But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD.
This murmuring was not the beginning of the murmuring. This was actually the third round of murmuring.
This began with the poor little stick-gatherer? I can’t help but think of an old bearded man, skin and bones, poor and no shirt. He was out gathering sticks either to make a fire or maybe that was all he could do to make a living. Regardless, I’ve never viewed this man as particularly evil. In the back of my mind I probably thought him to be ignorant of the law, maybe a little slow of understanding, or just a poor old man. I always felt sorry for him; and I still do. But I can’t help but think “Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.” (1 Samuel 15:23)
Maybe the stick-gatherer was not so poor. Maybe he was a stiff-necked rebellious jerk. Maybe he just would not have anybody telling him what to do. Surely he was warned. Surely he was bade not to go out and gather sticks. Maybe he cursed Moses and said, “Nobody is going to tell me what to do! I’m not going to follow no stupid law!” Maybe he insolently, angrily, and rebelliously set out to do his work. Maybe he hated God. Maybe he hated the law and Moses. Maybe he was the jerk who said, “Let’s make us a captain and go back to Egypt!”
God saw fit that he should be put to death for his transgression. “And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.” (Number 15:35) The man was put to death by the word of the Lord. And then Korah rose up against Moses. Korah didn’t like what happened. Apparently, he was okay with the stick-gathering and wanted to make his sentiments known. So he got Dathan and Abiram to go along with him. And they got an additional 250 princes that were famous and renown among the people to also go along with them to go up against Moses.
Well, long story short, that rebellion was put out by God himself. “They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation.” (Number 16:33) And the 250 didn’t get away with it either. “And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.” (Number 16:35)
If you read the whole account, you just get a real good picture that it’s NOT a good idea to up against the man of God. God made it clear that Korah, and all those that followed him, were in the wrong. It’s actually quite terrifying. Even when Korah and company come up to the tabernacle, the Bible says, “Korah gathered all the congregation against them unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the congregation.” (Number 16:19) The glory of the LORD appeared? I think that there would have been enough for me to turn around, go the other way, and think this out.
But, the congregation just didn’t get it. No. The next day, now it wasn’t 250 people, it was thousands of people that gathered against Moses and Aaron, and they weren’t happy. They said, “Ye have killed the people of the LORD!” They were accusing Moses and Aaron of murder. So Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle; it was covered in a cloud and the glory of the Lord had appeared. God said, “Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment.”
So immediately, this plague goes out to the congregation. The Bible doesn’t describe exactly what it was. But it was sudden and it was fast. Moses had Aaron take a censer, put fire in it from off the altar, and put incense in it, and quickly go out to congregation and make atonement for them. Aaron did as he was directed, but not before 14,000 people died of the plague.
The real plague was the plague of rebellion that started with the stick-gatherer. He was patient zero. He infected Korah; and Korah infected Dathan and Abiram; and they infected the 250 princes; and they infected the whole congregation, 14,000 people. Not good. Rebellion is bad, and what happened in those few days was very sad, and, no doubt, very discouraging for many in the camp.
But I’d like you to see the positive in this. This was chapter 16. In chapter 14 is where the Isrealites did not harken to the report of Caleb and Joshua, and rejected the promised land. God said:
Numbers 14:29 Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,
So, God had already promised the death of the murmurers. The typology here is very important. Israel is a type of the Christian; not the church. Israel as a whole in the wilderness represents the individual Christian and his struggle between the flesh and the Spirit. In this light, it is a good thing to see the plague work through the camp. The Israelites were going nowhere until those carcasses fell. Likewise, the Christian, will not go any further, will not cross over Jordan, will not fight the battles of the Lord and accomplish anything for God until those carcasses fall.
In those few days in the wilderness, God used the rebellion of the stick-gatherer to draw out the poison of rebellion, and bring the Israelites closer to the promised land. Perhaps there’s a little stick-gatherer in you that need to be dealt with.
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