W. Robert Godfrey

Look at verse 5 in Deuteronomy 11.

He's been talking about the great victory over Pharaoh at the Red Sea, and he goes on to say in verse 5, "...and what God did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place."

and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them in the midst of all Israel."

So, here's one of the great judgments in the wilderness, Korah's rebellion against the Lord in which he was joined by Nathan and Abiram.

And notice how Moses tells this story.

Do you notice what he doesn't mention in this story?

He doesn't use the name of Korah.

Korah's name is too vile to be repeated is the implication here.

But of course the implication is also that people will be so well acquainted with this story that they'll know immediately what he's talking about.

And this is another of the reasons why it's so important for us to really know our Bible history.

I was thinking about that relative to the golden calf, which I said was so prominent in parts of the Old Testament.

But Paul almost does the same thing in 1 Corinthians about the golden calf that Moses here in Deuteronomy 11 is doing with Korah.

Because in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 7, Paul says, "...do not be idolaters as some of them were.

As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play."

That was said of the people as they danced around the golden calf.

So Paul doesn't mention the golden calf, but he alludes to it, and he assumes that we'll be well enough acquainted with the Scriptures that we'll recognize that and understand that.

And I guess we could say the application would be if the Corinthians could know about the golden calf, we ought to be able to know about the golden calf and know this history and treasure it as the way in which we come to know the Lord and to depend upon him.

And he promises then, again, that blessing.

And he does it in a rather interesting way.

I thought, if any of you are farmers, you'll appreciate this, and maybe you'll appreciate it even if you're not a farmer.