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Parasha Korach
by Rabbi Jack Farber
This week's Torah reading list, for the Shabbat of June 15/5 Tammuz, includes: Bamidbar / Numbers 16.1-18.32; I Sh'muel / Sam. 11.14-12.22; and, Romans 13:1-7. Bamidbar {16:12} Moshe sent to call Datan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; and they said, We won't come up: {16:13} 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, but you must needs make yourself also a prince over us? {16:14} Moreover you haven't 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 won't come up. {16:15} Moshe was very distressed, and said to HaSHEM, "Don't respect their offering: I have not taken one donkey from them, neither have I hurt one of them." Who would expect that such a docile animal as a sheep would attack its shepherd? In Parasha Korah, Moshe found out that sheep bite! There is no mistaking that it was G-d who called Moshe to be the shepherd of His flock. I'm sure Moshe would have been content tending his father-in-law's flocks on the back side of the desert. He was after all past retirement age and certainly not looking for a new adventure, let alone coming against the most powerful king on earth at the time. But G-d had other plans for Moshe. So if Moshe was obviously G-d's man why is he getting attacked? Why is not everything going smoothly? The answer I think is clear. From the passages we just read we can see that it was because of jealousy. Datan and Abiram were coveting Moshe's position. They in effect wanted to know who died and made him king. Yet even though Datan and Abiram's grievances against Moshe were temporal in nature, the root of the problem was obviously spiritual. First of all it was not Moshe that brought b'nei Yisrael into the wilderness, G-d did. Second it was not Moshe that brought them out of the land of Mitzryim, G-d did. Moshe was just a servant like any other servant, he just had the responsibility of being the leader. The spirit of envy (jealousy) is a very destructive spirit in fact it is demonic. Many times a person who is effected by this spirit is totally unaware they are under its power. Datan and Abiram had no idea what was controlling them that is because this demon masked itself in a barrage of false charges against Moshe. Demonic spirits mask themselves, they pretend to be something they are not. They look like sheep and even pretend to be harmless sheep, when in fact they are trouble looking for the opportunity to happen. Jealousy is a destructive spirit. It questions authority, it seeks to divide and it brings confusion and disorder into the congregation. Mishlei (Proverbs) {14:30} A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones. Envious people never like to act on their own they always try to bring other people into what they are doing. It is a way, I believe, for the controlling demon to mask his true purpose. By inciting other people with temporal grievances this demon can then cause rebellion and slyly take over. However look at G-d's warning to those who would get involved with such people: Bamidbar {16:23} HaSHEM spoke to Moshe, saying, {16:24} Speak to the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tent of Korach, Datan, and Abiram. {16:25} Moshe rose up and went to Datan and Abiram; and the elders of Yisrael followed him. {16:26} He spoke to the congregation, saying, Depart, I davven (pray) you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins. G-d will not deal kindly with those who foster rebellion or those who participate with them. Be careful because the agenda of an envious person may not be obvious at first, they may be masked in seeming legitimate complaints, but the goal is always the same, placing themselves in a leadership position. However the demon behind it all has its own agenda and that is destruction of the congregation.Rabbi Jack "Yaacov" Farber is the spiritual leader of Congregation Melech Yisrael in Toronto, Canada. Copyright 2002
- Romans 1:16, NIV |