Musar zu Schemot 4:19

We know that G–d succeeded in this because the Torah tells us in 14,31: "They believed in G–d and in His servant Moses." The verse in question refers to the Israelites having seen מצרים dead in verse 30. The Zohar is at pains to point out that the Torah does not speak about מצריים, Egyptians, being viewed as dead, but מצרים, i.e. the שר של מצרים. G–d made a point of showing the dead שר to the Israelites. I believe that this is the plain meaning of the verses dealing with this episode.

Datan and Aviram accused Moses and Aaron of misleading the people when they said in 16,14: "should you gouge out those men's eyes? we will not come!" These words alluded to a metaphysical dimension, that Korach was the reincarnation of Cain. All our commentators say that when Moses slew the Egyptian (who was part of Cain's reincarnation as we have explained), it was Datan and Aviram who told on him and who made an issue of Moses' taking the law into his own hands, etc. (Exodus 2, 13/14). Now they concentrated on their greed for money. This was because, according to tradition, they had become impoverished as a result of having reported Moses' action to Pharaoh. When Moses had been bidden to return to Egypt the Torah said that all the people who had sought his death had already died (Exodus 4,19). Since Datan and Aviram were obviously still "alive," this meant that they had lost their influence to cause harm, since "poor people, childless people, leprous people, and blind people are considered dead people" (Zohar Beha-alotcha 153, Nedarim 64). Our sages also say that while in Egypt both Datan and Aviram were childless, and not like the other Jews who had been blessed with an abundance of children. They now lost the children they had fathered since the Exodus, due to their rebellious behaviour. It is almost certain that they were afflicted with צרעת, seeing that this is the standard penalty for malicious gossip, something they had certainly been guilty of. Even if their bodies had not been afflicted by that disease, certainly their souls had become afflicted by it. The Zohar explains Proverbs 21,23, "He who guards his mouth and tongue guards his soul from troubles," i.e. מצרות נפשו. He says we should read instead מצרעת נפשו, from afflicting his soul with "leprosy." By sarcastically asking: "Are you going to gouge out the eyes of these men, etc.?" Datan and Aviram described a method of "death" of someone who is compared to the dead since he does not possess eyesight. This explains Rashi's comment on Exodus 4,19, where he quotes Nedarim 64 that the poor are considered as if dead. Their sin consisted of greed, the opposite of the virtue of enjoying one's share, which is the true wealth.