What We Don’t Know

Jude ¹¹ Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.

I am amazed at the lack of knowledge of so many people these days, especially the lack of basic history knowledge. We can see this as the propaganda flies around the middle east concerning the existence of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel for millennia. If we were to believe this lie, Israel only started in the last century following WWII.

But basic knowledge about the nature of the universe and the Creator who made it with a certain order and way of existing has been lacking almost since the beginning of time. We are fortunate in that we can learn from the mistakes of those who failed before us.

I learned a lesson this last week, one which I had failed to fully learn in my sixty six years on Earth. I was out running, as I am prone to do in the mornings now, and I tripped over who knows what. As the slow-motion scramble of about ten steps was unfolding, I kept thinking to myself, “I can get my feet sufficiently in front of this fall and stop it.” I couldn’t. After the unsuccessful steps, my face made contact with the sidewalk. The lesson I learned: if I ever trip, head for the grass!

Our text has three different lessons for the people of God who were living in the first century after Jesus. Some people had entered their community with the intent to disrupt and pervert. So the author wrote this letter to help keep the community on track in their spiritual/relational life with the Lord. Here are the three lessons.

First, we hear about Caan who is the brother of Abel, page four of the Hebrew Bible. These two sons of Adam & Eve brought gifts to the LORD, gifts that expressed their understanding of how the world works. Caan thought because his brother received a blessing that the LORD didn’t have a blessing for him. He thought there wasn’t enough blessing for everyone.

Our next character is Balaam, who thought he could sell the blessing of God to the highest bidder. The king of an enemy of Israel wanted Balaam to curse Israel for a price. After several unproductive attempts to get Balaam to curse Israel, Balaam finally learned the lesson that God’s blessing can’t be bought by anyone.

Our third character is Korah, who chose to try and set up an alternative leadership structure in rebellion against the LORD. It is almost funny to read how massively this failed. He learned the lesson that opposing the LORD doesn’t work.

Some lessons can be learned without falling flat on our faces.