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incense," "there came outa fire from the Lord and consumed" them, as, on a former
occasion, it had destroyed Nadab andAbihu. (Leviticus 10:2) Their censers, which had
been "hallowed," by being presented before theLord, (Numbers 16:37) were converted
into plates for covering the altar of burnt offering, that sothey might be a continual
"memorial unto the children of Israel" of the event and its teaching.
This signal judgment of God upon the rebels had indeed struck the people who
witnessed it withsudden awe, but it led not to that repentance (Psalm 4:4) which
results from a change of heart. Theimpression passed away, and "on the morrow"
nothing remained but the thought that so manyprinces of tribes, who had sought to
vindicate tribal independence, had been cut off for the sake ofMoses! It was in their
cause, the people would argue, that these men had died; and the mourning inthe tents
of the princes, the desolateness which marked what had but yesterday been the
habitationsof Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, would only give poignancy to the feeling
that with this event a yokeof bondage had been for ever riveted upon the nation. For
they recognized not the purpose andmeaning of God; this would have implied spiritual
discernment; only that, if judgment had proceededfrom Jehovah, it had come, if not at
the instigation of, yet in order to vindicate Moses and Aaron. Intheir ingratitude they
even forgot that, but for the intercession of these two, the whole congregationwould
have perished in the gainsaying of Korah. So truly did that generation prove the
justice of theDivine sentence that none of their number should enter into the land of
Canaan, and so entirely unfitdid their conduct (as of old that of Esau) show them for
inheriting the promises!
But as for Moses and Aaron, when the congregation was once more gathered against
them with thiscruel and unjust charge on their lips, "Ye have killed the people of
Jehovah," they almost instinctively"faced towards the tent of meeting," as the place
whence their help came and to which their appealwas now made. Nor did they look in
vain.
Denser and more closely than before did the cloud cover the tabernacle, and from out
of it burstvisibly the luminous glory of Jehovah. And as Moses and Aaron entered the
court of the tabernacle,"Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Get you up from among
this congregation, and I will consumethem as in a moment. And they fell upon their
faces." But what was Moses to plead? He knew that"already" was "wrath gone forth
from Jehovah," and "the plague" had "begun." What could he nowsay? In the rebellion
at Mount Horeb, (Exodus 32:31) again at Kadesh, (Numbers 14:13, etc.) andbut the
day before at the gainsaying of Korah, he had exhausted every argument. No similar
plea,nor indeed any plea, remained. Then it was, in the hour of deepest need, when
every argument thateven faith could suggest had been taken away, and Israel was, so
to speak, lost, that theall-sufficiency of the Divine provision in its vicarious and
mediatorial character appeared. Although asyet only typical, it proved all sufficient.
(^)