But in chapter xvi. the wilderness story is resumed—that sad and humbling story, so far as man is concerned, but a bright and blessed story of the exhaustless patience and boundless grace of God. These are the two grand lessons of the wilderness. We learn what man is and we learn what God is. The two things lie side by side on the pages of the book of Numbers. Thus in chapter xiv. we have man and his ways; in chapter xv. we have God and His ways; and now, in the chapter which opens before us, we come back to man and his ways again. May we reap much deep and solid instruction from the double lesson. “Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men; and they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, ‘Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?’” (Ver. 1-3.) Here, then, we enter upon the solemn history of what the Holy Ghost, by the apostle Jude, terms, “The gainsaying of Core.” The rebellion is attributed to Korah, inasmuch as he was the religious leader in it. He seems to have possessed sufficient influence to gather around him a large number of influential men—“princes, famous men, and men of renown.” In short, it was a very formidable and serious rebellion; and we shall do well to look closely at its source and moral features.