“Be Slow to Speak”

Sunday, October 16, 2022

When words are many, transgression is

        not lacking,

but whoever restrains his lips is prudent. (Proverbs 10.19)

During the Israelites’ 40-year period of wandering through the wilderness, paying the penalty for failing to trust God and refusing to accept the inheritance he’d offered, there were several more incidents in which large groups rebelled against God and the leaders he’d chosen.  One of these is generally remembered as “the rebellion of Korah,” but while Korah was certainly most notable, there were many other ringleaders, including two brothers named Dathan and Abiram.  A portion of the story focuses on these two, and contains lessons for us, today.

Their primary complaint is that Moses and Aaron have clearly not delivered on the promise to lead the people to a wonderful new homeland after rescuing them from slavery in Egypt.  We can quickly see some major oversights in this accusation.  It wasn’t just Moses and Aaron promising this, but God.  Further, it must be acknowledged that they had, in fact, led Israel out of Egypt, where the people had “groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help” (Ex 2.23); was that not enough reason for the people to trust their leadership afterward?  But the most important flaw in the argument is also the most obvious—Moses and Aaron are only representatives of God, who was ready to hand over their inheritance, but for their rejection of his generosity!  God’s message had been relayed to them clearly:

“As I live, declares the Lord, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number…who have grumbled against me, not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected. …According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.” (Numbers 14.28-34)

Dathan and Abiram refuse to acknowledge this, and instead pretend the decision was up to Moses and Aaron—who in fact rescued the nation from perishing in one fell swoop, talking God down to this lesser penalty.  Their lack of gratitude is astonishing!

Moses gave Dathan and Abiram an opportunity to air their grievance directly, but they sent back their own message:

“We will not come up. Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also make yourself a prince over us? Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.” (Numbers 16.12-14)

If they have a complaint, why won’t they confront the responsible parties?  It’s because they’re not interested in seeing it resolved, or learning the facts, or acknowledging anyone’s authority.  They think they’ve figured out what Moses really thinks, and really wants, no matter what he says, and no matter what miracles they’ve witnessed.  Considering that they are openly rebelling, Moses would have been justified in simply sending agents to arrest them, exercising any force necessary to bring them, dead or alive.  He has exercised characteristic patience and attempted to settle the matter peacefully, securing repentance and reconciliation.  Moses’ approach serves to emphasize just how wrong Dathan and Abiram were in their assessment of his character and motivations.  But they’re not interested.  They’ve made their claim, and will stand by it stubbornly, regardless of the evidence. 

The story doesn’t end well for Dathan and Abiram.  His summons refused, Moses instead goes to them.

And he spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.” So they got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. (Numbers 16.26-27)

Then, “the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up” (v32).  This wasn’t vindictiveness on the part of Moses and Aaron, but God’s jealous protection of his chosen leaders.  And while we don’t see miraculous punishments from God today, his character has not changed since then. 

Dathan and Abiram weren’t motivated by truth or justice; to them, it was about getting what they wanted and never being held accountable.  They were happy to hurl baseless condemnations to get there, as if they were the rightful judges.  We can see from their death how God feels about this behavior, but he also included it in his Law:

If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing…falsely, then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. (Deuteronomy 19.16-19)

The lesson for us is simple: watch what you say!  Often, this will mean simply keeping your thoughts to yourself, as James also tells us, “let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger” (Ja 1.19).  You might not like it, but you’re not the judge, and you have no say.  But you will be held accountable one day for what you say.  As Jesus said,

“I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12.36-37)

Jeremy Nettles

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