Korah The Malcontent

Korah The Malcontent

Exodus 6:16-24 (KJV)

And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari: and the years of the life of Levi were an hundred thirty and seven years.

The sons of Gershon; Libni, and Shimi, according to their families.

And the sons of Kohath; Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel: and the years of the life of Kohath were an hundred thirty and three years.

And the sons of Merari; Mahali and Mushi: these are the families of Levi according to their generations.

And Amram took him Jochebed his father's sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were an hundred and thirty and seven years.

And the sons of Izhar; Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri.

And the sons of Uzziel; Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Zithri.

And Aaron took him Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Naashon, to wife; and she bare him Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

And the sons of Korah; Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph: these are the families of the Korhites.

I want to begin what I think will be a short series of messages I and going to call, “Bad Boys of the Bible.”

It is interesting to me that the Bible has certain “heroes.”

·   Abraham

·   Moses

·   David

·   Etc.

And we are given considerable information about them.

But scattered throughout the Word of God are other good men whose stories are barely mentioned.

David’s mighty men, for instance.

In fact, the guys who caused David grief, seem to take up more of the Word of God than those who lifted him and supported him.

I’ve been contemplating that for a while.

It’s not good to dwell on the negative, even if the negative is an individual.

But it might be that, since our own hearts are, according to Genesis 6:5 and Genesis 8:21, “evil from his youth” we’ll see something in the antagonists, the bad boys of the Bible.

It might be that a person could spend a great deal of time studying the bad guys.

I chose to set some limits for this study. All of the bad men I intend to consider have

·   A name

·   A story that can be developed

·   A background that is traceable

·   A relationship to Israel and

·   A bad character, not an act of sin

Accordingly, I want to begin tonight with Korah.

One commentary[1] writes,

“Korah's position as leader in this rebellion was evidently the result of his personal character, which was that of a bold, haughty and ambitious man.”

Let’s

I. BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING

Exodus 6:16 (KJV)

And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari: and the years of the life of Levi were an hundred thirty and seven years.

Exodus 6:18 (KJV)

And the sons of Kohath; Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel: and the years of the life of Kohath were an hundred thirty and three years.

Exodus 6:21 (KJV)

And the sons of Izhar; Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri.

Exodus 6:24

And the sons of Korah; Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph: these are the families of the Korhites.

The thing to see is that 

Moses and Korah were cousins

The whole family of the Levites were to be set apart unto God, none of them would be given an inheritance of land of their own as God was their inheritance.

But the sons of Amram, the brothers, Moses and Aaron, were given “special positions.”

·   Moses, the leader of the nation politically and

·   Aaron the leader of the nation spiritual

I have often likened Korah’s family to the deacons of our churches.

Numbers 4:4-15 (KJV)

This shall be the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation, about the most holy things:

And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering vail, and cover the ark of testimony with it:

And shall put thereon the covering of badgers' skins, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof.

And upon the table of shewbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover withal: and the continual bread shall be thereon:

And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put in the staves thereof.

And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuffdishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they minister unto it:

And they shall put it and all the vessels thereof within a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put it upon a bar.

 And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put to the staves thereof:

And they shall take all the instruments of ministry, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put them on a bar:

And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth thereon:

And they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof, wherewith they minister about it, even the censers, the fleshhooks, and the shovels, and the basons, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers' skins, and put to the staves of it.

And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation.

This is no small duty

Since they were the ones who took down the tabernacle and covered the Ark of the Covenant, there were the only people besides the High Priest who got to see it uncovered.

But Korah didn’t think it was enough

Numbers 16:1-3 (KJV)

Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men:

And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown:

And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?

I am reminded of what the Bible says about Satan[2]

Ezekiel 28:12-18 (KJV)

Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

Satan, the highest of the angels – the most privileged of them all – fell due to pride.

Having all that he had, he couldn’t help himself but to want more.

The problem with privilege is very often the lack of contentment.[3]

Did you notice, by the way,

II. KORAH’S SIN COUCHED IN HOLINESS

Numbers 16:1-3 (KJV)

Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men:

And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown:

And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?

Some of the adjectives I read of Korah this week were

·   Conspirator

·   Malcontent

·   Jealous

·   Envious

·   Bold, haughty, ambitious

·   Aggrandizement

·   Presumptuous

·   Self-seeking

·   Gainsaying

·   Impious

·   Usurping

He was a wicked man!

I see three wicked phases in this passage:

A. He flattered the people

Vs 3

seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them

·   All of these people are holy

·   All of these people walk with God

·   All of these people right with God

It’s only you, Moses, we have a problem with.

You can mark it down, if someone is flattering you, especially if they haven’t had much to do with you before, they have an evil intent.

B. He conspired with Rueben

Numbers 16:1 (KJV)

Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men:

Rueben was the firstborn of Jacob but lost his birthright due to his sin.

It was a conspiracy.

·   Korah and a spiritual problem with Moses

·   Dathan and Abiram (Ruebenites) had a political problem with him

One of the most fascinating things about the study of human nature is how one malcontent is almost supernaturally drawn to another malcontent.

·   Korah thinks he is a holy man

·   Dathan and Abiram think they are too

Each of them has different reasons for rebelling against Moses and Aaron – but they found each other and conspired together.

·   Evil is drawn to evil

·   Rebellion is drawn to rebellion

·   Anger is drawn to anger

And they are all drawn together.

It’s a Satanic thing.

C. He set himself as the leader of it all

Numbers 16:1-3 (KJV)

Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi….

·   He said he had the interest of all the people

·   He said he had the interest of sons of Rueben

But the truth was, his only interest was himself.

When the judgment of God came down, Dathan and Abiram and their families all died together when the ground split under them and they went down together into the pit.

Deuteronomy 11:6 (KJV)

And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel:

But Korah and the two hundred and fifty died by fire from God.[4]

Numbers 16:35 (KJV)

And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.

On a note of good news

III. KORAH’S CHILDREN DID NOT DIE

Numbers 26:11 (KJV)

Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not.

And they went on to be useful to King David and in the Temple service.

1 Chronicles 9:19 (KJV)

And Shallum the son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, and his brethren, of the house of his father, the Korahites, were over the work of the service, keepers of the gates of the tabernacle: and their fathers, being over the host of the LORD, were keepers of the entry.

Did you notice what happened?

This family, whose father wasn’t satisfied serving in the house of the Lord became wonderful servants in the house of the Lord.

·   They were gate keepers, greeters at the door, if you will.

·   They were singers in the Lord’s house

·   They were servers, seeing that everything was how it ought to be

And David said he would have been happy to be one of them.[5]

Conclusion

There’s some malcontent in very one of our evil hearts.

·   Conspirator

·   Jealous

·   Envious

·   Bold, haughty, ambitious

·   Presumptuous

·   Self-seeking

The best way to deal with it is to humble ourselves in simple service in the house of the Lord.

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[1] Smith's Bible Dictionary, originally named A Dictionary of the Bible, a 19th-century Bible dictionary containing upwards of four thousand entries that became named after its editor, William Smith.

[2] That this passage is concerning Satan is obvious in that what it describes could not be said of any human being.

[3] 1 Timothy 6:6 (KJV)

But godliness with contentment is great gain.

[4] “…on a closer inspection is done away, and Numbers 16 appears in minute and undesigned harmony with Numbers 26:10-11. Similarly Psalms 106:17-18, distinguishes the end of Dathan and Abiram from Korah.” (Fausett’s Bible Dictionary)

[5] Psalms 84:10 (KJV)

For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.