Don't Get Cocky!

Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar.  Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”…Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel.  There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.  And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.  Exod 24:1-2, 9-11

I read the above passage in my morning reading and considered the marvelous privilege these men had.  Seventy-four leaders of the people were allowed to come into the presence of YHWH, see a glimpse of his glorious splendor, and commune with him.  Consider for a moment: the God of all glory desired to share intimate fellowship with his creatures.  What marvel for those men to have such an audience!  At the same time, we must make a sobering review of how these ended.  None were allowed to enter the promised rest in the land to which they were being taken.  What went wrong?

Seventy elders—Nothing specific is mentioned of these men, however there is one glaring instance of group think in which they must have been complicit.  Twelve spies went from Kadesh-barnea into the land as spies, bringing back a report and examples of fruitful harvest available. What happened next?

Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night.  And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron.  The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt!  Or would that we had died in this wilderness!  Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword?  Our wives and our little ones will become a prey.  Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”  And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”  Num 14:1-4

Where were the elders?  Why did they not intercede on behalf of Caleb and Joshua and affirm the good report.  But no, they chose to bow to the majority wishes and remained silent.  What was their reward of service?

But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers.  And none of those who despised me shall see it.…And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me?  I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me.  Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.’”  Num 14:21-23, 26-30

They were faithless, suffered discipline, and missed the blessing ultimately delivered to the next generation.

Nadab and Abihu—These eldest sons of Aaron seemed to have started well, yet what do find?

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said, ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’” And Aaron held his peace.  Lev 10:1-3

The sons of Aaron apparently got cocky and decided to go about things their own way. For whatever reason they attempted to bring something God had not prescribed as a token of worship, but the Lord considered it profane.

Aaron and Moses—Leaders of God's people and the two most closely aligned with the Lord and his precepts, above all they had an obligation to be examples of conduct and reliance on the Lord, but in one notable case, they failed miserably.

Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?”  And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock.  And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”  These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy.  Num 20:10-13

All this time, Moses and Aaron had done the Lord's bidding and put him first.  Now they tried aligning themselves as somehow on sufficient divine footing to do what something besides what he had said and gained some glory for themselves.  God will have none of that.  His name is to be upheld holy and supreme (Exod 20:7; Deut 5:11).

Conclusion—Regardless of our privileged status before the Lord of lords and King of kings, we must understand that he alone is to be exalted.  It is not our place to seek a position that he has not granted or work in a way in which he does not approve.  The correction will be painful and possibly final (death) but will be for our ultimate good because he loves us.