Jesus Christ, so that in the midst of all kinds of sins and evil we would not perish. Lord, we thank You, and we also ask that You would make these things become warnings to us, so that we may follow You more faithfully. In Christ’s name, Amen.

Alright, let us look at today’s passage. So regarding the rebellion of Korah’s company, what was Moses’ reaction? In chapter 16 verse 4, when Moses heard this, he fell on his face. This was Moses’ response. I think this is something we need to learn. Whenever we encounter any matter or any attack, we should not react too much by ourselves. Moses was like this. Moses very clearly handed the authority of judgment over to God, and simply fell on his face before Him.

Then what did he say to Korah? Verse 5 says, “In the morning the LORD will show who is his, and who is holy, and will bring him near to him. The one whom he chooses he will bring near to him.” So in verse 5 Moses told Korah and his company, “I will hand this matter over to God, and let God Himself show who is holy.” Then in verse 6 he says, “Do this: take censers, Korah and all his company, and put fire in them before the LORD, and the man whom the LORD chooses shall be the holy one.”

In verse 8 Moses points out Korah’s problem. He says, “Hear now, you sons of Levi.” God had separated them out and caused them to come near to Him, to do the service of the tabernacle, right? Yet did they regard this as too small a thing? Right? And now they were also seeking the priesthood. So here Moses points out the problem of Korah and his company. They were not satisfied even though they were already serving in the ministry of the tabernacle. They still wanted to become priests and communicate directly with God. This was something hated by God, because who may draw near to God is determined only by God’s election. This point must be made clear.

The priesthood is not something a person takes for himself. It is not something you can do simply because you want to do it. Only those appointed by God may do it. This was the lesson given to Korah. Of course, regarding the inner reason behind this, we already spoke about it yesterday — namely, the deceitfulness inside their hearts.

Alright, next, what about the complaints of Dathan and Abiram? Verse 15 says that Moses became very angry and said to the LORD, “Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed one of them.” Moses was saying, “In doing all these things, I never gained any personal benefit for myself, yet they slander me in this way.”

Then in verse 16 Moses begins to say to Korah, “Tomorrow, you and all your company shall be before the LORD, you and they and Aaron. Let every one of you take his censer — altogether 250 censers — and put incense on them before the LORD. You and Aaron shall each take his own censer.” Concerning this matter that every person had a censer, and that these leaders all had censers, it actually does not seem to have been recorded earlier. Previously it did not explain why each of them had a censer. But if we reason backward from here, it seems that each person probably did have a censer in his hand.

So what does the censer mean here? Here it likely represents prayer. Each person had a censer, each person was praying before God. It should be something like this: whom God listens to in prayer, God will acknowledge that person’s censer. That is probably the idea. Although the earlier background was not explained, if we reason it out, it should be something like this.

So next, in verse 18, every man took his censer and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting together with Moses and Aaron. Then in verse 19, Korah assembled all the congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting against Moses and Aaron. So at this point, how great was Korah’s influence? First, he had leaders helping him, right? Dathan, Abiram, and On. He had already gathered all the people to the front of the tent of meeting in order to attack Moses and Aaron.

Now the next part of the passage is extremely important. In the second half of verse 19 it says, “The glory of the LORD appeared to all the congregation.” In other words, just as they were preparing to attack Moses and Aaron, the LORD appeared from within the tabernacle. Exactly how the glory appeared, we do not know clearly, but this definitely must have been something visible — perhaps the filling of glory, or the filling of smoke and cloud, something along those lines.

And very obviously, the congregation became frightened. They no longer dared to attack Moses and Aaron. Because very clearly, with so many people trying to seize two old men like Moses and Aaron, humanly speaking it would have taken only a moment, right? But once the glory of the LORD appeared, they were terrified. This was a visible manifestation.

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” So at this point, what was God’s judgment? It was to destroy all the Israelites, leaving only Moses and Aaron — and of course their descendants as well. Although this is not explicitly stated here, we can infer that the general meaning was that God intended to rebuild the people of Israel through these two men. As for the rest of the people, He would destroy them all.

But immediately in verse 22, Moses and Aaron fell on their faces and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?” Then in verse 23, it almost seems as though God’s response is not recorded. But actually we may supply the sense here. The sequence should probably be understood like this: in verse 19 the glory of God appears, then God speaks to Moses and Aaron saying He will destroy them, then in verse 22 Moses and Aaron pray and ask God for forgiveness. After verse 22, God forgives them, because afterward the text says that the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Say to the congregation, Get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

So these are actually two judgments, and when we read the passage it is easy to overlook this. First, God intended to judge the whole congregation of Israel because they had all followed Korah’s rebellion. But the result was that God forgave them. Then a new command was given: “I will no longer destroy the congregation. Instead, you are to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

Then in verse 25 Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram. Why did he go there? Because they had not come, right? Earlier in verse 12 Moses had sent to summon Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they had said, “We will not come up.” They never came to the entrance of the tent of meeting. The others had come, but they did not.

So when Moses arose and went there together with the elders of Israel, actually there are many details in this passage that need to be pieced together, because when we read quickly we pass over them very easily. In reality, God had intended to judge the whole congregation, but Moses interceded and therefore God did not strike them down. At that point, because of the manifestation of God’s glory in the tabernacle, the Israelites became afraid. That is why they then obeyed Moses’ words. Otherwise, when we read from verse 19 to verse 25, the transition feels too abrupt, and we cannot clearly see what happened in between. But in fact, many details are implied there, and we can read them out from the text.

After Moses prayed in verse 22, God forgave them. Then God gave a new command, saying that they were to go there, and only then would the congregation follow along. Because at that moment the congregation was thinking: “Weren’t we just trying to kill Moses? Why are we now following him?” It was because the appearance of the LORD’s glory caused them to become fearful. This should be the reason why they first wanted to kill Moses, and afterward followed Moses instead.

Alright, next it says that Moses came and said, “Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.” So the people moved away from around the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. So the scene here is that the glory of the LORD had appeared, and the congregation had already been forgiven. At this moment they were extremely afraid, because the glory of the LORD had appeared. They knew that something serious was about to happen, but exactly what would happen, they still did not know. So they came to the area around the tents of Dathan and Abiram, and they were still standing around them.

Moses said, “Do not touch them. Do not touch anything belonging to them.” At this time, Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and these people did not yet understand what was happening. So they came out with their wives, their children, and their little ones, and stood at the entrances of their tents. Had they not refused to come earlier? Right? But now they came out.

Then Moses began to speak. He said that all these things were not done according to his own will. They were not done according to his own intention, but God had commanded him to do them. Now he asked God to show evidence. What evidence? If the death of these people was like the death of all men, then the LORD had not sent him.

Verse 30 is the thing Moses asked God to do: to make the ground open its mouth and swallow them up with everything that belonged to them, so that they would go down alive into Sheol. Then the people would know that these men had despised the LORD. So this was Moses praying and asking God to make it clear, in order to show that he himself was not acting presumptuously or taking authority for himself.

As soon as Moses finished speaking, the ground opened its mouth and swallowed up their households, all the people who belonged to Korah, and all their goods. They and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them. They perished from the midst of the assembly. So this judgment was swift, and the way it happened was indeed that the ground opened its mouth, swallowed them, and then closed again. This was very clearly a miracle. There was absolutely no way for them to escape such a judgment.

When the Israelites heard their cry, they fled, saying, “Lest the earth swallow us up.” At this point, in fact, Moses had already interceded for them, so the ground would not open too widely. Otherwise, they would all have fallen in, right? Moses had said, “Do not destroy them.” Then fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering incense. The destruction of these 250 men who offered incense is the same kind of destruction as that of Aaron’s two sons, Nadab and Abihu. They offered strange fire; here these people offered incense and prayed according to their own private will. There it was private will, and here it was also private will. They wanted God to listen to them according to their own ideas, and in the end they were burned up. These leading figures were all put to death. This is the rebellion of Korah’s company and the way God dealt with it.

Here I think there are several points we first need to explain. First, regarding the fact that everything belonging to Korah, all his descendants and people, were swallowed up, later in the Psalms we will see the sons of Korah, and in the genealogies we can also see the list of Korah’s descendants. Some people say, “Wasn’t Korah’s company completely destroyed?” Here, very clearly, the Bible does not record everything in such exhaustive detail. Very clearly, Dathan, Abiram, and also On, together with the families and households of those other leaders, were certainly destroyed. But when it says those who belonged to Korah, it means those who belonged to his company. Korah’s descendants, however, were still preserved. This is a relatively clear matter, and it shows that God is a God of grace and mercy.

Also, God was fulfilling His own promise, because in Numbers 4:18 it says, “Let not the tribe of the clans of the Kohathites be destroyed from among the Levites.” Korah was from the clan of Kohath. In Numbers chapter 4, it says that this clan would not be cut off. Apart from Korah, who sinned, his descendants were preserved, and this clan continued to remain, because there was such a promise in Numbers 4:18.

Alright, so this is the whole event of the rebellion. Here we see several things. First, because the Israelites were going to be struck down in the wilderness, they gathered together with Korah’s company to rebel against Moses and Aaron. They wanted to usurp God’s authority. They did not submit to God’s arrangement. They wanted to find their own way out. But here God manifested His own power and majesty, intending to destroy them. Yet once again we see the redemptive role Moses and Aaron played for the whole people of Israel. They pleaded with God, and God listened and turned back. In the end He destroyed only those who were leading the disturbance. Everyone should remember: originally, all the people were going to be destroyed.

Second, verse 21 says this very clearly. God originally told Moses and Aaron to separate themselves from this congregation. “I will consume them in a moment.” This was God’s original intention. But in the end, Moses told the congregation to separate themselves from those leaders who were stirring up trouble, and that was all. Only those leading figures, those who acted presumptuously and sinned deliberately, were struck down.

So in this pattern, we once again see the importance of the mediator. Moses, as a mediator, interceded on behalf of the Israelites, and therefore they lived. This concept of mediation — that Moses interceded on behalf of Israel — is deeply imprinted in the Pentateuch, and it was also deeply imprinted in the later memory of the Israelites. They needed a mediator. After Moses and Aaron died, this mediation was carried on through the regulations of sacrifice and through these ceremonial ordinances. But those things ultimately could not become the true Mediator. We know that the true Mediator points to the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Lord Jesus Christ, He intercedes for us, so that we may truly enjoy the peace that comes from regeneration.

I think this story gives us a very deep concept: how can we receive rest through the intercession of the Mediator? The Lord Jesus redeemed us and shed His precious blood to redeem us. When we receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, we have peace in Him. Together with Him, we enjoy the heavenly glory; we have already been seated in the heavenly places, and in the future we will enter that kingdom of God.

But there is one more thing we must not forget: right now, at this very moment, the Lord Jesus is still interceding for us in heaven, because this is the work of our great High Priest. His work is to burn incense. Burning incense represents intercession. So this ministry of intercession is a tremendous comfort to us, right? We not only sinned in the past and therefore needed God’s forgiveness; we will still sin in the future and still need God’s forgiveness; and right now we still need the intercession that God gives us. Every moment we live under the intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This, I think, gives us a deeper and broader understanding of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus not only saved us in the past. He saves us now, and He will also save us in the future. This salvation is also shown in His continual intercession for us, giving us strength and power. Even in many dangers that we have not thought of, dangers that we ourselves have not even noticed, the Lord Jesus intercedes for us, so that we may be delivered from judgment. So this is something we must remember. We must be especially thankful, and we must constantly live in the word of the Lord Jesus Christ and follow His statutes and ordinances, because He is interceding for us every moment.

And this perfect Mediator finally came up from the earth. The terrible scene of the earth opening its mouth and throwing people down into Sheol finally receives a complete reversal in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ suffered death, was buried, descended into hell, rose again from the dead on the third day, ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there He will come to judge the living and the dead.

So this pattern of the humiliation and exaltation of Jesus Christ, as the Apostles’ Creed tells us, shows that He even went to redeem us who were in sin. This image of the Mediator brings immense comfort to our lives. Because without the intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ, without His substitutionary atonement, there is no way that people like us could receive this eternal salvation. Therefore we must thank Jesus Christ for giving His life as our ransom, and we must thank the Mediator who is more excellent than Moses.

At the same time, in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, we also see God’s justice and wrath, and therefore this becomes a warning to us. The rebellion of Korah’s company becomes a warning to us: do not commit this kind of error. Do not act arbitrarily. Do not act according to your own will. We must submit under the will of God and follow God’s arrangement for us, instead of doing what seems beneficial to ourselves according to our own ideas.

This is something we must remember, because in this world we are always facing the choice between two paths. One path is based on our own judgment and centered on ourselves: how can we gain earthly benefits, how can we protect ourselves, right? “I always need to protect myself, don’t I? I always need to preserve my own life, don’t I?” So they resisted Moses.

It seemed very reasonable. But in reality they did not understand at all that they had no way to protect themselves. In fact, no one can truly protect himself. Only by placing ourselves in God’s hand can we be protected. This was the lesson they needed to learn. The Israelites always needed to learn this. In fact, from the existence of their nation, to their exodus from Egypt, to the point they had now reached, they should have known that they could not survive by relying on themselves. This was the point they did not understand. Because as creatures, how could we possibly be separated from the Creator? In reality, we cannot leave Him for even a moment. Yet we often ignore this fact, and we also despise this matter. This is a foolish way of thinking.

Then there is another path, which is to trust in God’s word. Trusting in God’s word looks like a dead end. It looks like a path of death, but in reality it is the true path of life. It appears as if there is nothing there, but in fact it is a living way. So here you see that when Moses faced the attacks of others, his response was to walk the path of faith. He did not do anything by himself. He completely looked to God and placed his life in God’s hand. He fell down in prayer and interceded for the Israelites.

Finally, toward those who were leading the rebellion, those who stubbornly resisted God’s will, he pronounced a curse. In the end God also accomplished it according to his prayer. What was the purpose? It was not to defend Moses. It was not that Moses wanted to vent personal anger. If you read what follows, you can see this: they were interceding for the people. Moses’ intention was that God’s glory might continue to be manifested among this community. This was Moses’ purpose. So he did not use force at all. He did nothing by force. He only prayed, and in the end God accomplished all of this.

I think this is a reminder to all of us: we must cling tightly to God’s word, rely on God’s word, and follow God’s word, so that we may completely look to God and place our lives in His hand. Only in this way can we live a holy life. May God lead us, so that in the rebellion of Korah’s company we may see our own reflection, see the redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ, and also strive earnestly in our future lives to avoid such things from happening in our own lives. Alright, today’s sharing will simply stop here. Thank you, everyone.