Study Desk

Then he said to Korah and his followers, "Tomorrow morning the Lord will show us who belongs to him and who is holy. The Lord will allow only those whom he selects to enter his own presence.

Light fires in them tomorrow, and burn incense before the Lord . Then we will see whom the Lord chooses as his holy one. You Levites are the ones who have gone too far!"

You and each of your 250 followers must prepare an incense burner and put incense on it, so you can all present them before the Lord . Aaron will also bring his incense burner."

This would warn the Israelites that no unauthorized person—no one who was not a descendant of Aaron—should ever enter the Lord 's presence to burn incense. If anyone did, the same thing would happen to him as happened to Korah and his followers. So the Lord 's instructions to Moses were carried out.

"Tell the people of Israel to bring you twelve wooden staffs, one from each leader of Israel's ancestral tribes, and inscribe each leader's name on his staff.

When Moses brought all the staffs out from the Lord 's presence, he showed them to the people. Each man claimed his own staff.

Give it to Eleazar the priest, and it will be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.

Eleazar will take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tabernacle.

"Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water. Afterward he may return to the camp, though he will remain ceremonially unclean until evening.

The man who burns the animal must also wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and he, too, will remain unclean until evening.

The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he will remain ceremonially unclean until evening. This is a permanent law for the people of Israel and any foreigners who live among them.

Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with the staff, and water gushed out. So the entire community and their livestock drank their fill.

This place was known as the waters of Meribah (which means "arguing") because there the people of Israel argued with the Lord , and there he demonstrated his holiness among them.

But the king of Edom replied, "Stay out! You may not pass through our land." With that he mobilized his army and marched out against them with an imposing force.

"The time has come for Aaron to join his ancestors in death. He will not enter the land I am giving the people of Israel, because the two of you rebelled against my instructions concerning the water at Meribah.

Now take Aaron and his son Eleazar up Mount Hor.

There you will remove Aaron's priestly garments and put them on Eleazar, his son. Aaron will die there and join his ancestors."

But King Sihon refused to let them cross his territory. Instead, he mobilized his entire army and attacked Israel in the wilderness, engaging them in battle at Jahaz.

Heshbon had been the capital of King Sihon of the Amorites. He had defeated a former Moabite king and seized all his land as far as the Arnon River.

What sorrow awaits you, O people of Moab! You are finished, O worshipers of Chemosh! Chemosh has left his sons as refugees, his daughters as captives of Sihon, the Amorite king.