Good leadership is important. A good leader can make a tremendous difference to a nation. During the last century, the question was raised, who is the greatest leader of the 20th Century? I considered it, and after reflection I thought that Winston Churchill was the greatest leader of the last century. What would have happened to Britain without the wisdom and the leadership of this man? They would probably be speaking German today!

If you are a woman, choosing the right man, who is designed by God to be your leader, is extremely important. In the religious area, there are many leaders. How should we choose a good religious leader?

In this week’s sedra, we will see that there was a struggle for the leadership of Israel, and the majority of the people rejected the leadership of Moses and Aaron, and chose Korach and some others.

In last week’s parasha, we saw how the majority of the Jewish people wanted to reject Moses and Aaron, and appoint a new leader who would take us back to slavery in Egypt. In this week’s parasha, the fires of rebellion are still smoldering, and a great mutiny breaks out.

Why is this so dangerous? Because Moses and Aaron are God’s appointed leadership. They are close to God, and leading Israel in the right direction – spiritually and politically. To reject them is to reject God, and to reject God’s good ways for us. That can only lead to disaster, ruin and destruction. That of course would be bad for Israel, but also for the world, since Isarel is to be the Light to the other nations. Let’s see if we can’t learn some lessons from this rebellion:

This is a two-pronged attack. Korach, a Levite, and a cousin of Moses, is unhappy with Moses and Aaron being appointed the priests of Israel. He is unhappy with their religious leadership

The second prong of this attack comes from Datan, Aviram, and On, who were from the tribe of Reuben. They were from the tribe of Reuben, who was the eldest son of the 12 sons of Jacob. They probably felt that the leaders of Israel should come from their tribe. So, they are unhappy with the political leadership of Moses.

In addition, 250 other prominent leaders, distinguished and influential men, joined Korach, Datan, Aviram and On in challenging the leadership of Moses and Aaron. That’s quite a challenge!

Here is their charge: “You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” Notice that they use religious terminology. They use theology. They sound spiritual and reasonable.

“Moses and Aaron – who do you think you are? You are not special, and don’t deserve to be our leaders. And, why have you taken the priesthood upon yourselves? Don’t you know that all of Israel are holy. The Lord is equally among us all. Yet, you have elevated yourselves above the rest of us. You have gone too far! We need to get rid of you arrogant leaders, and get some new leaders.”

Moses falls on his face, showing his genuine humility. Moses happens to be the most humble man on Earth, totally aware that he is a creature made by God, saved and redeemed by God, and that God has put him in the place where he is. And, he is willing to serve God where the Lord has placed him.

Moses responds to this challenge by telling them that tomorrow morning the Lord will make clear who is holy, who He has set apart to accomplish His special purposes, and who the Lord will allow get close to Himself, and who He wants to be leaders over Israel.

So here’s what we will do. We’ll have a kind of ordeal – a kind of trial by miracle. You assume that you can be priests like Aaron and I? Try this: take firepans used for burning incense, and burn incense in them that rises up and makes a nice smell before God, symbolic of our prayers and praises rising up before Him, and pleasing Him, and the Lord will choose between us. We will see who the real spiritual leaders are that God has chosen. But I’m already telling you that it’s you who have gone too far – it’s you who are presumptuous and are trying to usurp authority that is not rightfully yours – not Aaron and myself!

I would suggest that Moses knew exactly how to respond to this challenge to his leadership because he had already heard from God what to say.

He tells the Levites that they should be satisfied with the elevated position that the Lord has given them – being allowed to get closer to the Lord, and helping at the Mishkan, the place where the God of the universe most powerfully manifests His presence on Earth, and serving the congregation. They should be satisfied with those great honors, and not attempt to usurp the K’hoo-nah – the priesthood. The reality of the situation is that by challenging Moses and Aaron they are really challenging and rejecting the Lord, who appointed them. Aaron and Moses are merely His servants.

Moses summons Datan and Aviram to come to him, but they refused. “It’s bad enough that we were already in the land flowing with milk and honey, and you have brought us back into the wilderness to die here. To make things worse, you have made yourself lords over us. You are blinding the rest of Israel to the facts!”

Moses denies that he has done anything wrong. He has hurt no one, and has taken nothing from anyone. These accusations are baseless. Moses is being treated very unfairly, and he became very angry, and ask the Lord to reject the offering of Datan and Aviram – by which we drew near to God. “Lord, reject these men, and keep them far from you – they are causing way too much trouble and are dangerous.”

So, the next morning, Korach assembled all of Israel to the Tent of Meeting. Who did the majority of the people side with? Our good and God-appointed leaders, who led us out of Egypt? No, the majority sided with Korach against Moses and Aaron. It’s always better to side with the majority, right?

The 250 leaders took their firepans, and put fire on them, and put the incense on them. Then, the Glorious Presence of God appeared, and the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, telling them to separate themselves from the rest of the congregation, because He was about to destroy them at once! This is not the third or fourth time that the Lord has wanted to destroy Israel.

It’s a good thing that I am not Moses and Aaron, because I probably would have separated myself, and cheered the Lord on as He destroyed these people. Instead, they pray to the God of the spirit of all flesh – the One who made every human being, who is able to distinguish between the guilty leaders, and those misled by the especially guilty, and intercede for the Jewish people, and ask the Lord to spare them.

Again, the Lord listens to the prayers of Moses, and also Aaron, who are genuinely humble, merciful, gracious and forgiving, and excellent models for each one of us to imitate.

The Lord does spare the people, but not the leaders of this rebellion. The ground under the tents of Korach, Datan and Aviram opened up, and then sank under them and their families, and all their possessions  – everything that belonged to them. Then the earth closed up again over them, and they were buried alive, and died. They are completely destroyed.

Then, fire came from the presence of the Lord and incinerated the 250 other leaders who joined this mutiny. Rebellion against God is a very serious matter, my friends, and the Lord does not take kindly to it.

The 250 firepans are gathered up, hammered into sheets, and used to plate the Bronze Altar, as an additional bronze covering, and as a sign to the rest of Israel not to follow in their rebellious ways. Only God-appointed, God-ordained men should dare draw near to the Most Holy One.

Moses and Aaron have been dramatically and supernaturally vindicated by this ordeal, right? The people have been corrected, and learned their lesson, right? The fires of rebellion have should now be completely out, right? Let’s see what we can learn from our people about human nature, whether human nature is good, wise, close to God, teachable, correctable:

“But on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You are the ones who have caused the death of the Lord’s people.” The majority of the people blame our God-appointed leaders, who are the innocent victims of this mutiny, for God’s righteous judgment resulting in the deaths of the rebels.

For something like the fourth or fifth time, the Lord is so angry with our unbelief and rebellion that He says He is intent on wiping out the Jewish people. Moses and Aaron fall on their faces, in humility, in a posture of supplication, and pray and stand in the gap for Israel. A fast acting deadly plague, sent by God, breaks out among the people. Aaron takes his firepan, puts fire and incense on it, a sweet smell that rises us, symbolic of the prayers and praises of Israel, and took his stand where the plague was advancing, between the dead and the living.

The Lord smells the sweet aroma of the incense, remembers that Israel can offer up prayers and praises, and causes the plague to stop. 14,700 died – but most of Israel would have died if Aaron had not made atonement for the people.

Under the New Covenant, each Believer is a priest. When we see something bad taking place, we too can intercede – stand in the gap. It may be that the Lord will hear our prayers, and regard our intercession, and stay his judgment on those who are displeasing them, and save them! So, pray for the Community of Believer! Pray for the lost! You may be accomplishing far more than you realize!

That brings us to chapter 17. Again, the Lord wants the spiritual leadership of Aaron to be firmly established in the minds of the Jewish people, so they won’t rebel against Aaron, and rebel against the Lord, and be punished for it. So, He tells us that each leader from each of the twelve tribes is to bring a wooden rod, write their names on them, then deposit them in the Tent of Meeting. The rod of the man whom God has chosen to be His mediator, His representative, will sprout. The next day after the rods were placed in the Mishkan, Aaron’s rod had not only sprouted branches, but produced buds, blossoms, and ripe almonds! Aaron had indeed been chosen by God, and his ministry would be fruitful, as this miracle, that only God could have done, proves.

Did the people take this lesson to heart? Did they learn that they had a bad attitude, and had been wrong. No. The Torah records that they complained to Moses that everyone who comes near the Mishkan was dying.

I take this to mean that they thought he problem wasn’t with their evil, unbelieving hearts, that kept challenging God, and disobeying Him, so that He was forced to punish them time after time. Why are we suffering? The problem, you see, is the Lord’s fault. The problem is with the Mishkan (even though that was the place specifically designed to bring us near to God, to help us understand Him and His ways, to draw closer to Him, to be reconciled to Him, to find atonement and the forgiveness of our sins).

It reminds me of those Jewish people who blamed God for the Holocaust, not realizing that God is not to be blamed for that tragedy. The cause lies with us, our continued unbelief, our continued rebellion against the Righteous One, our continued mutiny against the Almighty. It was our sin, and the sin of the German nation, and others – but not with God.

Chapter 18 gives further commands regarding the Priests and the Levites. The Priests are in charge of the Tabernacle, and the Levites are their helpers. Only the Priests can serve inside the Holy Place, and at the Altar.

The gifts and sacrifices of the Jewish people went to the Priests, to support them. They didn’t have any inheritance of Land. They depended on the Lord, and the gifts brought to Him at the Temple for their livelihood.

The Jewish people were to bring the firstfruits, the best of the oil, wine, grain and fruit, to the Priests. The firstborn animals were theirs. The firstborns sons could be redeemed, and five shekels of silver given to the Priests.

The Levites were also to be supported by the Jewish people. They didn’t have a regular inheritance in Israel like the other tribes. They only had cities scattered throughout Israel, but not one whole land area of their own. They were to be supported by the tithe of the rest of Israel, so that they could serve the Priests and the Lord.

The Levites, God’s servants, from the tithe given to them, were required to tithe from it to the Priests. The best of the things given by them, they were to give to the Priests.

The same principle holds true today. I suggest that we too give a tithe – ten percent, to the work of God. And, let’s show our honor and reverence and respect for God by giving the firstfruits, the beginning and the best of the harvest, to God. We don’t arrange our priorities so that we spend everything on ourselves, and maybe even spend beyond our means, and go into debt, and spend everything on ourselves, and then give God the leftovers – little or nothing. That’;s not right my friends. It wasn’t right under the Sinai covenant, and it’s not right now. How can you tell if someone is truly spiritual and mature? Find out if they are honoring God with their money.

Most people choose a spiritual leader by going with the majority. After all the majority is almost always right, right? Wrong! If the man is popular, he’s got to be OK, doesn’t he? No.

What should we look for when choosing a spiritual leader?

Let’s look to Moses. What made Moses a good leader?

He really knew God.

He really knew the Word of God. He wrote the Torah!

He was a man of integrity.

He was a servant-leader. He was very capable, but didn’t exalt himself.

Look at a leader’s life. Does He really know God from his heart. Is able to really make contact with God, and walk with God?

Does he really properly understand the Word of God? “But Rabbi Loren, how can I tell if he really knows and is properly teaching the Word of God?” Is his teaching focused on Yeshua? Does He share the great burden of Yeshua – reaching a lost and dying world with the Good News? Or, is he focused on something else?

Is he a man of integrity? Is he worldly, greedy for more and more material things?

Is he a capable leader, but does he have some humility, and want to be a servant?

Choose your leader wisely. Be careful who you listen to, who you submit yourself to. If the blind choose a blind guide, both will fall into a pit.

You know, as we read this, it’s hard to believe that the Jewish people would reject the leadership Moses and Aaron, and thereby reject the leadership of the Lord, because to reject the God-appointed leaders that God raises up is really to reject God Himself.

God has raised up another great leader for Israel, another Mediator like Moses, a great prophet like Moses – Yeshua. Yeshua is the Messiah, and the King of Israel, who will rule from the throne of David over Israel one day. God says of Him, “I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain (Psalm 2:6).” Dare you to rise up and challenge Him, and go along with the likes of modern day Datans and Avirams, and go along with the rebellious, mutinous majority?

The priesthood of Messiah Yeshua has likewise been established. The Lord has sworn to Him, “You are a priest forever” (Psalm 110:4).

“Oh, I don’t need a priest. I can approach God directly.” Really?  Dare you bring your own firepan by yourself? God says you need a Priest. God has provided a Priest. Dare you rise up and challenge Him? Dare you ignore Him? Or do you come to God through Yeshua – the one and only Mediator and High Priest between God and man? Your eternal destiny rests on this one thing!