Guest Blog written by: Ethan Pettigrew

As I read through today’s passage, I noticed a recurring theme; the Israelite people would get upset Moses or God, God would the want to destroy the Israelites,and Moses would then plead for everyone else’s life. Two of these occurrences.

In Numbers 16, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram,all Levites, sparked a rebellion against Moses and Aaron. Even though these men had, on numerous occasions, seen Moses directly communicate with God and miracles done through Moses by God, they believed that Moses had too much control over the Israelite people. This angered Moses causing him to set up basically a competition to see whose side God was on. After all the men had their offerings ready, God told Moses and Aaron to get out of the way because he was about to destroy everyone. Once Moses convinced God to just kill the rebels, God opened up the ground to swallow Korah, Dathan, and Abiram and then he burned the other 250 rebels.

In Chapter 13, leaders from each tribe of Israel went to scout out the land of Canaan. Upon the twelve men’s return they gave a report. The men all said that the land land was everything they expected and more, however all but two of the men said that it was certain death to try to invade and take the land. Caleb and Joshua were the only two who believed that God would provide a way for them to win. When God saw that no one believed in his strength, he declared that the Israelites would wander for another 40 years until everyone who doubted in God died (basically just leaving Caleb, Joshua, and children).

When first reading this scripture today, I wondered how the Israelites could doubt God so much. They had first hand experiences of God’s power; the parting of the Red Sea, God providing water from a rock as well as numerous victories in battle. At first I thought,if people today experienced those things there’s no way we wouldn’t all believe wholeheartedly in God. Then it hit me, we are exactly like the Israelites. Everyday we see a burning ball of gas millions of miles away that provides us with the heat and light necessary to survival. We see animals and plants consisting of countless cells that aren’t even visible to the naked eye. Less than 2 hours away from Florence is the ocean, a single body of water that supports millions of organisms. Not to mention we have the Bible, God’s direct words to us about his glory and power.