-
Loyally Submit to Godly AuthorityThe Watchtower—2002 | August 1
-
-
13. (a) Why was it presumptuous on the part of the rebels to offer incense before Jehovah? (b) How did Jehovah deal with the rebels?
13 According to God’s Law, only the priests could offer incense. The very idea of a nonpriestly Levite offering incense before Jehovah should have shaken those rebels to their senses. (Exodus 30:7; Numbers 4:16) Not so Korah and his supporters! The next day he “got all the assembly together against [Moses and Aaron] at the entrance of the tent of meeting.” The record tells us: “Jehovah now spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ‘Separate yourselves from the midst of this assembly, that I may exterminate them in an instant.’” But Moses and Aaron pleaded for the lives of the people to be spared. Jehovah consented to their pleas. As for Korah and his crowd, “a fire came out from Jehovah and proceeded to consume the two hundred and fifty men offering the incense.”—Numbers 16:19-22, 35.c
-
-
Loyally Submit to Godly AuthorityThe Watchtower—2002 | August 1
-
-
c In patriarchal times, each family head represented his wife and children before God, even offering sacrifices in their behalf. (Genesis 8:20; 46:1; Job 1:5) However, when the Law was instituted, Jehovah appointed male members of Aaron’s family as priests through whom sacrifices should be offered. The 250 rebels were apparently not willing to cooperate with this adjustment in procedure.
-