Psalm 106:16

Psalm 106:16

Jealous for power

Here we go! All of you who have had positions of leadership in churches will be familiar with this one! Let’s just remind ourselves of the story, shall we? It’s found in Numbers 16.  Moses, of course, had been appointed by the Lord to lead the Israelites on the exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land. His brother, Aaron, had also been appointed by God to be the High Priest in the community, and to take responsibility for the religious rites and ceremonies that the Lord had instituted. The Levites were the tribe selected to fill the other priestly roles and to carry out the religious duties that the Law demanded. This included the construction and care of the Tabernacle and its daily services and sacrifices. The Levites were responsible for overseeing the endless rules that governed behaviour and daily life as well as organising the special Feast days and the annual calendar of events. It was an interminable ritual of rules and regulations that had to be obeyed to the letter.

A man called Korah was a prominent Levite who had ideas beyond his station, he could not see why Moses and Aaron were the two dominant men in the leadership of the people and he accused them of going too far, of adopting roles above their stations. So far as Korah was concerned all the community was holy and there were no grounds for Moses and Aaron to set themselves above the people and to adopt seniority over everyone else. Quite obviously, Korah was jealous and also considered himself as good as, or an even better choice for leader or High Priest! He had succeeded in recruiting a large number of followers including some prominent Reubenites called Dathan, Abiram and On! About 250 other leaders of Israel joined the rebellion, each of whom also harboured misgivings about the roles of Moses and Aaron.

We will see how this confrontation pans out as we look at the next verses, sufficient to say that rebellions against leadership are as common as muck in the worlds of business and politics, and sadly they also occur in the church. There will always be someone lurking in the shadows who thinks they know better or could do a better job in leadership. Be prepared for confrontation, for the church of Jesus Christ is not a place for selfish ambition or for defiant opposition and these influences must be dealt with. However, we must also remember that the church is also not a place for those who hang on to power when the Lord has removed His anointing!

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