Eleventh Sunday.
THE GAINSAYING OF KORAH.
FIRST READING.
"The Lord will show who are His and who is holy."—Numbers 16:5.
WHEN the Israelites came out of Egypt they had a long journey to go, through a dreary, lonely wilderness. Moses and his brother Aaron led them; and God took care of them, and fed them, and kept them safe.
But there were some wicked men, named Dathan and Abiram, who were tired of the wilderness, and were angry at having Moses for their leader and master, though God had made him lead them, and had done so much for them. They said they were as good as Moses, and that he should not be their prince. They did not care for God having spoken by him.
Their end was so very dreadful that I can hardly tell it to you. God would not let them rise up against His servant Moses; and when they would not listen nor repent He made the earth open under their feet, and they went down alive, and were swallowed up in the pit before the eyes of all the other Israelites; and so they died the most terrible death anyone ever died. It was because they set themselves up against Moses, whom God had placed over them, that He was so angry with them.