Глава 16

The indignation of Korah, Dathan, Abiron, Abnan and 250 eminent men of Israel. - Punishment of the indignant. Numbers 16:1. Korah the son of Isaac, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiron, the sons of Eliab, and Abnan the son of Peleth, the sons of Reuben, Numbers 16:2. rose up against Moses, and with them from the children of Israel two hundred and fifty men, the leaders of the congregation, those called to the assemblies, men of renown. Fear from the stories of the spies of the land of Canaan, the failure of an unauthorized invasion into the protected areas, and the upcoming wandering through the deserts they had just passed through produced a general loss of spirit among the people and at the same time extreme dissatisfaction with their situation. Moses' influence weakened; with the decline of this influence, discipline also weakened. Taking advantage of this state of the people, the Levite Korah with the noblest Reubenites Dathan, Abiron and Avnan formed a conspiracy to make a radical change in the church-civil structure of the community. Soon another 250 “renowned” people went over to the side of the conspirators. The conspiracy was hidden behind the lofty idea of ​​the holiness of the entire people. “That’s enough for you! - the conspirators said to Moses and Aaron. - The whole society is holy, among all is the Lord! Why do you put yourselves above everyone else among the Lord’s people?” The danger of the riot was obvious: it was not a fleeting indignation of people deprived of water or food - an indignation that stopped just as quickly as it began. The basic principles of the structure of their social and church life were presented to the court of the excited people... If the enterprise conceived by the conspirators was successful, the disorganized Jewish mass could be in serious danger: some of the Jews would probably return to Egypt, to the cauldrons of Egyptian meat; some would have been lost in the deserts and some would have been assimilated with the native inhabitants of Canaan. This explains the terrible punishment that fell on the instigators of the movement and which was supposed to sober up their like-minded people. Numbers 16:16. And Moses said to Korah, Tomorrow you and all your company shall be before the Lord, you and they and Aaron; “And the whole community is yours,” that is, all your supporters. Numbers 16:36–50. - in the Hebrew text referred to ch. 17. Numbers 16:36. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Numbers 16:37. tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to gather up the [copper] censers of those who were burned and throw out the fire; for they were sanctified The order is not given to Aaron, because the high priest must under no circumstances be defiled by touching the dead (Lev.21.11). Numbers 16:38. the censers of these sinners by their death, and let them break them into plates to cover the altar, for they offered them before the Lord, and they became sanctified; and they will be a sign to the children of Israel. The censers brought (albeit illegally) before the Lord were sanctified by this offering and therefore their material could not be exploited in everyday use. Numbers 16:41. The next day all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron and said, “You have killed the people of the Lord.” The murmur of the people on the next day of a miraculous sign in favor of God's chosenness of Moses and Aaron tangibly testifies to the breadth and seriousness of the conspiracy. The subsequent “defeat” among the people (Num. 16:46, 49) is an act of punishment and admonition. Numbers 16:47. And Aaron took, as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the congregation, and behold, the defeat of the people had already begun. And he put down the incense and stood up for the people; Numbers 16:48. He stood between the dead and the living, and the defeat stopped. A new visual confirmation of the law given by God through Moses, according to which only those chosen to serve Him could burn incense before the Lord. Brought by alien hands, smoking incense was accompanied by death, and brought by a legally initiated person - salvation for people. The High Priest Aaron, who interceded for the people, can be considered as a prototype of the great High Priest, the intercessor of people before God. You might be interested in: