Okay Ladies...how are you doing? Are you hearing from God? Is He convicting you of certain things and are you responding to that conviction? I know I am being convicted and it has really raised my awareness to things I need to change and things I need to be intentional to NOT do. I hope you are continuing to be blessed by this amazing blog and are motivated to keep up with your reading. The posts and comments just continue to amaze me and give me such WONDERFUL insight that I had NEVER thought of before! PRESS ON!!!
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These two chapters are some of the most intriguing to me in the entire Torah. In the vein of the last few chapters, the rebellion continues to erupt among the Israelite camp. All of a sudden, Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On get this bright idea to rise up against Moses and Aaron. Now, this kind of strikes me as rather foolish since they just saw what happened to Miriam when she did the same thing. Are you with me on that??? Sometimes you just wonder what these people are thinking! Anyway, God wants to destroy all of the Israelites again due to their rebellion and once again Moses intervenes for them and begs God not to destroy everyone for the sin of a few. You would think that Moses intervening for these people to not get KILLED would keep them from questioning his leadership! But negativity and rebellion spreads like a cancer and it is VERY hard to get stopped once it starts. I can only IMAGINE what it looked like when the earth opened up and swallowed these people in it. And remember, it was not just the men but ALL of their families, including women and children. What a horrible, horrible tragedy!!! Did the wives of these men beg their husbands not to do this horrible sin and rebellion? Can you hear their screams as they slide down into the opening in the earth? This is the stuff of HORRIBLE nightmares! Do NOT mess with God's anointed! This is a VERY dangerous place to find yourself! The Bible says they slid down into a place called "Sheol". In my ESV Study Bible, the study notes say that this is the place of the dead, often pictured as being under the earth, and signifying eternal separation from God. Can I hear some praise for our Savior, Jesus Christ, for saving us from the same destination?
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In Chapter 17, Aaron's staff was the only one of 13 (one from each of the 12 tribes plus Aaron's) to bud when God commanded them to bring a staff to the tent of meeting to prove which one was His chosen servant. Again, the study notes in my ESV Bible says that "This experiment is a symbolic reenactment of the Korah episode, which showed who had the right to approach God." Apparently, the flowering almonds are significant, as their white blossoms symbolize purity, holiness, and God himself. The blossoming of Aaron's staff seems to have FINALLY convinced these "stiff necked people" that Moses and Aaron are his anointed and not to question this or complain about it any more.
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So...what about us? Are we budding and shining for Jesus or are we "sliding down" and getting "swallowed up" by all of the evil things in this world. It is VERY, VERY hard to NOT get swallowed up and overwhelmed by the things of this world. BUT we have the Holy Spirit inside of us to keep us protected from these evil things and give us the strength to stay strong and stay set apart and holy for God. Let's also remember to pray for and be supportive of our pastors and other spiritual leaders. They have an unbelievable responsibility on them and they are under constant attack by the enemy. God put them in their positions and this should mean we give them our utmost respect!
