everyone.
All Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also. Numbers 16.34
But they were safe, at least for the moment, because God had his mind on other things.
Remember Moses’ original plan for dealing with Korah’s rebellion? He told him and his associates to burn incense before the Lord and let God choose who is holy.
This do; Take you censers, Korah, and all his company; And put fire therein, and put incense in them before the LORD to morrow: and it shall be that the man whom the LORD doth choose, he shall be holy. 16.6-7
But then God came up with the burying alive thing and the censer-swinging prayer contest was put on hold.
In the meantime, 250 of Korah’s followers did as Moses asked and burned some incense. So God burned them all alive to teach them a lesson or something. (If you do what he says he’ll burn you to death?)
There came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense. 16.35
At least I don’t have to guess the number of victims this time.
22. God killed 14,700 for complaining about God’s killings
Numbers 16.49
Number Killed: 14,700
Israelites
In case you haven’t been following along, here’s what has happened so far in Numbers 16.
Korah and his companions question Moses’ leadership, saying “Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?” (Numbers 16.1-3)
Moses falls on his face. (16.4)
The glory of the Lord appears to the congregation. (16.19)
God tells Moses to get out of the way because he’s going to kill everyone. (16.20-21)
Moses and Aaron fall on their faces. (16.22)
Korah, his companions, and their families are buried alive. (16.27-33)
God burns to death 250 men for burning incense. (16.35)
So, as you might expect, the people who had witnessed all this were pretty freaked out by now.
But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD. Numbers 16.41
Then “the glory of the Lord” appeared (again).
Behold ... the glory of the LORD appeared. 16.42
And God tells Moses he’s going to kill everyone (again).
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. 16.44-45a
I think you can guess by now what Moses and Aaron did next.
They fell upon their faces. 16.45b
Then Moses told Aaron to burn some incense to try to stop God from killing everyone.
Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun. 16.46
And the incense burning worked. (Sometimes God will stop killing if you burn incense; sometimes he’ll burn you to death instead. He works in mysterious ways.) But not before 14,700 had died in the plague.
Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah. 16.49
So in this chapter (Numbers 16), God threatened to kill everyone twice, but settled for killing 14,959 in three separate killing events (nine or so buried alive, 250 burned to death, and 14,700 killed in a plague).
But don’t complain about it or he’ll kill you, too.
23. The massacre of the Aradites
Numbers 21.3
Estimated Number Killed: 3,000
Canaanites
Don’t you just hate God-assisted holy war massacres? I do. They’re so damned boring.
But we might as well get used to them because God likes them. A lot. There are about 50 holy war massacres on the list of God’s 135 killings in the Bible. So there’s just no way to avoid them.
Here’s what happened in this one.
King Arad heard that the Israelites were coming, so he fought against
All Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also. Numbers 16.34
But they were safe, at least for the moment, because God had his mind on other things.
Remember Moses’ original plan for dealing with Korah’s rebellion? He told him and his associates to burn incense before the Lord and let God choose who is holy.
This do; Take you censers, Korah, and all his company; And put fire therein, and put incense in them before the LORD to morrow: and it shall be that the man whom the LORD doth choose, he shall be holy. 16.6-7
But then God came up with the burying alive thing and the censer-swinging prayer contest was put on hold.
In the meantime, 250 of Korah’s followers did as Moses asked and burned some incense. So God burned them all alive to teach them a lesson or something. (If you do what he says he’ll burn you to death?)
There came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense. 16.35
At least I don’t have to guess the number of victims this time.
22. God killed 14,700 for complaining about God’s killings
Numbers 16.49
Number Killed: 14,700
Israelites
In case you haven’t been following along, here’s what has happened so far in Numbers 16.
Korah and his companions question Moses’ leadership, saying “Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?” (Numbers 16.1-3)
Moses falls on his face. (16.4)
The glory of the Lord appears to the congregation. (16.19)
God tells Moses to get out of the way because he’s going to kill everyone. (16.20-21)
Moses and Aaron fall on their faces. (16.22)
Korah, his companions, and their families are buried alive. (16.27-33)
God burns to death 250 men for burning incense. (16.35)
So, as you might expect, the people who had witnessed all this were pretty freaked out by now.
But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD. Numbers 16.41
Then “the glory of the Lord” appeared (again).
Behold ... the glory of the LORD appeared. 16.42
And God tells Moses he’s going to kill everyone (again).
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. 16.44-45a
I think you can guess by now what Moses and Aaron did next.
They fell upon their faces. 16.45b
Then Moses told Aaron to burn some incense to try to stop God from killing everyone.
Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun. 16.46
And the incense burning worked. (Sometimes God will stop killing if you burn incense; sometimes he’ll burn you to death instead. He works in mysterious ways.) But not before 14,700 had died in the plague.
Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah. 16.49
So in this chapter (Numbers 16), God threatened to kill everyone twice, but settled for killing 14,959 in three separate killing events (nine or so buried alive, 250 burned to death, and 14,700 killed in a plague).
But don’t complain about it or he’ll kill you, too.
23. The massacre of the Aradites
Numbers 21.3
Estimated Number Killed: 3,000
Canaanites
Don’t you just hate God-assisted holy war massacres? I do. They’re so damned boring.
But we might as well get used to them because God likes them. A lot. There are about 50 holy war massacres on the list of God’s 135 killings in the Bible. So there’s just no way to avoid them.
Here’s what happened in this one.
King Arad heard that the Israelites were coming, so he fought against
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