N16-5: The Torah Definition of the ‘UNFORGIVABLE SIN’

Well, I think we get a good example of it here in Numbers 16 in Datan and Aviram’s response to Moses.

“You haven’t at all brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, and you haven’t put us in possession of fields and vineyards. Do you think you can gouge out these men’s eyes and blind them? We won’t come up!”-Numbers 16:14

Datan and Aviram went so far as to say that it was Egypt and not Canaan that was a land flowing with milk and honey and that the only reason Moses brought them out of the land of Egypt was so he could rule over them.

Unbelievable and so sad.

Everything they were saying shows just how separated their hearts and minds were from the promises of God.

Notice the interesting expression “Do you think you can gouge out these men’s eyes and blind them?“.

That’s just a rough translation from the Hebrew idiom which would be equivalent to “Do you think you can pull the wool over our eyes?“.

Come to think it, that’s how the Bible translators should have translated this phrase.

The bottom line was that Moses was being accused of the worst kind of deception by tricking the people into believing they would have a better life and homeland in Canaan.

What does this have to do with the unforgivable sin and blaspheming the Holy Spirit?

Well, in one word, EVERYTHING.

Let’s step back for a second and take a good look at Israel’s current status and situation.

God has ALREADY saved Israel.

It’s a done deal.

With a mighty and powerful hand, God rescued Israel from out of Egypt culminating in one of the greatest miracles ever performed in the history of mankind: the splitting of the Red Sea and subsequent drowning of the Egyptian Army.

Yet, in spite of all this, in saying they want to return to Egypt, the rebels are essentially saying “We don’t want or need our salvation“.

They are literally spitting in the face of the redemption HASHEM God gave to them by His Grace.

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you“.

Well, in this case, Korah along with Datan and Aviram were literally cutting off (KARET) the hand that feeds them.

I couldn’t think of a more perfect example of blaspheming the Holy Spirit.

There are actually more than quite a few passages in Scripture that warn us of the chilling reality that it is possible to give back one’s redemption.

A lot of people seem to assume that the unforgivable sin is actually some unknown sin.

But I don’t think it is.

I think what we’re witnessing here could very possibly be the unforgivable sin.

When we have made up in our minds and our hearts to the point of no return that it is much better to “return to Egypt” rather than dwell in the “camp of Israel“, I think in effect we have committed the unforgivable sin.

Because logically speaking, there’s no way we can be forgiven if we reject the Forgiver.

If you reject the only means of atonement for your sins, then of course it is an unforgivable sin.

This is exactly what Satan’s strategy is.

Through tempting and accusing us, the devil wants to drive us back to Egypt.

That’s his real objective.

He wants us to switch allegiances from God and the things of Heaven to the devil and the things of this world.

Satan understands very well that God has given us freewill.

He understands we exercised our freewill to accept our salvation and tempts us now to exercise our freewill so we will reject our salvation.

In the secret place in your heart that nobody but you and God knows about, do you sometimes long to return to the ways of the world with all of its sensual pleasures and titillating delights? 

Be on guard.

That is precisely the type of mindset satan loves to prey on.

And understand that mixing the ways of the world with the ways God is just as bad.

The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of satan are diametrically opposed to each other.

Ultimately, Korah, Datan, and Aviram rejected the Priesthood of God.

Think about that for a moment.

At this stage in history, the Priesthood was the only God-ordained means to atonement and a relationship with God.

As a result, they literally rejected their salvation.

And sadly many others joined Korah and his cohorts in their rejection.