Cain, Balaam, and Korah

“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.” Jude 1:11
The thrust of Jude’s epistle is to warn us about false teachers. Here he gives three Old Testament examples of what false teachers are like, and what their end will be.
First, he says, “they have taken the way of Cain”. The passages where Cain is mentioned in the Bible are Gen. 4:1-16, Heb. 11:4 and 1 John 3:12. We know the story of Cain and his younger brother Abel. One day they each brought an offering to God – Cain bringing some fruits of the land (being a farmer), and Abel a lamb (since he was a shepherd). We aren’t told explicitly why, but God accepted Abel’s offering and rejected Cain’s. Naturally Cain was upset, and God spoke to him about it, saying, “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it” (Gen. 4:7). Cain didn’t master this sin; instead he lashed out as his brother and killed him. The way of Cain, then, is a refusal to repent which ultimately leads to being cast out by God to wander as a nomad.
Next, he says, “they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error”. Balaam was a prophet hired by Balak king of Moab to pronounce a curse over Israel (Num. 22-24). Initially Balaam refused, but after a bigger and better offer by Balak he went. On his journey he was opposed by the angel of the Lord, which his donkey saw but he did not. God strictly told him to only say what He told him to (Num. 22:35). And Balaam did this: four times, Balak took him to a high point looking over the Israelite camp, and four times Balaam prophesied a blessing over Israel. But we infer from other passages of Scripture (Rev. 2:14) that after Balaam was done prophesying, he still wanted the reward from Balak, so he suggested to Balak to have the young Moabite women go to the Israelite camp and get the men to engage in sexual sin and idolatry, reasoning that if the people sinned in this way God would curse them. The error of Balaam, then, is trying to tempt people into sin, which is exactly what false teachers do.
Finally, he says, “they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion”. We read about this in Num. 16. Korah was a Levite, who rounded up some other men and came to Moses and Aaron saying, “Why do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?” (Num. 16:3). He was destroyed when the earth opened up and swallowed him and his tents and his family alive. Korah refused to acknowledge that it was not Moses and Aaron who had set themselves over the people, but it was God who had appointed them to that position. False teachers can have this same attitude, and while God may not deal with them in literally the same way, He will ensure that they are removed from the community of His people.