Ch 15
v1-21 Making offerings that are a pleasing aroma to the Lord is essential. We do as God pleases, not as we ourselves choose.
For those who sinned defiantly, there was no way back - they were to be cut off. This was because the Lord's word was being despised and broken and their guilt remaining with them. It is a rejection of who God is and all His character and promises.
The deliberate law-breaker had to be taken by the assembly and dealt with. We deal with sin in community, never in isolation.
Ch 16:1-35
Korah's rebellion was that Moses and Aaron had gone too far - they had set themselves up above God's assembly.
Dathan & Abiram's rebellion was against Moses' command - they argued that he had come to lord it over them and so they disobeyed him.
In both cases, the rebels were setting themselves up against the Lord's chosen leader. In the process, God is rebelled against and sinned against. Sin is serious and therefore must be dealt with seriously.
Ch 17
The exclusive Aaronite priesthood is strengthened and confirmed by the rebellion against him, but God's confirmation that he is His chosen means. Aaron is the one who stands between the living and the dead. He illustrates what Christ does in mediating for us.
Our service to God is nothing more than a gift - anything more is a work to gain us righteousness, which it never could do.
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