פרשת קרח תשט"ז - דברי משה

... "And Moses heard and he fell on his face," to seek God, to know what to do. And then he was told, "In the morning, the Lord will make known, etc." However this was only mentioned in Moses' recounting to the people. And I have already showed you that [it is like this] in many places: One time it will be lengthy in the speech of God to Moses and brief in Moses' recounting, and one time the opposite; and sometimes one will not be mentioned at all - as with the story of the Children of Gad and the Children of Reuben. [There,] Scripture recounts the story with Moses himself, but it was done according to God, as it states (Numbers 32:31), "That which the Lord spoke to your servants, so shall we do." And it is [likewise] written in Joshua 22:9, "to the land of Gilead, the land of their own holding, which they had acquired by the command of the Lord through Moses." And if we were to say that [God's "command" here] is because of God's agreement, in the way that the matter is stated [specifically to exclude them from the actual command] (Numbers 34:13), "This is the land you are to receive by lot as your hereditary portion, which the Lord has commanded to be given to the nine and a half tribes" - and that this would be from the things that Moses did on his own and the Holy One, blessed be He, agreed with him (Shabbat 87) - [we would be wrong. For] it would not be right for Moses to do anything about dividing the land without authorization, as all of it was to be done upon the commandment of God - as it is written (Numbers 26:53), "To these shall you divide the land, etc." (which was spoken about Gad and Reuben as well).

ויפל על פניו [AND WHEN MOSES HEARD IT,] HE FELL UPON HIS FACE because of the rebellion, for this was already the fourth offence on their part: when they sinned by worshipping the Golden Calf, it states, (Exodus 32:11) "And Moses besought [the Lord]”; in the case of the “people who complained”, (Numbers 11:1) it states: “and Moses prayed”; at the incident of the “spies”, (Numbers 14:13) “And Moses said unto the Lord, ‘When the Egyptians shall hear it ... [and now I beseech Thee etc.]”; but now at the rebellion of Korah, his hands sank down (he felt himself powerless) A parable! This may be compared to the case of a prince who sinned against his father and for whom his (the father’s) friend gained forgiveness once, twice, three times. When he offended for the fourth time the friend felt himself powerless, for he said, “ How long can I trouble the king? Perhaps he will not again accept advocacy from me!” (Midrash Tanchuma, Korach 4).

ויאמר משה אל קרח שמעו נא בני לוי AND MOSES SAID UNTO KORAH, HEAR, I PRAY YOU, YE SONS OF LEVI — He began to speak to him with gentle words; when, however, he saw that he was stubborn, he said to himself: Before the other tribes join him and perish together with him, I will speak to them all!” He thereupon began to admonish them: “Hear ye, ye sons of Levi!” (Midrash Tanchuma, Korach 6).

ויקרב אתך AND HE HATH BROUGHT THEE NEAR to that service from which He has excluded the rest of the congregation of Israel.