What strong, selfless leadership looks like (Numbers 16–17; Matthew 12; Luke 6)

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One of the greatest rebellions in Israel’s history was the one led by Korach (Korah). The consequences reverberated throughout Israel’s history, as later the Israelites insisted that Samuel, the judge, anoint a king for them. God agreed and appointed for them a king, named Shaul (Saul). Samuel took the people’s request personally, thinking they were rejecting him as their judge but the truth is their request of a king was a betrayal of God as Israel’s king. 

‘Recognize them by their fruits’ (Numbers 17)

The staffs of the leaders were made from dead trees, yet the rod of Aaron sprouted and came back to life. From death to life.

Aaron was known by his “fruit,” which in this case was the almond. The Torah and prophets tells us that the almond represents God’s all-seeing eyes. The seven lamp cups of the Menorah (lampstand) of the Tabernacle was fashioned to look like almonds (Ex. 25:33–34; 37:19–20), and the Menorah lamps are described as “the eyes of the LORD” (Zech. 4:1–10).

This suggests that God had His eyes on Aaron as the High Priest. This was divine proof that Aaron did not set himself up as High Priest but he was anointed and appointed by God for this task. 

““Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves. You’ll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So you’ll recognize them by their fruit.” (Matthew 7:15–20 HCSB)

This is a very sobering text. Sheep in biblical imagery represent something of great value that are easily lead. Repeatedly the Tanak refers to the leadership as shepherds, but those Yeshua confronted were not leading the sheep to “green pastures and still waters” but scattered and abused the flock and making a mess of things. 

Yeshua warns strongly against false leaders. Someone who appears to be good, or even starts out as good, can easily turn to evil. God has given us the means to test the words of someone who claims to be a teacher or prophet, in Deuteronomy 13 and 18. 

You may be an instrument of Heaven, in spite of yourself (Leviticus 16)

““Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’” (Matthew 7:21–23 HCSB)

This verse sounds very similar to Numbers 16, when we see what happened to the incense burners of Korach’s rabble-rousers. Those incense burners became holy, even as the people who were presenting them were not holy. The incense burners were repurposed. The censers were reused for holy purpose and allowed to enter the holy precincts as those who originally presented them were not allowed to enter in themselves. This shows that God can use whoever He wills for His purposes. 

““Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. A good man produces good things from his storeroom of good, and an evil man produces evil things from his storeroom of evil.” (Matthew 12:33–35 HCSB)

The people who continually attacked Yeshua, these “brood of vipers” were attacking Him because those evil thoughts were in their hearts and naturally came out of their hearts. 

Taking the ‘log out of your own eye’ is the beginning of wisdom — and a way to prevent projection

People can meticulously follow rituals and ceremonies yet their hearts are evil and their evil hearts taints their actions. You can be perfectly meticulous in eating what is food and what is now, but are you equally meticulous about what you feed your mind? 

“Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but don’t notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself don’t see the log in your eye? Hypocrite! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck in your brother’s eye. A good tree doesn’t produce bad fruit; on the other hand, a bad tree doesn’t produce good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs aren’t gathered from thornbushes, or grapes picked from a bramble bush. A good man produces good out of the good storeroom of his heart. An evil man produces evil out of the evil storeroom, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.” (Luke 6:41–45 HCSB)

We are called to take the log out of our own eyes first before looking for the log in someone elses. 

• Don’t be a hypocrite.
• Don’t sidestep your problems to rail against others who you think have them, accusing them of having those problems.

In psychology, this warped thinking has been called “projection.”

“Projection is the process of displacing one’s feelings onto a different person, animal, or object. The term is most commonly used to describe defensive projection—attributing one’s own unacceptable urges to another. For example, if someone continuously bullies and ridicules a peer about his insecurities, the bully might be projecting his own struggle with self-esteem onto the other person. The concept emerged from Sigmund Freud’s work on defense mechanisms and was further refined by his daughter, Anna Freud, and other prominent figures in psychology.”

“Projection,” Psychology Today, accessed July 2, 2022

More recent research has challenged the original idea that projection is defensive.

“[P]eople who both avoid thinking about having threatening personality traits and deny possessing them (repressors) also readily infer those traits from others’ behavior.”

from the abstract for Newman, L. S., Duff, K. J., & Baumeister, R. F. (1997). “A new look at defensive projection: Thought suppression, accessibility, and biased person perception.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72(5), 980–1001.

Taking the “log out of our own eye” means that we value reproof and correction. This is how we become wise.

Yeshua is a picture of how to live the way God wants us to live out His Torah. Those of us who love God also love His creation, defending life and defending those who can’t defend themselves. Loving life is what distinguishes the Judeo-Christian religion from the other religion of the world. 

Believers are not to be desensitized from the evil in the world. We are called to speak up when we see injustice in the world. We are to have respect for those who bear His image in the world, which is that all men and women share in common. 

The Golden Rule is based on living up to mankind’s being created בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים b’tzelem Elohim (“in the image of God”) and following the Messiah, “who is the image of God” (2Corinthians 4:4 NASB).

“You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19:17–18 NASB)

Loving your neighbor as yourself means not to hate our fellow countrymen, but not having our fellow countrymen isn’t just refraining from physical violence. It also means that even in our thoughts and our hearts, we do not wish violence on others. 

Yet, if things are going astray, we can’t be silent. If we correct something, we don’t cross the line to vengeance. 

The LORD chose to bestow leadership on those who walk toward life rather than death and toward seeing reality (symbolized by almonds). This is what God saw in Aharon and his descendants.

Heaven uses a ‘bad reports’ to incite Israel. Will they be to repentance or to rebellion?

There are parallels between Yosef’s relationship with his brothers and his accusation of them as spies and Moshe’s commissions the spies to go into the land of Israel. 

Yosef (Joseph) had brought a “bad report” to Jacob about this brothers (Genesis 37). The Hebrew word for that Genesis 37 and Numbers 13–14 is דִּבָּה dibbah (H1681) is also used when describing what the 10 spies did when they returned from the Promised Land. Dibah means “defaming, evil report, infamy or slander” Later, the brothers did the same thing by taking Yosef’s robe, smearing it in blood and lying to his father, by saying that Yosef had been devoured by wild beasts. 

The 10 spies told the people that the land and the people in the land would devour them, echoing what the brothers had said about Yosef. The two spies agreed that the people in the land were formidable, but they had enough faith to see that God would be the one who would fight for them and would protect them. 

Yeshua didn’t talk about “evil reports,” but He would talk about the dangers of the evil or “wicked generation” (Luke 11:29). The evil and wicked generation is those who seek for a sign, for miracles to back up His teaching, rather than taking His words that He was speaking the truth that He was the one who was greater than Solomon and Jonah. Jonah’s message brought repentance to the gentiles of Nineveh and Solomon’s wisdom impressed the gentile Queen of Sheba and Yeshua’s message reached even more Gentiles than either Solomon or Jonah. 

Korach and his cohort were blessed to have a “front-row seat” in seeing how the priests ministered to God for the people, yet that role was not enough for them. On the flip side, Moses and Aaron did not respond to Korach’s criticism with pride but with humility. 

Yeshua said in a parable not to seat yourself at the head of the table, otherwise the host of the feast will publicly demote you to the end of the table (Luke 14:7–11). It’s better to sit at the foot of the table so the host will move you to the head of the table. 

The events we see in the Torah reading Korach show us how God miraculously moved Moses, and particularly Aaron, to the head of the table. 

We also see in Aaron’s actions later that God does not delight in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23, 32; 33:11). Aaron was willing to go into the breach to save the lives of those who had previously defamed him as a power-hungry usurper, and Yeshua became an even greater example of God’s forgiveness and mercy. May we live by their examples. 

Summary: Tammy