Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Numbers 16-17.
Boy, what a day Moses and Aaron have had.
First we are witness to an outright coup attempt from Korah and his gang, which God settles by swallowing them up in the earth, and now we see that the very next day a massive mob is poised to overthrow Moses and Aaron.
The grumbling Israelites have turned to violence against their own. Some are still complaining about being in the wilderness, but the major rift is that some feel that Moses and Aaron have lifted themselves above the people.
They don't understand that God has set up a priesthood, and designated Moses as God's prophet.
Unbelievably, after Korah is swallowed up by the earth, the next day the massive mob comes to accuse Moses and Aaron of killing these people.
God gets very angry and sets his Angel of Death to work intent on killing them all. Amazingly, Moses tells Aaron to get his censer, and the 100+ year old Aaron runs to confront the Angel of Death with the possible loss of his own life.
After 14,500 are dead, God rewards Aaron's faith, his love of Israel in spite of their attacks on him, and commands the angel to cease the slaughter.
There is so much to consider here. I can't even begin to scratch the surface in the format I have created here. This morning, what strikes me most is the old man Aaron swinging his censer in front of the Angel of Death.
Clearly, as Spurgeon teaches, Aaron is a "type" of Messiah, and we all do well to understand the seriousness of sin/evil, God's total hatred of sin, and the infinite value of our intercessory High Priest.
