“Oh God, God of the spirits of all mankind, will you be angry with the entire assembly when one man sins?”

                It was one of the most surreal experiences I’ve ever had.  I had never met a real bounty hunter before, let alone talk to one…or have one in my car.  He was boiling with rage.  He had taken down criminals, knew all the tricks of the trade of entrapment, captured felons and fleeing suspects.  He had the scars to prove it, too.  He’s sitting in my car as I drove him back to his cousin’s house.  He was angry because another guy was taking his girl friend away.  He said he was going to kill him.  Thing was, “Lon”, the bounty hunter, had just made a profession of faith.  Yet he was lapsing back into his hunter mode, wanting revenge.  He was so mad he couldn’t speak.  I tried to talk to him and he just shook his head.  Finally I grabbed him by the arm and shouted, “Am I going to read about you in tomorrow’s paper?”  I normally don’t act so aggressive, but I knew he needed a jolt to snap him back to reality.  I was interceding for someone I never knew and would never meet.  He jumped when I shouted this, began to think, and then said, “No, you won’t…I’m OK now.”  He went home and did the right thing.  No headlines the next day.

I would never put myself in the shoes, er…sandals of Moses, but that’s exactly what Moses was doing in Numbers 16 when Korah, Dathan and Abiram decided that Moses was acting too much like a big shot and had had enough.  Being a Kohathite, Korah already had significant responsibilities in the Tabernacle, and it seems he wanted more, possibly to become a priest (v.10).  But Moses and Aaron stood in the way.  Thus, he led a rebellion with the help of 250 other leaders (v. 2).  They came to Moses and Aaron and said, “You have gone too far!  The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them.  Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?” (v. 3).

Not only is this argument — everyone’s already holy — flawed and as old as the hills, it simply wasn’t true.  Moses never set himself above the Israelites; God did!  Unless he discredited and brought Moses down, Korah had no job advancement, no hope of climbing “Mount Ego”.  Moses challenged them to a kind of proof trial the next day.  When they all arrived, Moses interceded for the “holy” (according to Korah) assembly by falling face down and praying, “O God, God of the spirits of all mankind, will you be angry with the entire assembly when one man sins?”  You see, God knew the real story — they weren’t holy.  You’ll see this in a moment.  The immediate outcome was that the earth swallowed Korah, Dathan and Abiram and their families and all their possessions.  The other 250 rebels were burned up by fire that “came out from the Lord” (vs. 31-35).  This punishment so shocked those closest to Korah that they said, “The earth is going to swallow us too!”  Well, why, if they were “holy”?

The fact is, they weren’t holy, not at all.  Not 24 hours later, the “whole Israelite community” gathered and said to Moses, “You have killed the Lord’s people” (v. 41).  Moses killed them?  You can’t be serious.  Moses doesn’t have that kind of geological power to create earthquakes!  And therein is the picture of Korah.  Remember when Moses interceded and said, “O God, God of the spirits of all mankind, will you be angry with the entire assembly when one man sins?”  Did God have a right to be angry with the whole community?  Yes, absolutely, because they were all guilty.  They actually sided with Korah in their hearts, because they took up his defense even after divine judgment.  Now, when else in time did one man sin and it represented the whole community sinning?  Back in the Garden of Eden: it was Adam.  What Adam did in rebelling against God created the downfall of the whole community of mankind.  This is quite possibly the reason why Moses addressed God in this fashion.  And he did so on only two occasions.  This is just the beginning of the story of mankind.

The second occasion occurs at the end of Moses’ life, found in Numbers 27.  At God’s direction, he climbs atop Mt. Abarim to see the Promised Land, which he won’t go into.  Moses prays, “May the God of the spirits of all mankind appoint a man over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd” (vs. 15-17).  So the Lord chose Joshua — Jehovah saves — or Jesus in the Greek. And it was through Jesus that the sins of all mankind were paid, so those who trust him can be his sheep and enter into eternal life!

The God of the spirits of all mankind chose Jesus to be your shepherd.  Are you following him?