March 4: Numbers 16:1 – Numbers 18:32

Korah's Rebellion – Numbers 16

• Several men (Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On) gather together 250 chiefs of the congregation and come against Moses and Aaron, telling them that they have gone too far and asking what right they have to act like they are better than anyone else (since they all belong to God).
• Moses falls on his face before them, then tells them that tomorrow morning God will make it known who belongs to Him. He points out that they are already chosen by God since they are Levites, and would they now want to take the priesthood as well. He concludes that they are revolting against God, not him and Aaron. He summons Dathan and Abiram, but they refuse to come to him, claiming he has not fulfilled his word to take them into the Promised Land.
• Moses becomes angry and tells God not to accept their grain offerings. He then tells Korah and the others that they must come the next day and prepare incense burners.
• The next morning the men burn the incense and stand at the entrance to the tabernacle. They rile up the people against Moses, and God descends as a cloud and tells Moses and Aaron to move away because He's going to destroy all of them.
• Moses begs God to not be angry with all the people because of one man's sins, and God has Moses instruct the people to get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Moses does this, and the people obey. The three men come to the doors of their tents with their families, and Moses announces that if the ground swallows up theses men, the people will know the men sinned against the Lord.
• The splits open, swallowing the men and their families, their belongings and tents, and anyone who stood with them. The earth closes up over them, and the people flee. Fire blazes forth from God and burns up the 250 men offering incense.
• God tells Moses to instruct Eleazar the priest to take the incense burners and hammer the metal into a thin sheet to overlay the altar. The bronze is hammered as instructed and placed on the altar to remind the people that no one who is not a Levite should enter the Lord's presence to burn incense.
• The next morning, the people begin grumbling about Moses and Aaron. Moses and Aaron go to the entrance of the tabernacle, and God tells them to get away from the people so he can instantly destroy them. Moses instructs Aaron to get an incense burner, light it, and carry it among the people to purify them, but the plague still kills 14,700 people. 

Aaron's Staff Buds – Numbers 17

• God tells Moses to get from the people twelve staffs, one from each tribe, and write the name of the tribe's chief on the staff. They are then to place the staffs in the tent of meeting before the testimony, and the staff of the man God chooses will sprout. The next morning, Aaron's staff has sprouted with blooms, buds, and almonds.
• Moses brings out the staffs and hands them to the men they belong to. God then tells Moses to put Aaron's staff back before the testimony as a sign for rebels. The people of Israel claim they are "undone" (ruined) and question if they will all die.

Duties of Priests and Levites – Numbers 18

• God tells Aaron that the Levites will be responsible for any offenses related to the sanctuary or the priesthood. He instructs Aaron to bring his relatives (the Levites) to the tent of meeting to assist them, but they must not go near the sacred items. Only the priests are to perform the sacred duties.
• God instructs that Aaron and his sons are in charge of the holy offerings (grain, sin, and guilt) and that they are to eat of them. Everything that Israel sets apart for the Lord will also belong to them, including the firstborns (which will be redeemed). They will receive no land, because God is their allotment, and the Levites will receive compensation for their service (they will received one-tenth from all people's donations).
• From that day on, no Israelites except for priests and Levites may approach the Tabernacle or they will die. The Levites can present their tenth as a sacred offering to the Lord, and it will be acceptable as their own offering. They are cautioned not to treat the holy gifts as common, or they will die.