Comentario sobre Números 16:24

העלו GET YOU UP [FROM ABOUT THE DWELLING OF KORAH] — Understand this as the Targum does: withdraw from the vicinity of Korah’s dwelling.

דבר אל העדה לאמר העלו מסביב, Moses now spelled out what he had meant when he said הבדלו in verse 21. He had meant that the people should only put distance between themselves and the supporters of Korach.

דבר אל העדה לאמור, "speak to the congregation to say, etc." It appears unusual that G'd uses the relatively harsh דבר when the thrust of the message is to save the people from death. He did so in order to demonstrate that He minded terribly that there were Jews who were so careless with their lives that they risked it by not removing themselves from immediate danger. This is why G'd not only employed the tough דבר, but repeated the word לאמור in verse 25 to ensure that the message would get across to the people. G'd demonstrated how important it was to Him that this precious people not be diminished in numbers. The repetition of the word לאמור may mean that the exact wording of G'd's message was left to Moses. If he did not want to phrase it so harshly he was at liberty to do so. As long as the result of the way Moses relayed G'd's message was העלו that the people would remove themselves from around the tents of these rebels this was all that mattered. In fact, Moses did make some changes when he did not mention Korach by name but referred only to "these wicked people (verse 26)."