Dangerous Decline (vv. 13-23). The seeds of unbelief buried in the hearts of the Jewish people took root and bore bitter fruit in the years to come. As George Morrison wrote, “The Lord took Israel out of Egypt in one night, but it took Him forty years to take Egypt out of Israel.” The people were slow to remember God’s past deeds but quick to rush ahead and ignore His desires. However, they did not hesitate to make known their own desires, for they craved water (Ex. 15:22-27), food (Ex. 16), and meat (Num. 11:4-15, 31-35). “What shall we eat? What shall we drink?” (See Matt. 6:25ff.) God provided daily manna (“angels’ food”–78:25), water at an oasis and then from the rock (Ex. 17), and enough fowl to give meat to the whole nation. People who grumble and complain are people not walking by faith in the promises of God (Phil. 2:14-15). We must resist the temptation to yield to our fleshly cravings (1 Cor. 10:1-13).

The rebellion of Korah (Num. 16–17) followed soon after Israel’s apostasy at Kadesh Barnea when the nation refused to enter the Promised Land. Korah enlisted his 250 fellow rebels because of this crisis; all he had to do was blame Moses and claim that the nation needed new leadership. (Political candidates have been doing this ever since.) Korah was a Levite in the family of Kohath, whose privilege it was to carry the tabernacle furnishings. But Korah was not satisfied with that task; he wanted to function at the altar as a priest (Num. 16:8-10). Pride and selfish ambition have always brought trouble to God’s people (Phil. 2:1-11; James 4:1-10). These rebels were opposing the will of God, for it was the Lord who chose Moses and Aaron to lead the nation, and so the Lord destroyed Korah and his followers. Respect for God’s leaders is important to the success of the Lord’s work (Heb. 13:7, 17).

The first failure involved the lusts of the flesh, and the second involved the pride of life (see 1 John 2:15-17). The third failure, the worship of the golden calf (Ex. 32; Deut. 9:8-29), involved the lust of the eyes. For forty days, Moses had been on Sinai with the Lord, and the Jewish people were nervous without their leader. (When he was with them, they opposed him and criticized him!) In spite of what the Lord had taught them at Sinai, they wanted a god they could see (Deut. 4:12-19). Aaron collected gold jewelry and molded a calf for the people to see and worship, and Moses had to intercede with the Lord to turn away His wrath. They rejected the eternal God (their “glory”–Rom. 1:23) for a man-made piece of gold that could not see, hear, speak, or act! Once again, Israel forgot what the Lord had done for them. The phrase “stood … in the breach” (v. 23) describes a soldier standing at a break in the city walls and preventing the enemy from entering. What a picture of intercessory prayer (Ezek. 22:30)!