Moshe said,” With this you will know that Hashem has instructed me to do all these things, for [they were] not [performed] by my own will.”
BaMidbar 16:28
Moshe Rabbeinu responds to the Machlokes of Korach in a rather shocking fashion. Instead of leaving Hashem to determine the fate of his adversaries, Moshe declares that they should die an incredible and unprecedented death, that the ground should swallow them alive.
“Vi’Im Bri’ah Yivrah Hashem, and if a creation Hashem will create,” if [Hashem already] created a mouth in the earth from the six days of creation, then good, otherwise He should create one now.”
Rashi, Bamidbar 16:30
Alas, not only does Moshe declare that these men die a new death, but he insists that Hashem should carry out his plan regardless of whether He intended such from the days of creation or not! Moshe is clearly not just dictating the consequential fate of his adversaries. Moshe is asserting his own personal interest in the matter, insisting that Hashem take up his cause to develop a new creation, on the spot no less.
But what does Moshe Rabbeinu’s insistence accomplish? Korach accuses Moshe of nepotism, of appointing his brother Aharon to the Kehuna Gedola by his own will instead of the will of G-d. One would expect Hashem to directly deal with Korach, the same way Hashem directly addressed Aharon and Miriyam when they attacked Moshe. How then does Korach’s rebellion differ in that Moshe must take a much more direct and antagonistic role within the punishment meted?
In truth, this is not really a question, for although Moshe intended to respond to Korach’s argument through the punishment he demands, the punishment itself was not Korach’s but rather Dasan’s and Aviram’s. The gemara in Mesechet Sanhedrin (110a) debates whether Korach was swallowed by the ground or not. The opinion that posits so (a Breissa) insists that Korach was also burned with the Ketores-bringers, and the opinion that posits no (Rabbi Yochanan) explains that Korach was later killed in a plague (BaMidbar 17:10-15, see also BaMidbar 26:10). Even according to the Breissa, Korach was only swallowed by the ground after his Neshama was burned by a fire from heaven. Clearly, when Moshe insists that these men go down “Chaim She’ola,” to the grave alive, he cannot be referring to Korach, for Korach was already dead when he descended.
Indeed, when Moshe recalls the incident of the ground opening up in Parashat Eikev (11:6), he makes no mention of Korach; Moshe only mentions that the ground swallowed Dasan and Aviram. Therefore, even if one can compare the misdeeds of Korach to those of Aharon and Miriyam, one cannot compare the opening of the ground to Miriyam’s Tzara’as, for the opening of the ground was a punishment specifically designed for the evil of Dasan and Aviram.
Yet there is still a difficulty with Moshe Rabbeinu’s plan, for Moshe only strengthens Korach’s complaint by insisting that Hashem carry out his specific instructions. Had Hashem taken action on His own in Moshe’s defense, Moshe would soundly prove that he never acted out of his own desires but rather out of Hashem’s. But once Moshe involves himself personally in the fate of Dasan and Aviram, how can he prove that he did not involve himself personally in the appointment of Aharon? Perhaps Hashem originally intended to appoint Korach as Kohein Gadol, but then Moshe davened that Aharon should assume the role instead, and Hashem acquiesced. In essence, not only does Moshe fail to prove his lack of involvement in the appointment of Aharon, but his declaration attests to his personal involvement in even the actions performed by Hashem!
To answer this difficultly, we must refocus our understanding of Korach’s argument. In reality, Korach would have no issue with Moshe personally involving himself with the actions performed by Hashem had Korach altogether believed that Moshe’s desires interested Hashem in any such way. As Korach insists, “Kol HaEidah Kulam Kedoshim U’BiSocham Hashem, this entire nation heard Hashem speak on Har Sinai and Hashem is in their midst.” In other words, Korach understood the ultimate relationship that Man can establish with Hashem as a one way transmission, and Hashem proved at Har Sinai His willingness to communicate with each and every member of the Jewish nation. But Korach was simply not willing to accept that Moshe Rabbeinu could influence the desires of Hashem out of his own personal interest.
The appointment of Aharon HaKohein struck Korach as a personal interest of Moshe’s. After all, Aharon was Moshe’s brother. At the very least, if Hashem truly intended to appoint Aharon as the Kohein Gadol, Hashem should anticipate and understand the nation’s suspicions of nepotism. Therefore, Hashem should at least convey His desire to appoint Aharon to the masses. However, Korach’s assumptions were all predicated upon the notion that Moshe’s personal interests should deter Hashem from taking congruent actions, not compel Him. As Moshe proved with a remarkable demonstration of power, not only was he receive communication from Hashem in a manner nobody else could ever achieve, he was also privy to communicate his own desires to Hashem, such as his desire that the ground open up and swallow Dasan and Aviram.
It is true that the appointment of Aharon could have been triggered by Moshe’s own desire, and indeed, in a way it was. When Moshe initially refused to lead the Bnei Yisrael, Hashem informed him that he had he lost his right to the Kehuna Gedola and Aharon would assume the role instead. Moshe could have easily complained that the people would never accept him as their leader and Aharon as their Kohein Gadol for they would always suspect Moshe as a power hungry dictator. In fact, not only did Korach rally the entire nation against Moshe on the grounds of this argument, but the gemara also claims that each Jew suspected Moshe of sleeping with his wife behind his back! Yet Moshe accepted Aharon as Kohein Gadol and also accepted to lead the nation, a conscious decision on his part. (Perhaps this account is even merumaz within our pasuk when Moshe claims “Ki Hashem Shlachani La’Asos Es Kol HaMa’asim HaEileh.”)
But with his brief demonstration in response to the evil of Dasan and Aviram, Moshe immediately quelled Korach’s rebellion. No longer did it matter what Moshe desired, for clearly Hashem too wanted whatever Moshe desired. Unlike the communication of Har Sinai, the greatest level of communication Man could achieve with Hashem involved a far greater mutuality of interest. And the interests of Hashem and the interests of Moshe truly were alike.