Bamidbar Perek 16

(1) Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men;

(1) ויקח קרח — This section is beautifully expounded in the Midrash of Rabbi Tanchuma.

(2) ויקח קרח lit., AND KORAH TOOK — He betook himself on one side with the view of separating himself from out of the community so that he might raise a protest regarding the priesthood to which Moses had appointed his brother. This is what Onkelos means when he renders it by ואתפלג — “he separated himself” from the rest of the community in order to maintain dissension). Similar is, (Job 15:12) “Why doth thy heart take thee aside (יקחך)”, meaning, it takes you aside to separate you from other people. — Another explanation of ויקח קרח is: he attracted (won over) the chiefs of the Sanhedrin amongst them (the people) by fine words. The word is used here in a figurative sense just as in. (Leviticus 8:2) “Take (קח) Aaron”; (Hosea 14:3) “Take (קחו) words with you” (Tanchuma).

(2) and they rose up in face of Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty men; they were princes of the congregation, the elect men of the assembly, men of renown;

(3) and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them: ‘Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them; wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?’

(3) רב לכם You TAKE TOO MUCH UPON YOU — i.e. much more than is proper have you taken for yourselves in the way of high Office.

(4) כלם קדשים [FOR] ALL [THE CONGREGATION] ARE HOLY — they all heard the utterances on Sinai from the mouth of the Almighty.

(5) ומדוע תתנשאו WHY THEN LIFT YE UP YOURSELVES [ABOVE THE ASSEMBLY OF THE LORD] — “If you have taken royal rank for yourself, you should at least not have chosen the priesthood for your brother — it is not you alone who have heard at Sinai: ‘I am the Lord thy God', all the congregation heard it!” (Tanchuma).

(4) And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face.

(4) 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!” (Tanchuma).

(5) And he spoke unto Korah and unto all his company, saying: ‘In the morning the LORD will show who are His, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near unto Him; even him whom He may choose will He cause to come near unto Him. .

(5) בקר וידע וגו׳ TOMORROW THE LORD WILL MAKE KNOWN [WHO ARE HIS] — “Now (this hour of the day)” — he meant — “is a time of excessive drinking, and it is therefore not proper to appear before Him”. But his real intention in postponing the matter was that perhaps they might repent (abandon their opposition) (Tanchuma).

(6) This do: take you censers, Korah, and all his company;

(6) זאת עשו קחו לכם מחתות THIS DO: TAKE YOU CENSERS — What reason had he to speak to them thus? He said to them: according to the custom of the heathens there are numerous forms of divine worship, and consequently numerous priests, for they cannot assemble for worship in one temple; we, however, have One God, one Ark, one Law, one Altar, all constituting one form of worship and therefore we need but one High Priest; — and you, 250 men, all demand the High Priesthood?! I would like this myself, but events will prove that this is impossible. Here you have a rite which is dear to God more than any other — it is the offering of incense, which is even dearer to Him than all the sacrifices, but a deadly poison is contained in it, for through it Nadab and Abihu were burnt!” (cf. Leviticus 10:2). It was on this account that he warned them by saying, And it shall come to pass that the man whom the Lord will choose is the holy one — he is already in his state of holiness (not “he will become holy”; he thus warned them that there was not the slightest likelihood that they would be chosen). This must be the meaning of הוא הקדוש, not "he will become holy”, for do we not know that he whom He would choose would become holy? But this, in effect, is what Moses said to them: “I am telling you this in order that you may not imperil your lives, for only he whom He will choose will come out of this alive, but all of you will perish” (Tanchuma).

(7) and put fire therein, and put incense upon them before the LORD to-morrow; and it shall be that the man whom the LORD doth choose, he shall be holy; ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi.’

(7) רב לכם בני לוי means, “It is a great (an important) thing that I have told you, ye sons of Levi”). But were they not fools in that although he so sternly warned them they nevertheless undertook to offer! They, however, sinned against their own souls (i.e., they were regardless of their lives) as it is said, (17:3) “the censers of these sinners against their souls”. — But Korah who certainly was a clever (lit., open-eyed) man, what reason had he to commit this folly? His mind’s eye misled him. He saw by prophetic vision a line of great men (more lit., a great chain) descending from him, amongst them the prophet Samuel who was equal in importance to Moses and Aaron together (cf. Psalms 99:6: משה ואהרן בכהניו ושמואל בקראי שמו), and he said to himself, “On his account I shall escape the punishment”. And he further saw twenty-four Mishmars (shifts of Levites who formed the Temple Choir) arising among his grand-children, all of them prophesying by the Holy Spirit, — as it is said, (I Chronicles 25:5) “All these (prominent musicians) were sons of Heiman” (Heiman was a descendant of Korah; cf. I Chronicles 6:18—23). — He said, “Is it possible that all this dignity is to arise from me and I shall remain silent (be myself of no importance)?” On this account he joined the others in order to attain to that prerogative, because he had indeed heard from the mouth of Moses that all else of them would perish and one would escape: "He whom the Lord will choose will be holy". He mistakenly applied this to himself. But he had not seen correctly, for his sons repented of their rebellious attitude and therefore did not die at that time (cf. Numbers 26:11), and it was from them that Samuel and the Levitical singers were descended. Moses, however, foresaw this. (Midrash Tanchuma, Korach 5). (8) רב לכם means, a great responsibility have you taken upon yourselves in rebelling against the Holy One, blessed be He.

(8) And Moses said unto Korah: ‘Hear now, ye sons of Levi:

(8) 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!” (Tanchuma).

(9) is it but a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them;

(9) ולעמוד לפני העדה לשרתם, to serve the Lord by representing the whole community by carrying the sacred vessels, and parts of the Tabernacle. G’d selected you to perform this service לפני העדה, in full view of the whole community to serve as a reminder that another group of your nation, the firstborn, had already been deprived of this privilege due to their having participated in the sin of the golden calf, and you had been chosen to replace them.

(10) and that He hath brought thee near, and all thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee? and will ye seek the priesthood also?

(11) Therefore thou and all thy company that are gathered together against the LORD—; and as to Aaron, what is he that ye murmur against him?’

(12) And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; and they said: ‘We will not come up;

(12) וישלח משה וגו׳ AND MOSES SENT [TO CALL DATHAN AND ABIRAM] — From here we may learn that one should not persist in strife, for, you see, Moses sought them out in order to conciliate them by peaceful words (Sanhedrin 110a).

(13) לא נעלה WE WILL NOT GO UP — Their mouth tripped them up (i.e. unwittingly they made mention of their fate) — that they would have only a “descent” (their words are taken to mean: we shall not be going up; we shall go down into the depths of the earth).

(13) is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, but thou must needs make thyself also a prince over us?

(14) Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards; wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up.’

(15) And Moses was very wroth, and said unto the LORD: ‘Respect not thou their offering; I have not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them.’

(15) ויחר למשה מאד AND MOSES WAS VERY DISTRESSED — i.e. he was very much grieved.

(16) אל תפן אל מנחתם TURN NOT THOU TO THEIR OBLATION — According to its plain sense the meaning is: “In respect to the frankincense which they will offer before Thee tomorrow, I beg of Thee do not turn (pay regard) to them”. The Midrashic explanation is: He said, “I know that they have a portion in the continual offerings of the community; let not even this their portion be accepted favourably before Thee — let the fire leave it alone and not consume it” (Tanchuma).

(17) לא חמור אחד מהם נשאתי means, I have not taken the ass of any one of them; — even when I went from Midian to Egypt and placed my wife and my sons on the ass (Exodus 4:20), and I surely ought afterwards to have taken the price of that ass from their money, yet I took it only from my own. The translation given by Onkelos of the word נשאתי is שחרית: in the Aramaic language a forced levy made by the king is so called, viz., שחרור (cf. Rashi on Bava Batra 47a. The translation of Onkelos therefore is: I did not press into my service the ass of any one of them).

(7) רב לכם בני לוי means, “It is a great (an important) thing that I have told you, ye sons of Levi”). But were they not fools in that although he so sternly warned them they nevertheless undertook to offer! They, however, sinned against their own souls (i.e., they were regardless of their lives) as it is said, (17:3) “the censers of these sinners against their souls”. — But Korah who certainly was a clever (lit., open-eyed) man, what reason had he to commit this folly? His mind’s eye misled him. He saw by prophetic vision a line of great men (more lit., a great chain) descending from him, amongst them the prophet Samuel who was equal in importance to Moses and Aaron together (cf. Psalms 99:6: משה ואהרן בכהניו ושמואל בקראי שמו), and he said to himself, “On his account I shall escape the punishment”. And he further saw twenty-four Mishmars (shifts of Levites who formed the Temple Choir) arising among his grand-children, all of them prophesying by the Holy Spirit, — as it is said, (I Chronicles 25:5) “All these (prominent musicians) were sons of Heiman” (Heiman was a descendant of Korah; cf. I Chronicles 6:18—23). — He said, “Is it possible that all this dignity is to arise from me and I shall remain silent (be myself of no importance)?” On this account he joined the others in order to attain to that prerogative, because he had indeed heard from the mouth of Moses that all else of them would perish and one would escape: "He whom the Lord will choose will be holy". He mistakenly applied this to himself. But he had not seen correctly, for his sons repented of their rebellious attitude and therefore did not die at that time (cf. Numbers 26:11), and it was from them that Samuel and the Levitical singers were descended. Moses, however, foresaw this. Tanchuma.

(8) רב לכם means, a great responsibility have you taken upon yourselves in rebelling against the Holy One, blessed be He.

(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.”

(25) Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, the elders of Israel following him.

(26) He addressed the community, saying, “Move away from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing that belongs to them, lest you be wiped out for all their sins.”

(27) So they withdrew from about the abodes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Now Dathan and Abiram had come out and they stood at the entrance of their tents, with their wives, their children, and their little ones.

(28) And Moses said, “By this you shall know that it was the LORD who sent me to do all these things; that they are not of my own devising:

(29) if these men die as all men do, if their lot be the common fate of all mankind, it was not the LORD who sent me.

(30) But if the LORD brings about something unheard-of, so that the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, you shall know that these men have spurned the LORD.”

(31) Scarcely had he finished speaking all these words when the ground under them burst asunder,

(32) and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all Korah’s people and all their possessions.

(33) They went down alive into Sheol, with all that belonged to them; the earth closed over them and they vanished from the midst of the congregation.

(34) All Israel around them fled at their shrieks, for they said, “The earth might swallow us!”

(35) And a fire went forth from the LORD and consumed the two hundred and fifty men offering the incense.