Commentaire sur Les Nombres 16:29

לא ה' שלחני [IF THESE MEN DIE THE COMMON DEATH OF ALL MEN] … THEN THE LORD HATH NOT SENT ME. but I have done everything of my own accord and he (Korah) is therefore right in rebelling against me.

IF THESE MEN DIE THE COMMON DEATH OF ALL MEN. Now many of the people had said to Moses many times, Why hast thou brought us up out of Egypt?¹⁴³Exodus 17:3. [and yet Moses did not ask for them to be especially punished]. But these people deserved punishment more than all other [previous sinners] because they said that thou wouldst make thyself altogether a prince over us.¹⁴⁴Above, Verse 13. Thus they committed two evils:¹⁴⁵Jeremiah 2:13. they trampled upon the honor due to a teacher, and they denied all the deeds of G-d which He did in Egypt and the wilderness, and even at the Revelation on Mount Sinai,¹⁴⁶See (Exodus), Vol. II, p. 251, Note 17. where it is said and they will believe in thee [Moses] forever,¹⁴⁷Exodus 19:9. by saying that Moses was not worthy to rule over them, and that nothing but evil had befallen them through him. Therefore it is said, and Moses was very wroth.¹⁴⁸Verse 15. Also Korach said, wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the assembly of the Eternal?¹³⁹Above, Verse 3. Therefore his tent¹⁴⁹Further, Verse 32. See, however, in my Hebrew commentary p. 263, Note 18, on the exact fate that befell Korach and his tent. was swallowed up by the earth together with them. This was the intention of Moses’ words [when he said: if these men die the common death of all men] then the Eternal hath not ‘sent’ me, meaning that He has not sent me at all to take the people out of Egypt, the expression being similar to: which the Eternal ‘sent’ him [Moses] to do in the land of Egypt;¹⁵⁰Deuteronomy 34:11. and this shall be the token unto thee, that I have ‘sent’ thee.¹⁵¹Exodus 3:12. Similarly, [And Moses said]: “Hereby, ye shall know that the Eternal hath ‘sent’ me to do all these works”¹⁵²Verse 28. means the deeds which you have seen with your [own] eyes, and refers to all that he had done from the day G-d told him, Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh;¹⁵³Exodus 3:10. for the beginning of a prophet’s activity is called sh’lichuth (being sent, a commission), similar to the expressions: Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?;¹⁵⁴Isaiah 6:8. And I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.¹⁵⁵Micah 6:4. And the meaning of the expression all these works¹⁵²Verse 28. is not, as the commentators have said,¹⁵⁶This is the interpretation of Ibn Ezra. the appointment of the Levites instead of the firstborn, and [the appointment of] Aaron to the priesthood,¹⁵⁷This is the interpretation of Rashi. but it refers to the totality of the activities which Moses wrought in the sight of all Israel,¹⁵⁸Deuteronomy 34:12. as I have explained.

לא ה' שלחני, but I had had taken it upon myself to appoint them as the ones with the monopoly to offer incense in the Tabernacle.