The revolt of Israel congregation against Aaron and Moises Essay

The pericope that I choose for this reflection paper is Numbers 17:1-13. This pericope is the last in the series of three narratives about the revolt of Israel congregation against the high priest position of Aaron and the leadership of Moses. The first revolt came from Korah. Korah was a member of the tribe of Levi, the same tribe of Aaron (Exodus 6:16-20). Korah’s rebellion is not merely a personal attack on Aaron but also on his appointed-by-God priesthood. The second revolt led by Dathan and Abiram and the 250 other lay leaders defied and rejected the leadership of Moses. These revolted leaders have a very democratic argument, which is the will of the people must have higher authority than the leadership appointed by God. God answers by kill all the leaders and the followers of these two revolted parties. All those events establish the context for the text in Numbers 17:1-13. In this pericope, God instructs Moses to set up one final test in order to show His approval for A aron’s prietshood. This final test is intended to put an end to the people’s questioning and challenging of the authority of both Aaron and Moses. In this final test, Moses is instructed to take a staff from each tribal leader. The name of each leader is written on his staff. Aaron’s name is inscribed on the staff represents for the Levi tribe. Moses puts all these staves in the Tent of Meeting before the Lord. The next morning, Moses comes to the Tent and the staff of Aaron is sprouted, budded, blossomed and produced ripe almonds. There is something interesting in the way the text describes the staff of Aaron. The text does not simply say the staff of Aaron reaches the final stage of the production cycle and has ripe almond fruit on it. The text lists in det... ...ope that Jesus will come back in the same way He was lifted into heaven (Acts 1:11). The message of this pericope for Christian today is very clear that is honoring your spiritual leaders even when they fall short of fulfilling their callings. God gives salvation universally available for all, but God elects some to save and among whom He saves, He calls a few to lead. There are always failures and corruptions waiting to happen in the ministries of whom God calls to lead, that is inevitable. God wants Christian to honor their spiritual leaders not because who they are but because what they do. A true spiritual leader does two main things: preach the Word of God (Hebrews 13:7) and care for the souls of other Christians (Hebrews 13:17). As long as a spiritual leader commits to do these two things, the church as the God’s people ought to submit to his leadership.