Who do you think you are?

And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD? And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face: And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even to morrow the LORD will shew who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him. – Numbers 16.3-5

Poor old Moses. Very few men could claim to have been called to a crowd which was more rebellious and more stubborn than Israel. For more than forty years they balked at nearly everything Moses said or tried to do.

Korah was a bad guy. Jude speaks about the rebellion of Korah as an example of how false teachers behave.

Korah, true to his nature, here leads a great rebellion against the man that God put in authority.

What makes you think you are so special Moses? You are no better than any of the rest of us. Everyone is holy and you set yourself up over us.

Korah’s unwillingness to submit to human authority is a real issue and it is one that the word of God addresses regularly. Throughout the Bible we are reminded of the importance of obeying and respecting those in authority. We are told to obey our parents, our bosses, our political leaders, and our pastors. To disregard their authority is to disregard God’s authority.

We can’t forget that God puts others in places of authority. Korah’s lesson is going to be pretty tough, but it shows how important submission is to God because the only thing that gets in the way of submission is pride.