Numbers 26:1-65

Here we see the Israelites preparing for their entrance into the Promised Land.  After the plague for disobedience and idolatry in the last chapter, the Lord calls a new census to be taken.  Why?  The entire generation that had rebelled against the Lord about going into the land had died; the last of them must have gone in the plague.  It says that among those listed in the new census, not one had been listed in the census at Sinai (v. 64).  According to this census would the land be divided among the tribes and inheritances handed out; if the tribe was large, they would be given a larger tract of land to accommodate their people; if the tribe was small, their lot would be smaller according to the number of their people.  It was a way to ensure that everyone in Israel had an adequate inheritance, if they were careful to take care of it and protect it and nurture, and their relationship with their God.

What really struck me about this passage, though, is the part about Korah.  You remember the story: Korah leads a rebellion against Aaron and Moses, speaks out against God, and in punishment the earth opens up and swallows Korah, his cohorts, and their families.  But not, apparently, Korah's sons.  Perhaps they chose not to stand with their father in his rebellion (likely, I think, since everyone else went into the earth); it's not explicit, but we know they were granted a stay of execution.  The next time we see the sons of Korah?  In the Book of Psalms are a number subtitled as a maskil by the sons of Korah.  What a maskil is, exactly, is obscure to us: we have no idea.  But it is thought that it is a sort of musical term, perhaps it's a type of song.  We don't know.  However, what is clear to us is that the sons of Korah eventually became a prominent group of musicians among the Levites, kind of like the Old Testament equivalent of Matt Redman or Lincoln Brewster or Christ Tomlin, or a host of others whose names I don't know as I'm not much of a music buff: those that write the worship songs we like to sing in our churches today.

Talk about second chances.  Talk about redemption.  Talk about good coming out of something bad.  How often does the Old Testament talk about sins and the consequences for sin being visited upon  generation and generation after the original?  (Um, just look at Adam, right?)  Why is it that Korah's entire household went down with him?  Yet his sons survived, and his descendants, coming from an angry and rebellious forebear, become examples of worship in the Old Testament.  Talk about awesome!  We today even know some of the words they wrote with the Holy Spirit: anyone ever sing, "As the Deer?"  Yeah, that comes from a psalm the sons of Korah wrote to worship the Lord.  Pretty cool, huh?

Tomorrow's Reading: Numbers 27:1-28:15