AFTER the people had taken warning and separated from these wicked men, Dathan and Abiram came out and stood, with their wives and their children, in the door of their tents. And Moses said, “Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the Lord hath not sent me. But if the Lord makes a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit, then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord.”
And it came to pass as soon as he was through speaking these words, the ground under them clave asunder, and swallowed up these men with their families, their houses, and their goods. They all went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them.
The people fled at their cry, fearing that the earth would swallow them up also. And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered strange incense unto Him.
What a solemn, fearful end for those who thus rebelled, and for those who offered strange fire before the Lord!
Korah was a Levite, and, as appointed of the Lord, had service in the tabernacle to perform. But he was not satisfied with this. He wanted a higher place; seeking to get this, he fell, and miserably perished.
If the Lord has given my Christian reader a work to do, may he seek to do it cheerfully, and be satisfied.
The Lord preserve each and all His own from seeking a place where He has not put them, and may all be kept from hardening themselves against Him.
ML 06/12/1904