Since God Himself had made the priesthood and outlined the duties of the Levites, they acted in rebellion against the authority of God. Moses knew the reason for Korach’s discord - the dark desire that lurked in his heart to exalt himself and the Levitical priesthood to the position God had expressly granted to the Aaronic priesthood. Wisdom calls for discerning the underlying motivation of a brother creating strife before making judgments and issuing condemnations. Reading from the Torah scroll The Genesis of Discord and Strife
This in no way negates the seriousness of that sin, however. Moreover, wicked people don’t necessarily realize that their deeds are evil, having internally justified themselves that their way is the right way. “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.” (Romans 2:1) It is vital to realize that people often unknowingly judge others for the very sins that they themselves are committing. Sadly, many are guilty of such self-deception and projection. In fact, this sin that they accused Moses of was, in reality, their own sin. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?’” (Numbers 16:3) “They gathered together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, ‘You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. They accused him of exalting himself over the community: With an utter lack of humility, Korach, who was a Levite, rose up against Moses, joining forces with Datan and Aviram, who were from the tribe of Reuben, along with On, son of Pelet and 250 respected chieftains from the Israelite community.īut what charge did the rebels have against Moses?
Open Torah scroll and silver yad (Torah pointer)