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Welcome. I'm Cliff Hedges. This is Pastor Cliff's Notes. This is a podcast where we are studying the Bible. We're working our way through the book of Numbers. Today is episode 1632, and we're looking at Numbers chapter 16, verses 36 to 50. So the Israelites were at the very edge of the promised land, but they rebelled against the Lord. So God sent them back into the wilderness to remain there until this faithless generation dies. Then sometime later, we don't really know how long later, a Levite named Korah and three men from the tribe of Reuben gathered 250 prominent men of Israel, and they came to Moses and Aaron and challenged their leadership. Moses told them to offer incense before the Lord and let him decide who the leader is. So Aaron, Korah, and the 250 men each put hot coals in their fire pan and burned incense in front of the tabernacle. Fire from the Lord came out and consumed the two hundred and fifty men. Then the earth opened up and swallowed the families, tents of Korah, Dathan, and Ebiram, the men from Reuben. That brings us to Numbers sixteen, verse thirty six. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, Tell Eliazar, son of Aaron the priest, to remove the fire pans from the burning debris, because they are holy, and scatter the fire far away. As for the fire pans of those who sinned at the cost of their own lives, make them into hammered sheets as plating for the altar, for they presented them before the Lord, and the fire pans are holy. They will be a sign to the Israelites. So this assignment goes to Eleazar, son of Aaron, not Aaron himself. And so the fire pans had been used in an offering to God. Even though it was improper, they're still considered holy. And so Elieazar is to go and collect them, to make sheets of plating for the altar. The fire pants would be made of bronze, so they'd be hammered out altogether into bronze sheets. So none of them would actually be identifiable as an individual thing anymore. They would be part of the whole. And the question, it just says for the altar. Remember, we've got two altars. We have the altar of incense and the altar of burnt offerings. The altar of incense is already plated in gold, so to cover it in bronze would not work. But it would fit the theme of incense, because they were all burning incense, but then it wouldn't be a sign because it was said that this will be a sign to the Israelites. Nobody can see the altar of incense. It's inside the tabernacle. Then you also have the altar of burnt offering. It's already plated in bronze. Well, this could add to it, give it maybe a different look, and it fits the theme of fire for the fire pans because this is where you get the fire to burn the incense. You go to the altar of burnt offering and get some of the hot coals, and that's what you're going to burn the incense on. And this would be seen by all. So I got along with those who say the altar of burnt offering is the altar this refers to. Now, one thing remember for Eleazar is contact with dead bodies makes you unclean for seven days. Could put Eleazar at a commission as a priest for the next seven days. This would be one reason not to have Aaron do it, because Aaron as the high priest is not supposed to go near any dead bodies. I said, remove the fire pans from the burning debris. I'm not sure what old debris is burning, whether the other stuff was got caught up, burned up, or if it's just the burning remains of these 250 men. And he said, Take the fire and spread it out. So that would be the remaining coals in the fire pans to get rid of it, to spread it out far away so that nobody could try and collect it and use it for something improper. Verse 39. So the priest Elieazar took the bronze fire pans that those who were burned had presented, and they were hammered into plating for the altar, just as the Lord commanded him through Moses. It was to be a reminder for the Israelites that no unauthorized person outside the lineage of Aaron should approach to offer incense before the Lord and become like Korah and his followers. Moses says it's a reminder. This is not new. This is nothing new here. They have been told this before, but Korah and his followers decided to ignore it, that they had a better idea. They're now blaming Moses and Aaron for God's judgment on the sins of these people, and refers to them as the Lord's people. These were people in rebellion, violating God's instructions. And so it says the entire Israelite community. I mean every single person, it means the most of them, most people. It's a widespread problem. Verse 42. When the community assembled against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the tent of meeting, and suddenly the cloud covered it, and the Lord's glory appeared. Well, last time the Lord's glory appeared, fire came out and consumed the two hundred and fifty people improperly offering incense. Verse 43. Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting, and the Lord said to Moses, Get away from this community, so that I may consume them instantly. But they fell face down. We've seen this before a couple times, where God says, Step back, I'm going to destroy them. And Moses offers intercessory prayer. Here is Moses and Aaron together both fall face down. And the assumption is they're offering intercessory prayer for the people, for God's mercy. Verse 46. Then Moses told Aaron, Take your fire pan, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the community and make atonement for them, because wrath has come from the Lord, the plague has begun. So we don't know what God has actually told Moses here, but Moses realizes there's a plague that they may have offered intercessory prayer, but God is still judging the people, and a plague has started. We don't know if this offering of incense to make atonement for the people is Moses' idea, or if he's got instructions from God about this. But the bottom line here is Moses says, A plague has started. It is the judgment of God, the wrath of God. And the way this is going to be dealt with is by doing your priestly duty. Make an offering to atone for the sins of the people. Verse 47. So Aaron took his fire pan as Moses had ordered, ran into the middle of the assembly, and saw that the plague had begun among the people. After he added incense, he made atonement for the people. He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was halted. Those who died from the plague numbered fourteen thousand seven hundred, in addition to those who died because of the Korah incident. So Aaron then returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, since the plague had begun halted. So how do you stop the plague? Do it correctly. Aaron, as the priest, is the only one who can make offerings to atone for sin. And he does. Now one question here. That blood is what makes atonement for sin. Here we see incense being offered as atonement for sin. How's that work? Well, it's also different in that when they normally do the incense offering, they get hot coals from the altar of burnt offering. It seems that's where Aaron went to get the hot coals. Then you get the incense, and then you go into the tabernacle to the altar of incense and burn the incense there, just on the other side of the curtain from the Ark of the Covenant. The presence of God there. Here he goes out and burns it in the presence of the people. So what is going on here? And bottom line, we're not given the details why it's done this way, why it worked this way. Most people assume that God has apparently had revealed this to Moses when they were face down before the Lord at the entrance to the tabernacle. Moses instructed Aaron to do it this way. So the irony here is the 250 were judged for their improper burning of incense, and the community is saved by the proper burning of incense. Proper in that it was the priest who made the offering. Aaron made the offering, not Korah. But it is unusual in that how it was done, where it was done, and that it was done to make atonement without blood. So we see that people didn't seem to learn anything from the whole Korah incident. They just they were blaming Moses, challenging Moses, and then when God's judgment came and struck down those who were leading the complaint, the rest of them now start complaining about that and say it must be Moses and Aaron's fault that these bad things have happened to Korah and his followers. The people have been very slow to learn to actually believe God. Before we had 250 of the leading men plus the three families were all struck down. Now it's another 14,700 struck down. Maybe they'll start to get it now. Thanks for joining me. Join me in next time as we continue working through numbers.