Jude Series: Jude 11d-Like Korah, the Unregenerate Jewish Zealots of Judaea Would Be Judged For Their Rebellion

Jude 11 Disaster will strike them because they have allowed themselves to follow Cain’s course of conduct. Also, they abandoned themselves to Balaam’s perversion, namely financial reward. Consequently, they will certainly cause themselves to be destroyed in association with Korah’s rebellion. (Lecturer’s translation)

Jude 11 is composed of four declarative statements.

The first solemnly asserts that disaster will strike these unregenerate Jewish Zealots.

The second presents the reason for the first and asserts that these individuals have allowed themselves to follow Cain’s course of conduct.

The third declarative statement presents the second reason for the first and asserts that these unregenerate Jewish Zealots have abandoned themselves to Balaam’s perversion, namely, financial reward.

The fourth declarative statement presents the result of the first three declarative statements and asserts that these unregenerate Jewish Zealots will certainly cause themselves to be destroyed in association with Korah’s rebellion.

Jude 11 presents three examples from the Old Testament of individuals who were judged by the Lord for rebelling against His authority.

The first is Cain’s rebellion against the Lord, which is recorded in Genesis chapter four.

The second is Balaam’s rebellion against the Lord which is recorded in Numbers 22-24, Numbers 31:16 and Deuteronomy 23:4-5.

The third and final example is Korah’s rebellion against the authority of Moses, which was delegated to him by the Lord Himself, which is recorded in Numbers chapter sixteen.

Therefore, Jude 11 is teaching that just like Cain, Balaam and Korah were judged by the Lord for rebelling against Him so these Jewish Zealots, who were attempting to lead the citizens of Judaea into a rebellion against Rome in order to usher in the kingdom of God on earth, would be judged by the Lord as well.

These three examples which appear in Jude 11 are in addition to the three presented in Jude 5-7.

Jude 11 also presents the sixth triad, which we have come across in our study of the epistle of Jude.

The first two appear in Jude 1-2 and the third appears in Jude 5-7 and the fourth appears in Jude 8, which contains a three-fold description of the Jewish Zealots in Jude’s day and age.

The fifth triad appears in Jude 10, which presents another three-fold description of these unregenerate Jewish Zealots.

As we noted at the beginning of our study of Jude 11, the fourth declarative statement presents the result of the first three declarative statements and asserts that these unregenerate Jewish Zealots will certainly cause themselves to be destroyed in association with Korah’s rebellion.

“Korah” was a Levite who rebelled against Moses’ authority which led to his death (cf. Numbers 16:1-40).

Numbers 16:1 Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, who were Reubenites, took men 16:2 and rebelled against Moses, along with some of the Israelites, 250 leaders of the community, chosen from the assembly, famous men. 16:3 And they assembled against Moses and Aaron, saying to them, “You take too much upon yourselves, seeing that the whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the community of the Lord?” 16:4 When Moses heard it he fell down with his face to the ground. 16:5 Then he said to Korah and to all his company, “In the morning the Lord will make known who are his, and who is holy. He will cause that person to approach him; the person he has chosen he will cause to approach him. 16:6 Do this, Korah, you and all your company: Take censers, 16:7 put fire in them, and set incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses will be holy. You take too much upon yourselves, you sons of Levi!” 16:8 Moses said to Korah, “Listen now, you sons of Levi! 16:9 Does it seem too small a thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the community of Israel to bring you near to himself, to perform the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the community to minister to them? 16:10 He has brought you near and all your brothers, the sons of Levi, with you. Do you now seek the priesthood also? 16:11 Therefore you and all your company have assembled together against the Lord! And Aaron—what is he that you murmur against him?” 16:12 Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come up. 16:13 Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of the land that flows with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness? Now do you want to make yourself a prince over us? 16:14 Moreover, you have not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey, nor given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you think you can blind these men? We will not come up.” 16:15 Moses was very angry, and he said to the Lord, “Have no respect for their offering! I have not taken so much as one donkey from them, nor have I harmed any one of them!” 16:16 Then Moses said to Korah, “You and all your company present yourselves before the Lord—you and they, and Aaron—tomorrow. 16:17 And each of you take his censer, put incense in it, and then each of you present his censer before the Lord: 250 censers, along with you, and Aaron—each of you with his censer.” 16:18 So everyone took his censer, put fire in it, and set incense on it, and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting, with Moses and Aaron. 16:19 When Korah assembled the whole community against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting, then the glory of the Lordappeared to the whole community. 16:20 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: 16:21 “Separate yourselves from among this community, that I may consume them in an instant.” 16:22 Then they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all people, will you be angry with the whole community when only one man sins?” 16:23 So the Lord spoke to Moses: 16:24 “Tell the community: ‘Get away from around the homes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.’ ” 16:25 Then Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel went after him. 16:26 And he said to the community, “Move away from the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything they have, lest you be destroyed because of all their sins.” 16:27 So they got away from the homes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram on every side, and Dathan and Abiram came out and stationed themselves in the entrances of their tents with their wives, their children, and their toddlers. 16:28 Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lordhas sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will. 16:29 If these men die a natural death, or if they share the fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. 16:30 But if the Lord does something entirely new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up along with all that they have, and they go down alive to the grave, then you will know that these men have despised the Lord!” 16:31 When he had finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open, 16:32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, along with their households, and all Korah’s men, and all their goods. 16:33 They and all that they had went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed over them. So they perished from among the community. 16:34 All the Israelites who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “What if the earth swallows us too?” 16:35 Then a fire went out from the Lord and devoured the 250 men who offered incense. 16:36 (17:1) The Lord spoke to Moses: 16:37 “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to pick up the censers out of the flame, for they are holy, and then scatter the coals of fire at a distance. 16:38 As for the censers of these men who sinned at the cost of their lives, they must be made into hammered sheets for covering the altar, because they presented them before the Lord and sanctified them. They will become a sign to the Israelites.” 16:39 So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers presented by those who had been burned up, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar. 16:40 It was a memorial for the Israelites, that no outsider who is not a descendant of Aaron should approach to burn incense before the Lord, that he might not become like Korah and his company—just as the Lord had spoken by the authority of Moses. (NET)

In Jude 11, the noun antilogia (ἀντιλογία), “rebellion” speaks of Korah’s open, public defiance of Moses’ authority which was delegated to him by Yahweh.

This word functions as a dative of association, which indicates the person or thing one associates with or accompanies and to “associate” is to join as a partner or to connect together and speaks of something closely connected.

Therefore, this is indicating that these unregenerate Jewish Zealots will cause themselves to be destroyed by the Lord “in association with” Korah’s rebellion.

It is expressing the idea that these unregenerate Jewish Zealots will be killed by the Lord for their rebellion against Rome just as Korah was killed for his rebellion against Moses.

Korah and these unregenerate Jewish Zealots are in association with one another and closely connected with each other because they both rebelled against the Lord’s authority by opposing those to whom He delegated authority.

Korah rebelled against the authority the Lord delegated to Moses and these Jewish Zealots rebelled against the authority the Lord delegated to the Roman government.

The verb apollumai(ἀπόλλυμαι), “they have been destroyed” is proleptic or futuristic aorist tense, which is emphasizing the certainty that the Lord Jesus Christ will kill these unregenerate Jewish Zealots just as He killed Korah for his rebellion against Him.

Also, the middle voice of this verb is a direct middle, which is expressing the idea that these unregenerate Jewish Zealots “destroyed themselves” by rebelling against the Lord like Korah did.

It can also be interpreted as a causative middle, which is expressing the idea that these unregenerate Jewish Zealots will as a certainty “cause themselves” to be killed in association with Korah’s rebellion.

This again expresses the volitional responsibility of these individuals in that they are responsible for their own deaths because they unrepentantly rejected the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ by rebelling against Him by rebelling against the authority which He delegated to the Roman Empire to rule over Judaea.

These unregenerate Jewish Zealots were destroying themselves in the sense that they were bringing the judgment of the Lord Jesus Christ upon themselves for rebelling against Him.

By rebelling against Satan’s authority over human governmental authority, they were rebelling against the Lord Jesus Christ because He temporarily delegated authority to the devil and his angels to rule over unregenerate humanity with the exception of Israel until He establishes His sovereign authority over all the nations of the earth at His Second Advent.