On the east side of the sea, Moses and the men, and Miriam and the women of the Hebrews, sung a song of praise to God for their miraculous deliverance.—We ought to thank God when he delivers us from evil, and be afraid to sin against him as the Egyptians did.
At Kadesh, the Hebrews murmured because there was no water for them and their cattle. And Moses and Aaron his brother looked unto the Lord to know what they should do. And he directed Moses unto a rock which was there, to smite it with his rod, and it should give forth water. And Moses did so, and water came out, and the people drank thereof, and their cattle also.
The tabernacle, which was built for the worship of God in the wilderness, was finished, and Moses, at the command of God, consecrated Aaron and his sons to the office of priests, and dedicated the tabernacle with all its vessels. It was the business of the priests to take the oversight of the tabernacle and all the furniture; they slew, burnt, and poured out the blood of the sacrifices; they put the shew-bread on the golden table; they offered the incense; they blew the silver trumpets; they supplied with oil, and lighted and snuffed the sacred lamps, and took down and set up the tabernacle.
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and other chiefs of the congregation, envying the authority of Moses and Aaron, formed a party against them. They haughtily upbraided Moses and Aaron as taking too much upon them. Moses replied that they were too arrogant to find fault with what God had ordered, and that the next day the Lord would show whom he allowed to officiate in the high priesthood. He advised Korah with his associates to appear with their censers full of incense to stand the trial. They did so, and put sacred fire into their censers. God ordered Moses and Aaron to separate themselves from them, that he might destroy them instantly. They did so; and the Lord caused the earth to open and swallow up alive Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and all their families. Thus were these wicked men, and those who adhered to them, destroyed for their arrogance and impiety.
