The 16th chapter of Numbers is the account of the rebellion of the Levite Korah. While Korah is the instigator, he somehow manages to convince 250 of the leaders of Israel to join him. These are the men who are “famous” for their integrity and character. They were hand picked to help relieve Moses of the burdens of leadership. Yet, here they are attempting instead to relieve Moses and Aaron of their leadership entirely. What kind of deception was powerful enough to make the wisest, most-respected men in the nation join such an insurrection and with no sign of force or coercion? I’m teaching Eric Metaxas’s Bonhoeffer: Pastor Prophet Spy this month and the same question was asked about the Christian leadership in Hitler’s Germany. What overwhelming delusion could have caused them willingly – even enthusiastically – to join the ranks of the Nazis? Perhaps it is found here in this passage. They wanted so deeply to share in the power of the state while thinking they could control this vile leader once they had what they wanted from him. They found that sharing the burdens of leadership was not nearly as attractive as having the ultimate power. Men who had been literally merely gate-keepers could become king makers. So these men who had been on the fringes of power as Levites saw the prospect of becoming genuine “players” with access to real power. All they had to do was join Korah and then dispose of him. Their argument to Moses? “We are as good as you and we deserve the office and the privileges that go with it.” They wanted the status without the sacrifice. In their minds they were just as worthy as Moses and it was time for he and Aaron to step down and stop holding themselves as better than the people.
C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Proposes A Toast puts it this way.
“What it (I’m as good as you) expresses is precisely the itching, smarting, writhing awareness of an inferiority which the patient refuses to accept. And therefore resents. Yes, and therefore resents every kind of superiority in others; denigrates it; wishes its annihilation. Presently he suspects every mere difference of being a claim to superiority.”
I am concerned about our own wise and “famous” leaders – even religious leaders – who are so attracted to power that they fall prey to once again becoming the “useful idiots” ambitious politicians have counted on and pandered to during recent elections. We want so desperately to be players that we sell our souls. Thinking we are influential and in control we find once again that we have been seduced by our own deceitful hearts.