But they fell on their faces and said, “O God, God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the entire congregation?” (Numbers 16:22)

“May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation …” (Numbers 27:16)

Two significant events for the people of Israel require an address to God unique in Scripture, “God of the spirits of all flesh.” We have seen in Jeremiah 32:27 the description, “I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?” The totality and comprehensiveness of God’s provenance is the focus. No human anywhere lives independently of God’s sovereign rule. He is the Master of everything because He is the originator of everything: “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being” (John 1:3, see also 1 Cor 8:6, Col 1:16, Heb 1:2).

In the first event, Korah and 250 other Levites attempted a coup against Moses and Aaron, presumptuously charging them with arrogance and self-aggrandizing, ineffective leadership (Num 16:1-3). The insurrectionist seemed to sway the entire congregation of Israel against them, to the point where God was ready to destroy them all. Despite his own anger with them, Moses humbly pleaded with God to forgive the people’s naivety in blindly following Korah and his company, and to deal only with the instigators of the mutiny. Rightfully, Moses recognizes he is appealing to the God who is over all flesh (a figure of speech referring to humanity, and in this case the whole congregation). God has the prerogative to do as He likes, and so Moses and Aaron fall prostrate.

Some have concluded from Moses’ example that effective prayer turns the hand of God, but the text does not imply that. God acted in two steps. First God told Moses and Aaron to separate themselves from the congregation (Numbers 16:21), then through Moses he commanded the congregation to separate themselves from Korah and his fellow-mutineers (Numbers 6:24). Everyone individually had to decide whom he would follow—Korah and company or Moses and Aaron. Certainly the fear of the God of the spirits of all flesh became their reality (Number 16:35)!

The second time Moses addressed “the God of the spirits of all flesh” was at the end of his life, when he asked God to appoint a successor to him. This points to the need for divine appointment by the God who was sovereign over people who struggled with their own earthliness and fallen spirits.

Lord, You are the God of all flesh even when I fall to temptations of the flesh.