The Rebellion of Korah (Numbers 16:1-19)

16 Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, who were Reubenites, took men ² and rebelled against Moses, along with some of the Israelites, 250 leaders of the community, chosen from the assembly, famous men. ³ And they assembled against Moses and Aaron, saying to them, “You take too much upon yourselves, seeing that the whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the community of the Lord?”

⁴ When Moses heard it he fell down with his face to the ground. ⁵ Then he said to Korah and to all his company, “In the morning the Lord will make known who are his, and who is holy. He will cause that person to approach him; the person he has chosen he will cause to approach him. ⁶ Do this, Korah, you and all your company: Take censers, ⁷ put fire in them, and set incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses will be holy. You take too much upon yourselves, you sons of Levi!” ⁸ Moses said to Korah, “Listen now, you sons of Levi! ⁹ Does it seem too small a thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the community of Israel to bring you near to himself, to perform the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the community to minister to them? ¹⁰ He has brought you near and all your brothers, the sons of Levi, with you. Do you now seek the priesthood also? ¹¹ Therefore you and all your company have assembled together against the Lord! And Aaron—what is he that you murmur against him?” ¹² Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come up. ¹³ Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of the land that flows with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness? Now do you want to make yourself a prince over us? ¹⁴ Moreover, you have not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey, nor given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you think you can blind these men? We will not come up.”

¹⁵ Moses was very angry, and he said to the Lord, “Have no respect for their offering! I have not taken so much as one donkey from them, nor have I harmed any one of them!”

¹⁶ Then Moses said to Korah, “You and all your company present yourselves before the Lord—you and they, and Aaron—tomorrow. ¹⁷ And each of you take his censer, put incense in it, and then each of you present his censer before the Lord: 250 censers, along with you, and Aaron—each of you with his censer.” ¹⁸ So everyone took his censer, put fire in it, and set incense on it, and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting, with Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹ When Korah assembled the whole community against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting, then the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole community.

The Judgment on the Rebels (Numbers 16:20-35)

²⁰ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: ²¹ “Separate yourselves from among this community, that I may consume them in an instant.” ²² Then they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all people, will you be angry with the whole community when only one man sins?”

²³ So the Lord spoke to Moses: ²⁴ “Tell the community: ‘Get away from around the homes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.’” ²⁵ Then Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel went after him. ²⁶ And he said to the community, “Move away from the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything they have, lest you be destroyed because of all their sins.” ²⁷ So they got away from the homes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram on every side, and Dathan and Abiram came out and stationed themselves in the entrances of their tents with their wives, their children, and their toddlers. ²⁸ Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will. ²⁹ If these men die a natural death, or if they share the fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. ³⁰ But if the Lord does something entirely new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up along with all that they have, and they go down alive to the grave, then you will know that these men have despised the Lord!”

³¹ When he had finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open, ³² and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, along with their households, and all Korah’s men, and all their goods. ³³ They and all that they had went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed over them. So they perished from among the community. ³⁴ All the Israelites who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “What if the earth swallows us too?” ³⁵ Then a fire went out from the Lord and devoured the 250 men who offered incense.

Condemnation of the False Teachers (Jude 1:3-16)

³ Dear friends, although I have been eager to write to you about our common salvation, I now feel compelled instead to write to encourage you to contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.⁴ For certain men have secretly slipped in among you—men who long ago were marked out for the condemnation I am about to describe—ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil and who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

⁵ Now I desire to remind you (even though you have been fully informed of these facts once for all) that Jesus, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, later destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶ You also know that the angels who did not keep within their proper domain but abandoned their own place of residence, he has kept in eternal chains in utter darkness, locked up for the judgment of the great Day. ⁷ So also Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire in a way similar to these angels, are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

⁸ Yet these men, as a result of their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and insult the glorious ones. ⁹ But even when Michael the archangel was arguing with the devil and debating with him concerning Moses’ body, he did not dare to bring a slanderous judgment, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!” ¹⁰ But these men do not understand the things they slander, and they are being destroyed by the very things that, like irrational animals, they instinctively comprehend. ¹¹ Woe to them! For they have traveled down Cain’s path, and because of greed have abandoned themselves to Balaam’s error; hence, they will certainly perish in Korah’s rebellion. ¹² These men are dangerous reefs at your love feasts, feasting without reverence, feeding only themselves. They are waterless clouds, carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit—twice dead, uprooted; ¹³ wild sea waves, spewing out the foam of their shame; wayward stars for whom the utter depths of eternal darkness have been reserved.

¹⁴ Now Enoch, the seventh in descent beginning with Adam, even prophesied of them, saying, “Look! The Lord is coming with thousands and thousands of his holy ones, ¹⁵ to execute judgment on all, and to convict every person of all their thoroughly ungodly deeds that they have committed, and of all the harsh words that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” ¹⁶ These people are grumblers and fault-finders who go wherever their desires lead them, and they give bombastic speeches, enchanting folks for their own gain.

Exhortation to the Faithful and Final Blessing (Jude 1:17-25)

¹⁷ But you, dear friends—recall the predictions foretold by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ For they said to you, “At the end of time there will come scoffers, propelled by their own ungodly desires.” ¹⁹ These people are divisive, worldly, devoid of the Spirit. ²⁰ But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ maintain yourselves in the love of God, while anticipating the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that brings eternal life. ²² And have mercy on those who waver; ²³ save others by snatching them out of the fire; have mercy on others, coupled with a fear of God, hating even the clothes stained by the flesh.²⁴ Now to the one who is able to keep you from falling, and to cause you to stand, rejoicing, without blemish before his glorious presence, ²⁵ to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time, and now, and for all eternity. Amen.

Until next time, salutations & selah.