Korach 5780

(1) Now Korah, son of Izhar son of Kohath son of Levi, betook himself, along with Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—descendants of Reuben—

(2) to rise up against Moses, together with two hundred and fifty Israelites, chieftains of the community, chosen in the assembly, men of repute.

(3) They combined against Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them, and the LORD is in their midst. Why then do you raise yourselves above the LORD’s congregation?”

(4) When Moses heard this, he fell on his face.

(5) Then he spoke to Korah and all his company, saying, “Come morning, the LORD will make known who is His and who is holy, and will grant him access to Himself; He will grant access to the one He has chosen.

(6) Do this: You, Korah and all your band, take fire pans,

(7) and tomorrow put fire in them and lay incense on them before the LORD. Then the man whom the LORD chooses, he shall be the holy one. You have gone too far, sons of Levi!”

(8) Moses said further to Korah, “Hear me, sons of Levi.

(9) Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has set you apart from the community of Israel and given you access to Him, to perform the duties of the LORD’s Tabernacle and to minister to the community and serve them?

(10) Now that He has advanced you and all your fellow Levites with you, do you seek the priesthood too?

(11) Truly, it is against the LORD that you and all your company have banded together. For who is Aaron that you should rail against him?”

(12) Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab; but they said, “We will not come!

(13) Is it not enough that you brought us from a land flowing with milk and honey to have us die in the wilderness, that you would also lord it over us?

(14) Even if you had brought us to a land flowing with milk and honey, and given us possession of fields and vineyards, should you gouge out those men’s eyes? We will not come!”

(15) Moses was much aggrieved and he said to the LORD, “Pay no regard to their oblation. I have not taken the ass of any one of them, nor have I wronged any one of them.”

(16) And Moses said to Korah, “Tomorrow, you and all your company appear before the LORD, you and they and Aaron.

(17) Each of you take his fire pan and lay incense on it, and each of you bring his fire pan before the LORD, two hundred and fifty fire pans; you and Aaron also [bring] your fire pans.”

(18) Each of them took his fire pan, put fire in it, laid incense on it, and took his place at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, as did Moses and Aaron.

(19) Korah gathered the whole community against them at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Then the Presence of the LORD appeared to the whole community,

(20) and the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

(21) “Stand back from this community that I may annihilate them in an instant!”

(22) But they fell on their faces and said, “O God, Source of the breath of all flesh! When one man sins, will You be wrathful with the whole community?”

23) The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

(24) “Speak to the community and say: Withdraw from about the abodes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

“And Korah took” - This matter that was in the wilderness of Sinai, when the firstborns were replaced and the Levites were separated,
For the Israelites thought that Moshe our Leader did it according to his own thought, to give greatness to his brother, and also to the sons of Kehat for they are close to him, and all of the Levites that they are his family.
And the Levites conspired against him because they were given to Aaron and his sons.
Datan and Aviram conspired because the firstborn privilege was removed from Reuven their father and given to Yosef; perhaps they suspected that [Moshe did that] for the sake of Yehoshua his servant [who was from Yosef].
Also Korah was a first born, for thus was written.
>And those Heads of the Congregation (edah) were firstborns and they were bringing the olah offerings.
And the proof for this explanation is the miracle of the staff (Bamidbar 17:16-26) that all of Israel saw that Hashem chose the tribe of Levi in place of the firstborns, and therefore it is written (Bamidbar 17:25) “their mutterings ceased,” for the mutterings were about this.
Also Moshe said that “it is not from my own mind” (Bamidbar 26:28), because they suspected that it was from his own mind that he did it.
And further proof is “Hashem did not send me” - for this task - because all the Israelites already believed in him [in general]. Another total proof is “all the congregation are holy” and this is a hint to the firstborns that they are holy, because it is written (shemot 13:2) “sanctify to Me every first born” and they are the priests (Kohanim) that approach Hashem and they are the essence of the whole congregation.