You have gone too far. The whole community are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them.

Why then do you set yourself above God's congregation? That's what Kerrach said.

Now, what exactly was wrong in what he and his motley band of fellow agitators said?

We know that Kerouac was a demagogue, not a Democrat.

He wanted power for himself, not for the people.

We also know that the protesters were disingenuous.

Each of them had their own reasons to feel resentful toward Moses or Aaron or fate.

Set these considerations aside for a moment and ask, was what they said,

true or false? They were surely right to say all the community are holy, that is, after all,

what God asks the people to be, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, meaning a kingdom all

of whose members are in some sense priests, and a kingdom all of whose members are, in some sense, priests, and a nation

all of whose citizens are holy. They were equally right to say God is with them. That was the

point of making the tabernacle. God said, have them make me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them.

Exodus ends with the words, so the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day,

and fire was in the cloud by night in the sight

of all the Israelites during all their travels.

The divine presence was visibly with the people wherever they went.

What was wrong was their last remark.

Why then do you set yourselves above God's congregation?

Now this was not a small mistake. It was fundamental. Moses represents the birth of a new kind of

leadership. That is what Kaurach and his followers did not understand. In fact, many of us don't

understand it still. The most famous

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