Day 65: Revolt Against Moses (2026)

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Bible Any Year Podcast, where

we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture.

The Bible Any Year Podcast is brought to you by Ascension.

Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation,

discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today.

It is day 65, and we are reading from Numbers chapter 16, as well as from Deuteronomy chapter

15 and 16.

We're also praying today from Psalm 97.

As always, I'm reading from their revised standard version, second Catholic edition, and

as always, also I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension.

If you want to get your own Great Adventure Bible, you can buy it, I guess.

You can also download your own Bible reading plan by visiting AscensionPress.com slash Bible

any year.

If you haven't yet subscribed, subscribe to the podcast.

Please do that.

That would be phenomenal.

As I said, today is day 65.

We are reading from Psalm, sorry, Numbers chapter 16, Deuteronomy chapter 15 and 16, as

well as praying through Psalm 97.

The Book of Numbers chapter 16, Revolved of Korah, Daithin and Abiram.

Now Korah, the Son of Ishar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Daithin and Abiram, the

sons of Eliab, and on the son of Pelleth, sons of Rubin, took men, and they rose up before

Moses with a number of the sons of Israel, 250 leaders of the congregation chosen from

the assembly, well known men, and they assembled themselves together against Moses, and against

Aaron, and said to them, you have gone too far.

For all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them.

Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?

When Moses heard it, he fell on his face, and he said to Korah in all his company, in

the morning, the Lord will show who is his, and who is holy, and will cause him to come

near to him, him who he will choose, he will cause to come near to him.

Do this.

Take sensors, Korah, in all his company, put fire in them, and put incense upon them before

the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one.

You have gone too far, sons of Levi.

And Moses said to Korah, here now you sons of Levi, is it too small a thing for you?

That the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring you

near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation

to minister to them, and that he has brought you near him, and all your brethren, the sons

of Levi, with you, and would you seek the priesthood also?

Therefore it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together.

What is Aaron, that you murmur against him?

And Moses sent to call Nathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and they said, we will

not come up.

Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey

to kill us in the wilderness?

That you must also make yourself a prince over us?

Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us

inheritance of fields and vineyards.

Will you put out the eyes of these men?

We will not come up.

And Moses was very angry, and it said to the Lord, do not respect their offering, I have

not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed one of them.

And Moses said to Korah, be present, you and all your company before the Lord, you and

they, and Aaron, tomorrow, and let every one of you take his censor and put incense upon

it, and every one of you bring before the Lord his censor, 250 censors.

You also, and Aaron, each his censor.

So every man took his censor, and they put fire in them, and laid incense upon them,

and they stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron.

Then Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting,

and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.

Korah, Daithin, and Abiram are punished.

And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, separate yourselves from among this congregation that

I may consume them in a moment.

And they fell on their faces, and they said, oh God, the God of the spirits of all flesh shall

one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?

And the Lord said to Moses, say to the congregation, get away from about the dwelling of Korah, Daithin,

and Abiram.

Then Moses rose, and went to Daithin and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him, and

he said to the congregation, depart, I beg you, from the tents of these wicked men and

touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.

So they got away from about the dwelling of Korah, Daithin, and Abiram.

And Daithin and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, together with their

wives, their sons, and their little ones.

And Moses said, hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works,

and that it has not been of my own accord.

If these men die the common death of all men, or if they are visited by the fate of all

men, then the Lord has not sent me.

But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them

up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know

that these men have despised the Lord.

And as he finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split a sunder, and

the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households and all the men

that belonged to Korah and all their goods.

So they, and all that belonged to them, went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed

over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

And all Israel, that were round about them, fled at their cry for they said, lest the

earth swallow us up.

And fire came forth from the Lord, and consumed the 250 men offering the incense.

Then the Lord said to Moses, tell Eliasar, the son of Aaron, the priest, to take up the

censors out of the blaze, then scatter the fire far and wide.

Where they are holy, the censors of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives,

so let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they offered

them before the Lord, therefore they are holy.

Thus they shall be a sign to the sons of Israel.

So Eliasar the priest took the bronze censors, which those who were burned had offered, and

they were hammered out as a covering for the altar, to be a reminder to the sons of Israel,

so that no one who was not a priest, who was not of the descendants of Aaron, should

draw near to burn incense before the Lord, lest he become as Korah and as his company.

As the Lord said to Eliasar through Moses, a plague strikes the rebels.

But the next day, all the congregation of the sons of Israel murmured against Moses

and against Aaron, saying, you have killed the people of the Lord.

And when the congregation had assembled against Moses and against Aaron, they turned toward

the tent of meeting, and behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared.

And Moses, and Aaron, came to the front of the tent of meeting, and the Lord said to

Moses, get away from the midst of this congregation that I may consume them in a moment.

And they fell on their faces, and Moses said to Aaron, take your censor, and put fire

therein from off the altar, and lay incense on it, and carry it quickly to the congregation,

and make atonement for them.

For wrath has gone forth from the Lord, the plague has begun.

So Aaron took it, as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly, and behold, the

plague had already begun among the people, and he put on the incense, and made atonement

for the people, and he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.

Now those who died by the plague were 14,700, besides those who died in the affair of Korah,

and Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, when the plague was

stopped.

The Book of Deuteronomy chapter 15 and chapter 16, chapter 15, concerning the sabbatical

year.

At the end of every seven years, you shall grant a release, and this is the manner of

the release.

Every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor.

He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord's release has

been proclaimed.

Of a foreigner, you may exact it.

But whatever of yours is with your brother, your hand shall release.

But there will be no poor among you, for the Lord will bless you in the land which the

Lord your God gives you, foreign inheritance, to possess.

If only you will obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment

which I command you this day.

So the Lord your God will bless you as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations,

but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule

over you.

If there is among you a poor man, one of your brethren, in any of your towns within

your land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your

hand against your poor brother.

But you shall open your hand to him, and lend him sufficient for his need whatever it may

be.

Make heed, lest there be a base thought in your heart, and you say, the seventh year,

the year of release is near, and your I be hostile to the poor brother, and you give him

nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and it be sin in you.

You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him.

Because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work, and in all that you

undertake, for the poor will never cease out of the land.

Therefore, I command you.

You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy, and to the poor in the land.

If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six

years, and in the seventh year, you shall let him go free from you, and when you let him

go free from you, you shall not let him go empty handed.

You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out

of your winepress, as the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him.

You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God

redeemed you.

Therefore I command you this day.

But if he says to you, I will not go out from you, because he loves you and your household,

since he fares well with you, then you shall take an all, and thrust it through his ear

into the door, and he shall be your bondsman forever.

And to your bondswoman, you shall do likewise.

It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost

of a hired servant he has served you six years, so the Lord your God will bless you, and

all that you do.

Regulations concerning livestock.

All the firstling males that are born of your herd and flock, you shall consecrate to

the Lord your God.

You shall do no work with the firstling of your herd, nor share the firstling of your flock.

You shall eat it, you and your household, before the Lord your God year by year, at the

place which the Lord will choose.

But if it has any blemish, if it is lame or blind, or has any serious blemish whatever,

you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God, you shall eat it within your towns.

The unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a deer.

Only you shall not eat its blood, you shall pour it out on the ground like water.

After sixteen, keeping the Passover.

Observe the month of a beab, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month

of a beab, the Lord your God brought you out of the Egypt by night, and you shall offer

the Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God from the flock or the herd, at the place which

the Lord will choose to make his name dwell there.

You shall eat no leavened bread with it, seven days you shall eat it with unleavened

bread, the bread of affliction, for you came out of the land of Egypt in hurried flight,

that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out from the land of

Egypt.

No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any

of the flesh which you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain all night until morning.

You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns which the Lord your God

gives you, but at the place which the Lord your God will choose to make his name dwell

in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at the going down

of the sun at the time you came out of Egypt.

And you shall boil it and eat it at the place which the Lord your God will choose, and

in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents.

For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn

assembly to the Lord your God, you shall do no work on it.

Keeping the feast of weeks.

You shall count seven weeks.

Begin to count the seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing

grain.

Then, you shall keep the feast of weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a free

will offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you.

And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your

man servant, and your maid servant, the Levite who was within your towns, the soldierner,

the fatherless and the widow who are among you at the place which the Lord your God will

choose to make his name dwell there.

You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe

all these statutes.

Keeping the feast of booths.

You shall keep the feast of booths seven days.

When you make your in-gathering from your threshing floor and your wine press, you shall

rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your man servant, and your

maid servant, the Levite, the soldierner, the fatherless and the widow who are within

your towns.

Seven days, you shall keep the feast to the Lord your God at the place which the Lord

will choose, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the

works of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.

Three times a year, all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place which

he will choose, at the feast of 11 bread, at the feast of weeks, and at the feast of booths.

They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed, every man shall give as he is able according

to the blessing of the Lord your God which he has given you, appointing judges and officers.

You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns which the Lord your God gives

you according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.

You shall not pervert justice, you shall not show partiality, and you shall not take a

bribe for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.

Justice and only justice you shall follow that you may live and inherit the land which

the Lord your God gives you.

Forbidden forms of worship, you shall not plant any tree as an ashram beside the altar

of the Lord your God which you shall make, and you shall not set up a pillar which the

Lord your God hates.

Psalm 97, the glory of God's reign.

The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice, let the many islands be glad, cloud and thick darkness

around about him, righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

Fire goes before him, and burns up his adversaries round about.

His lightnings lighten the world, the earth sees and trembles.

The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth.

The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples behold his glory.

All worshipers of images are put to shame who make their boast in worthless idols, let

all his angels bow down before him, Zion hears and is glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoice

because of your judgment, so God.

For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth, you are exalted far above all gods.

The Lord loves those who hate evil.

He preserves the lives of his saints, he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

Light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the upright of heart.

Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name.

Father in heaven, we thank you, we thank you, and we give you praise, and we thank you

for your justice, and you reveal that when you set up the people of Israel, and when

you gave them a law, when you gave them your law, you revealed your heart, and your heart

is true, you are true, you are truth, Lord God, and you are justice, and you call your

people just like you call us to live justice, to do right, to walk humbly, to love goodness

and to care for those who are around us.

Lord God, help us to have hearts like yours, hearts that love justice, hearts that run

away from evil, that hate evil, and hearts that are open to those around us who are in need.

Lord God, before you, we stand in need, and so we ask you to send us your Holy Spirit

to meet us in every one of our needs, because you are the source of all goodness, you are

the source of all truth, you are the source of all justice, and we need you.

So come and be near us now.

We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen, in the name of the

Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen, oh my gosh, so here we are, back it

up in Numbers 16, and the theme, I think, is Ben Rebellion, right?

We had back in chapter, I think it was chapter 12, we had Aaron and Miriam rebelling against

Moses, then we had the people, after they went up in Canaan, and they came back and those

10 scouts that we can't possibly do this, they're rebelling against, once again, against

Moses and Aaron, and today, in chapter 16, we have this story of Korah and Abiram and

Daithin, and they're rebelling against Moses and Aaron.

Remember that it specifically says that Korah is the son of Kohath, the son of Levi.

If you remember this, the Koathites were, they're of the tribe of Levi, that's why

this is Koath, the son of Levi.

Remember there were the four families in the tribe of Levi, there was Aaron, the family

sons of Aaron, those are the priests, then we had the Murrowites and the Gershinites,

and now we have also the Koathites.

Remember those other two families, those the Murrowites and the Koathites, nope, Gershinites,

you know, we got a lot of names, you guys, got a ton of names, that their responsibility

was to care for the tent, to care for the poles of the tent, to care for almost

you would say like the structure.

They're at the service of the tent of meeting, the service of the Tabernacle, the service

of what ultimately will be the temple, but the Koathites were those who were responsible

for caring for the holy objects.

In fact, you might say second to the sons of Aaron, the Koathites were in closest to,

you might say the presence of the Lord and serving the Lord directly, meaning worshiping

the Lord directly.

But as you can see, that wasn't enough.

And so they said, well, why does it have to be the sons of Aaron who are the only ones

who are able to offer sacrifice before God?

Why can't we be priests too?

And then we have this throwdown.

And I love this because in chapter 16, in verse 4, when the Koathites assemble against

Moses and against Aaron, and they say that why do you exalt yourselves above everyone

else?

So Moses heard it.

He fell on his face, which means that he went to prayer.

The Moses of response to this rebellion, essentially, and this rebellion of saying like you exalt

yourselves over us, that's what they're going to say later on to you in a prince of yourself

over us.

The Moses of response is to pray.

Now he gets mad.

He does not like he is a person without emotion, but his first response is, okay, this person's

attacking me.

Right?

They're attacking him unfairly.

But Moses turns to the Lord first.

Of course, he comes back and says, okay, get these sensors, we're an offer sensor, we're

offer an incense, we're offer, offer worship before the Lord and who the Lord who's worshiped

the Lord accepts like that's going to be.

You can be a priest then, essentially.

And we see how it goes.

That the Lord God destroys the families of Korah and Daithin and the Behram and removes

them from the face of the earth.

And then even then, my goodness, it's so remarkable.

The people rebel against Moses and Aaron again, even though this is clearly God's will,

that he's exacting justice.

Remember, this is a God of justice, not a God of vengeance.

This is very fair what's happening right now because God has to make it absolutely clear

that he is God.

He is holy.

He is alone, holy, and that only those who he has called those sons of Aaron can worship

in the temple.

And this is so, so key.

So then that they rebel and what happens is Moses tells Aaron to get that incense and

stand before the plague and the people.

And as he's making a tommet for them through the incense, the burning fire, the plague stops.

Now there's a couple of things to note about this.

The first is in chapter 16, it says that Daithin and the Behram, they say to Moses that

they're not going to do it.

They're not going to do this challenge.

They said, is it a small thing that you've brought us up out of a land flowing with

milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness?

Remember, the promised land is a land described as a land flowing with milk and honey.

Where they came from was Egypt.

And again, yes, Egypt was a rich place, obviously.

But they were slaves there.

But they're describing their home.

They're describing their place of slavery as a land flowing with milk and honey.

And it is remarkable to think how easy it is as Jeff Cavan says has noted, like, these

are people who are addicted.

They're addicted to their past.

They're addicted to this comfort.

They're addicted to their former way of life.

And they have to be cured of this addiction.

They're looking back at this place of slavery, a place of bondage and saying, that was the

land flowing with milk and honey, which is absolutely remarkable.

And to our eyes and to our ears when we hear that, we think that is really that is remarkable

and crazy.

And yet, isn't that how we can live as well?

So often, we can look back on our past, even if that was a past of sin, even if it was

a past of brokenness and a bondage and say, yeah, but, you know, I mean, it was really

fun.

Or yeah, but, you know, it was, I was happier than I ever was or something like this.

And yet, the Lord God is leading us.

He's leading you and me through a desert, through battles, to a place of true freedom.

Now, if we go up to Deuteronomy, a couple of things we hear is once again that God

is not only God of justice, that's going to be the last couple marks that he's going

to clearly communicate that he's a God of justice, but also that he's a God who cares about

those who are poor and that his people, those who belong to him, God says, there shall

not be one poor person among you.

Why?

Essentially, you're being brought into a land flowing with milk and honey, right?

The promised land will be rich and powerful with enough for everybody.

But if there is someone who is poor, then you'll take care of them.

If there's someone who's in need, then you'll take care of them, even going to the

doing so far as to saying that you might have to employ them.

Now, if this is a person who you're employing as an employee, that would be one thing.

But sometimes people are so desperate that they might sell themselves into bond or sell

themselves into slavery.

But even so, we said it before, we'll say it again.

This slavery or this bondage, this service was only six years of service.

And did you note how incredible this was on the sabbatical year, right?

The seventh year, the year of covenant, that seventh year, you let this servant go free.

And not only do you let them go free, but you give them stuff to make a new life.

You don't just say, okay, you are a servant for me for six years.

Now, go try to do it on your own.

It was you are a servant with me for six years.

Now, I'm going to give you what you need to start a new and free life, because that's

how they're taking care of each other, even to the point where if that servant doesn't

want to, he says, if he loves you or she loves you and loves your family, then they can

stay.

And they can stay to the end of their lives.

It's just really remarkable and really powerful how the people of Israel were called to take

care of those who couldn't take care of themselves.

And not only that in this last note, but God says very clearly, you will do this with

an open hand.

You won't do this grudgingly.

You won't do this resentfully.

You won't think, you won't even think badly about those who are poor among you.

You will provide for them and help them and serve them.

In Deuteronomy chapter 16, I know I said last thing, but this is the true last thing, is

we have the three major feast, three major festivals of worship.

We have the feast of Passover.

We have the feast of weeks, which is Pentecost, and we have the feast of booths or the

feast of tabernacles.

And in all of this, what do we have?

We have go before the Lord and worship him.

This is such an incredible piece of Deuteronomy 15 and 16, 15, care for the poor, love those

people around you with justice and with mercy and with joy.

And then in chapter 16, and also worship the Lord, your God.

This is so key.

Okay, you guys, I am praying for you.

We're going to get to the end of this and we're going to see each other tomorrow and

I'm so excited about that.

But let's keep praying for each other.

My name is Father Mike.

I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

God bless.