The Priest: Aaron (21 page)

Korah shouted to the others, “Moses sets himself up to be king over us and makes his brother his high priest! Is that what we want?”

“No!”
Moses rose from the dust, his eyes blazing. “Tomorrow morning the Lord will show us who belongs to Him and who is holy. The Lord will allow those who are chosen to enter His holy presence. You, Korah, and all your followers must do this: Take incense burners, and burn incense in them tomorrow before the Lord. Then we will see whom the Lord chooses as His holy one. You Levites are the ones who have gone too far!”

Korah lifted his chin. “Why should we do what you say?”

“Now listen, you Levites! Does it seem a small thing to you that the God of Israel has chosen you from among all the people of Israel to be near Him as you serve in the Lord’s Tabernacle and to stand before the people to minister to them? He has given this special ministry only to you and your fellow Levites, but now you are demanding the priesthood as well! The one you are really revolting against is the Lord! And who is Aaron that you are complaining about him?”

Who am I that I should be high priest?
Aaron wondered. Any time he had tried to lead, he had brought disaster. No wonder they did not trust him. Why should they?

Lord, Lord, whatever You will, let it be done
.

“Let Dathan and Abiram come forward so that I can speak to them.”

“We refuse to come! Isn’t it enough that you brought us out of Egypt, a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us here in this wilderness, and that you now treat us like your subjects? What’s more, you haven’t brought us into the land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Are you trying to fool us? We will not come.”

Moses raised his arms and cried out to the Lord, “Do not accept their offerings! I have not taken so much as a donkey from them, and I have never hurt a single one of them.”

“Nor have you given us what you promised!”

“It is not mine to give!”

Korah spit in the dust at Aaron’s feet.

Moses shook with rage. “Come here tomorrow and present yourself before the Lord with all your followers. Aaron will also be here. Be sure that each of your two hundred and fifty followers brings an incense burner with incense on it, so you can present them before the Lord. Aaron will also bring his incense burner. Let the Lord decide!”

Crushed in spirit, Aaron made his preparations. Had all these men forgotten the fate of Nadab and Abihu? Did they think they could make their own fire and stir in their own incense and not face God’s wrath? He couldn’t sleep thinking about what might happen!

The next morning Aaron went out with his censer. Breathing in the sweet scent of frankincense, he stood with Moses at the entrance to the Tabernacle.

Korah came, head high. The number of his followers had multiplied.

The air became denser, warmer, humming with power. Aaron looked up and saw the glory of the Lord rise, Shekinah streaming light in all directions. Aaron heard the indrawn breath from the Israelites who had come to see whom God would choose. Aaron knew they were disappointed, as they had fixed their anger on God’s prophet and spokesman. They stood en masse behind Korah.

Aaron heard the Voice.

Get away from these people so that I may instantly destroy them!

As God had put an end to Nadab and Abihu! Crying out, Aaron fell on his face before the Lord, not wanting to see the nation obliterated by fire. Moses fell down beside him praying frantically. “O God, the God and source of all life, must You be angry with all the people when only one man sins?”

The people talked nervously, looking this way and that, looking up, edging back.

Moses came to his feet clumsily and shouted, “Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram!” He spread his hands and hurried toward the people. “Quick! Get away from the tents of these wicked men, and don’t touch anything that belongs to them. If you do, you will be destroyed for their sins!”

“Do not listen to him!” Korah shouted. “Every man you see standing with a censer is holy!”

Aaron stayed on the ground.
God, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing!

Nothing had changed within the people. They were the same as they had always been—hard-hearted, stubborn, defiant. Just like Pharaoh, who had forgotten the hardships of the plagues each time God lifted His hand, these people forgot God’s kindness and provision when hardship came. Just as Pharaoh had clung to Egypt’s ways and his pride, these people clung to their longing for a self-indulgent life. They longed to return to the idol-infested country that had enslaved them.

“Were we not ourselves chosen by God to lead as a council?” Someone else called out in rebellion.

“What has this old man done for you? We will show honor to God by leading you into the land God conquered for us. We will return to Egypt, and we will be the masters this time!”

Moses cried out, “By this you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things that I have done—for I have not done them on my own. If these men die a natural death, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord performs a miracle and the ground opens up and swallows them and all their belongings, and they go down alive into the grave, then you will know that these men have despised the Lord!”

The earth rumbled. Aaron felt the ground roll violently beneath him as if the Lord were shaking dust from a blanket. Aaron rose, spreading his feet for balance, holding tight to his censer. Rocks cracked and a chasm opened. Korah pitched forward, screaming, and fell headfirst into the gaping hole, his men after him. Down went his tent with his wife and concubines, his servants. All of those whom the Lord found guilty went down into the earth alive. The horrific screams that rose from the crevice sent the people scattering in terror.

“Get back! Get away! The earth will swallow us, too!”

The chasm closed, deadening the horrific sounds of pain and terror that came up from the earth.

Fire blazed forth from the Lord and burned up the two hundred and fifty men offering incense, turning them into charred corpses like Nadab and Abihu. They dropped where they stood, their bodies smoldering, blackened fingers still gripping the censers that clattered to the ground spilling out homemade incense.

Aaron alone remained standing before the entrance of the Tabernacle, the censer of incense still clutched in his hand.

“Eleazar!” Moses beckoned Aaron’s son. “Collect the censers and hammer them into sheets to cover the altar. The Lord has said this will remind the people now and in the future that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before Him, or he will become like Korah and his followers.”

All through the night, Aaron heard the echo of hammer against bronze as his son obeyed the Word of the Lord. Far into the night, Aaron prayed with tears streaming into his beard. “According to Your will, Lord . . . as You will. . . .”

Aaron thought he was still dreaming when he heard angry cries. Exhausted, he rubbed his face. He wasn’t dreaming. He groaned as he recognized Dathan’s and Abiram’s voices. “Moses and Aaron have killed the Lord’s people!”

Would these people never change? Would they never learn?

He rose quickly, his sons Eleazar and Ithamar with him, and met Moses before the Tabernacle. “What do we do?” The people were heading toward them.

The mob came, shouting accusations. “You two have killed the Lord’s people.”

“Korah was a Levite just as you are and you killed him!”

“The Levites are servants of the Lord!”

“You killed them!”

“You two won’t be satisfied until we’re all dead!”

The cloud came down and covered the Tent of Meeting and the Shekinah glory glowed from within the cloud.

“Come with me, Aaron.” Moses went to the front of the Tabernacle, and Aaron joined him there. Shaking, Aaron heard the Voice fill his mind. He fell on his face, arms outstretched.

Get away from these people so that I can instantly destroy them!

And what would the nations say then if the Lord could not bring His people into the land He promised?

People screamed, and then Moses spoke. “Quick, take an incense burner and place burning coals on it from the altar. Lay incense on it and carry it quickly among the people to make atonement for them. The Lord’s anger is blazing among them—the plague has already begun.”

Aaron clambered to his feet and ran as fast as his aging legs could carry him. Breathing hard, he took the censer and ran to the altar. He took the golden utensil and scooped burning coals into his censer. His hand shook. People were already dying!

Thousands fell on their faces, crying out to the Lord, crying out to Moses, crying out to him. “Lord, have mercy on us. Have mercy! Save us, Moses. Aaron, save us!”

He must hurry! Aaron sprinkled the incense onto the coals and turned back. Huffing and puffing, heart pounding and pain spreading across his chest, he headed straight into the midst of men and women falling to the right and left. He held the censer high. “Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, forgive them. Oh, God, we repent! Hear our prayer!”

Dathan and Abiram lay dead, their faces stiff in agony. Everywhere Aaron looked, men and women were dropping from the plague.

Aaron stood in the midst of them and cried out, “Those who are for the Lord, get behind me!” The people moved like the tide of a sea. Others who stood their ground screamed and fell, groaning in agony as they died. Aaron did not move from his post, the living on one side and the dying on the other. He stayed, arm trembling as he held the censer high and prayed.

The plague abated.

His breathing slowed. Bodies sprawled all over the camp, thousands of them. Some lay close to the burned places where the two hundred and fifty Levites had died only yesterday. Survivors clutched one another and wept, wondering if they would be struck down by fire or die in agony of plague. Each body would have to be lifted and carried for burial outside the camp.

Weary, Aaron walked back to Moses standing at the entrance of the Tabernacle. Aaron looked into the stricken faces of the people staring at him. Would another rebellion begin tomorrow? Why couldn’t they see that he wasn’t their leader? Even Moses did not lead them. When would they understand that
the Lord
directed their path! It was God’s divine presence that would make them into a holy nation!

Lord, Lord, I am so tired. They look to me and Moses, and we are just men like they are. You are the one leading us into the wilderness. I don’t want to go any more than they do, but I know You are training us for a purpose.

How long will we fight against You? How long will we bow down to our own pride? It seems such an easy thing to look up, to listen and live! What is it in our nature that makes us fight against You so hard? We go our own way and die, and still we don’t learn. We are foolish, all of us! I, most of all. Every day I fight the battle within me.

Oh, Lord, You lifted me from a mud pit and opened up the Red Sea. You brought me through the desert. Not once did You abandon me. And still . . . still I doubt. Still I fight a battle within myself I can’t seem to win!

These people wanted someone else to stand between the Lord and them, someone more worthy to offer atonement. He couldn’t blame them. He wanted the same thing.

Moses spoke again, his voice calm and clear. “Each leader from each ancestral tribe will bring me his staff with his name written on it. The staff of Levi will bear Aaron’s name. I will place them in the Tabernacle in front of the Ark of the Covenant, and the staff belonging to the man the Lord chooses will sprout. When you know the man whom God has chosen, you will not grumble against the Lord anymore.”

The tribal leaders came forward and handed Moses their staffs, their names etched into the wood. Aaron stood to one side. In his hand, he held the staff that had become a snake before Pharaoh and swallowed the snakes created by the Egyptian sorcerers. This was the same staff he had held over the Nile when the Lord turned the waters to blood and then brought forth the frogs. The Lord had told him to strike the ground with this staff and then the Lord had sent a plague of gnats.

“Aaron.” Moses held out his hand.

Tomorrow everyone would know if his staff was simply a gnarled piece of acacia wood that offered him support as he walked the desert road, or an emblem of authority. He gave it to Moses. If God willed it, let another more worthy be chosen to become high priest. As a matter-of-fact, Aaron hoped He would. These men didn’t understand the burden that came with the position.

Next morning, Moses summoned the people again. He held each staff high and returned it to its rightful owner. Not one had sprouted so much as a nub. When he held Aaron’s staff high, the people murmured in awe. Aaron stared, amazed. Not only had his staff sprouted leaves; it had budded, blossomed, and produced almonds!

“The Lord has said that Aaron’s staff will remain in front of the Ark of the Covenant as a warning to rebels! This should put an end to your complaints against the Lord and prevent any further deaths!” Moses took Aaron’s staff back into the Tabernacle and came out empty-handed.