Kommentar zu Bamidbar 16:30

ואם בריאה BUT IF A CREATION — i.e. an entirely new one.

BUT IF THE ETERNAL CREATE ‘B’RIAH.’ Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra wrote: “Some scholars say that b’riah indicates producing something from nothing. But, [continues Ibn Ezra], many countries have already been rent [by earthquakes], and their inhabitants went down alive into the pit. Rather, the meaning of b’riah is ‘cutting off,’ from [the expression] ‘u’varei’ (and they shall cut) them”¹⁵⁹Ezekiel 23:47. [thus meaning here: “if the Eternal will ‘cut them’ down by causing the ground to open up its mouth etc.”].
The correct interpretation is that the term b’riah is [indeed] used [in the sense of] bringing forth something from nothing, for we have no other word in the Sacred Language denoting this concept [creatio ex nihilo] except for this one. The explanation of the matter is that splitting open the [crust of the] earth is [indeed] not a new creation, but that the ground should open up its mouth to swallow up [certain people] is a new event which had never occurred previously. For when the earth is split open, as happens many times during an earthquake which is called zalzalah,¹⁶⁰The Arabic word for earthquake. See (Exodus), Vol. II, p. 324, Note 512. it remains open and the chasm becomes filled with water, like ponds; but that it should open up and close again immediately — like a person who opens his mouth to swallow and closes it after he has swallowed — this event was a new happening which occurred [only] on that day, as if it were created out of nothing. This is the meaning of the expression, and the earth closed upon them¹⁶¹Verse 33. [that it closed up immediately after consuming them, and left no sign that it had opened]. It is for this reason that [when saying that] the ground did cleave asunder,¹⁶²Verse 31. Scripture says: And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up.¹⁶³Verse 32. And according to the opinion of our Rabbis¹⁶⁴Sanhedrin 110a. Although Gehenna existed already, this movement of its opening was a “new creation.” [who say] that the opening of Gehenna came near to this spot — that phenomenon too, was a new event which occurred [only] at that moment.

וידעתם כי נאצו, for they do not deserve to even be buried together with the remainder of the people.

ואם בריאה יברא ה׳ ופצתה האדמה את פיה, "If G'd will create a new creation and the earth will open its mouth, etc." Why did the word בריאה have to be repeated? Our sages in Sanhedrin 37 explain that the earth's mouth has remained closed ever since the day that the earth opened it in order to hide the blood of Abel whom Cain had slain and that this was the curse the Torah referred to in Genesis 4,11. This meant that whenever the earth wanted to open its mouth in order to sing G'd's praises it had to use its "wings" rather than its mouth. This is the meaning of Isaiah 24,16: מכנף הארץ זמרות שמענו, "we have heard songs from the wings of the earth." In this instance when Moses wanted to punish the wicked he said: ואם בריאה יברא השם "if the Lord will create a new creation." [The author explains why Moses did not say ואם יברא הי בריאה. Ed.] He referred to a creation which had once existed, namely the mouth of the earth, but which had been sealed due to some deed the earth had carried out so that for practical purposes this creative act of G'd had been undone. Now Moses wanted the mouth of the earth to be opened again so that it could swallow Korach and associates. Perhaps this was Moses' way of affording the earth an opportunity to make up for a time when it had opened its mouth to hide a sin, i.e. to swallow the blood of a righteous person, i.e. Abel.

(אם בריאה (חדשה) ה' בארץ), a reference to another example of a ”creative” act by G’d, as for instance the one described in Jeremiah 31,21. Moses speaks of the death of Korach, as opposed to that of Nadav and Avihu, being by means of a new act of creation.

With a death that no one has experienced. With this Rashi resolves a difficulty: Surely it is written (Koheles 1:9), “There is nothing new under the sun.” Therefore he explains, “To kill them with a death…”

V. 30. ואם בריאה וגו׳, wenn aber ihr Untergang durch eine Neuschöpfung herbeigeführt wird, die eben Gott als ה׳ verkündet, in dessen Namen ich aufgetreten und gehandelt, וידעתם כי נאצו האנשים האלה את ה׳, so werdet ihr wissen, dass diese Leute, indem sie die Göttlichkeit meiner Sendung geleugnet, den persönlich frei waltenden Gott und sein Werk überhaupt geleugnet.

יברא ה׳ THE LORD WILL CREATE, to slay them by a kind of death by which no man has hitherto died — and what is this new creation?

If the mouth [of the earth] was created. One may explain that the Rabbis were dealing with the apparent contradiction that: Surely ten things were created on Erev Shabbos at twilight and one of them was the mouth of the earth (Avos 5:6).

ופצתה האדמה את פיה THAT THE EARTH OPEN WIDE HER MOUTH AND SWALLOW THEM, then וידעתם כי נאצו YE SHALL KNOW THAT THEY HAVE PROVOKED the Holy One, blessed be He, and that I have spoken only by authority of the Almighty. Our Rabbis, however, gave the following explanation: ואם בריאה, if there has been a creation, i.e., if there was already a mouth to the earth from the six days of Creation, well and good! but if not, יברא ה׳ the Lord will create one now (Sanhedrin 110a; Nedarim 39b).