How could Moses be sure his threat would work? By Danny Ginsbourg
We read in our Parasha, of the test that Moshe Rabbeinu set, to determine his dispute with Korach and his congregation:
(16:28-30)’Through this shall you know that Hashem sent me to perform all these acts, that it was not from my heart. If these men die like the death of all men..then it is not Hashem Who has sent me.
But if Hashem will create a phenomenon, and the earth open its mouth and swallows them and all that is theirs, and they will descend alive to the pit - then you shall now that these men have provoked Hashem’.
Rav Yaakov Kamenetzky comments:’Moshe Rabbeinu decided here, of himself, to put the whole transmission of the Torah at risk, as we don’t find that Hashem promised him, that He would perform this miracle; and had Hashem not performed this miracle, it would be as if Moshe admitted that he was not Hashem’s emissary!
‘Why, then, did Moshe do so?
The answer is that he felt that he had no other option: if there were still doubters in his generation, as to his mission from Hashem, there was no ‘value’ to the Torah that he gave to them, as then there would always be doubters in the future, who would have the same doubts as to he being Hashem’s emissary.
‘He therefore felt compelled to set this test; true, should Hashem not perform the miracle, Moshe would be held not to be His emissary, But, at the same time, should he do nothing - and not set the test - the result would be the same, as there would then always be doubters. ‘He therefore felt that he had no recourse other than setting the test.’
Rav Shlomo Goren asks:’Why did Moshe choose THIS test, that Hashem create a new phenomenon - that ‘the earth opens its mouth, and swallows them..and they descend alive to the pit’ - which our Sages teach (Avot 5:6) was in fact created at twilight of the Creation of earth? ‘Indeed, why did Hashem already create ‘the opening of the mouth of the earth’, when He created the world? Was there a lack of other fates, or ways of Korach and his cohorts perishing, that this phenomenon had to be already in place?
The answer can be found in Parashat Bamidbar:(4::17-19)’Hashem spoke to Moshe and Aaron:’Do not cause the tribe of the families of Kohath’ - to which Korach belonged - to be cut off from among the Leviim; Do this for them, so that they shall live and not die’- the role assigned to them, the carriage of the Sanctuary and its parts, was fraught with danger of death from Above, should they transgress in it, requiring these special admonitions to Moshe and Aaron, to protect them.
Moshe was thus specifically forbidden by Hashem to seek the death of Korach and his sons; and, Hashem before Whom all is known in advance, therefore created the phenomenon of the ‘mouth of the earth’, already at the time of Creation, for this very occasion - the rebellion of Korach and his congrgation, and the test Moshe would feel compelled to set - that the rebels descend ALIVE into the pit.
‘This is why, in our Parasha, the Torah stresses that Moshe asked - not that they die, as this was forbidden to him - but that they descend alive into the mouth of the earth, which was prepared at the time of Creation, for this critical confrontation.’
The Kli Yakar brings another mishna from Avot, to answer our question: why Moshe Rabbeinu set this test:’Our Sages there teach: (Avot 3 2)’Pray for the welfare of the government , for were it not for the fear of it, men would swallow one another alive’. Yet Korach and his congregation contended, in their dispute with Moshe and Aaron:(16:3)’You take too much upon yourselves, for the entire congregation are all holy, and the Lord is in their midst, So why do you raise yourselves above the Lord’s assembly? - in other words, the people had no need for leaders!
‘Therefore, in his test, Moshe stated, that, if you should die in a natural manner, then, Hashem - as you claim - did not command me to be the leader of the people, but I arrogated the role of leader to myself; however, if the earth shall swallow you up alive, you will know that you are being punished measure-for-measure: you claimed that no leader was necessary - and therefore Hashem did not appoint me to that role - you thereby consigned the people, as our Sages say, ‘to swallow one another alive’, so shall be your fate: to be swallowed alive, by the earth.’
Rav Pinchas Friedman adds:’Korach and his congregation, by rousing all the people to question the need for leadership - of Moshe and Aaron - posed a great danger, to the people’s spiritual status. ‘The sacred tomes liken the nation to a complete body, the leaders being its soul, and the people its body, which derives its life from its connection with the soul.
‘By claimimg that there was no need for the leadership of Moshe and Aaron, since ‘all the entire congregation are holy, and Hashem is in their midst’ - they sought to lower Moshe and Aaron to their level, thereby placing the soul at the same level as the body.
If the claim of Korach and his congregation was true, the soul - the leaders - is like the body, and indistinct from it; thus the soul will not ascend at death, but descend with the body, to the earth, as the two are akin.
‘ Thus, said Moshe, if they - as occurred - descended still alive into earth, it will be a measure-for-measure punishment for their claim, that the leaders - the soul - are no different than the rest of the people, and therefore does not merit to ascend to its source.
‘If their fate be unlike that of all men, we will know that they were wrong, and that Hashem had appointed Moshe to lead the people, and not they he had arrogated this role, to himself.’
The Abarbanel also sees in the manner of their fate, a measure-for-measure punishment.
‘They’ he expounds, ‘allowed their mouths free rein, to speak against Moshe and Aaron, their venerable and devoted leaders; thus, commensurately, the mouth of the earth was the vehicle for their fate, swallowing them alive.
‘And as they dared to so speak against Moshe and Aaron, their fate was at the hand of the basest of the elements: the earth.’
A final gem, from the Malbim, to explain the question posed by many of the commentators:Since our Sages teach that the ‘mouth of the earth’ was created at the twilight of the days of Creation, how could it be called - in the words of the test that Moshe set - as ‘Hashem will create a phenomenon, and the earth opens its mouth, and swallows them’?
Answers the Malbim:’True, as our Sages say, the mouth of the earth was created at the time of Creation, but now it was given a new, miraculous character: of not being static, an opening in the ground, but as having ‘freedom of movement’ akin to the mouth of a human being; so much so, that the Midrash states that, whilst the opening was only the size of a human body, it spread or contracted, elongated or shortened to encompass that which it ‘needed’ to swallow.
‘The proof - and this was the ‘new phenomenon’ alluded to by Moshe - is that it swallowed, first, Datan and Amiram, who were standing near Moshe, and then swallowed the house and possessions of Korach, which were in the Leviite camp, a distance of two thousand mil, and finally swallowed Korach himself, who was standing by the Tent of Assembly, some four thousand mil, from the original spot!’.
Thus Hashem came to the aid of his most faithful servant, Moshe Rabbeinu, to ‘prove’ to the scoffers, that all that Moshe did, was as commanded by Hashem.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/372872
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