Pensée juive sur La Genèse 13:2

Since it is well known that premeditation and planning of sinful conduct aggravates the nature of such a sin, (Yuma 29, "contemplation of the sin is worse than the sin itself") it is important to reveal the full extent of the qualities the people involved possessed. Men such as these were beyond acting impulsively, and could not be excused for having acted out of mere thoughtlessness. Korach was keenly aware that in order for his rebellion to succeed, he needed either massive support amongst the people, or the kind of collaborators who could compenstae for their lack of numbers by dint of their reputation amongst the people. This is why he included "princes, men of established reputations," "heads of the nation." With that kind of following, he did not fear to be accused of grandstanding, of selfseeking under the mantle of righteous indignation. For this very reason he excluded the firstborn, who might have been perceived as having an axe to grind, having lost their privileges to the tribe of Levi. Although Korach's main attack was directed against the priesthood, he could create the impression that he was prepared to forego his own privileges as a Levite by camouflaging his complaint as being directed against the whole tribe of Levi. This gave the impression that he was striving for everybody to be equal. He did not suggest that the people become leaderless because they were all holy, but argued that in every civilised society leadership positions are awarded based on personal merit. It would be inconceivable that in a holy nation, leaders would not be freely elected by their peers. (1) When Moses heard this heresy and impudence, he told them that at the first available opportunity, i.e. the following morning, G'd Himself would announce who it was who could claim to be close to Him. The very fact that G'd was amongst them,- Korach's own words,- would help settle the issue. Since Korach and companions claimed equal status for everyone, surely the attempt to offer incense could not endanger them, but would give them a chance to see whose incense would be accepted. (2) At that stage, Moses did not suggest that Aaron present incense also. Later, Moses turned to Korach's family, pleading that they use their intelligence and realise that they had already been accorded a superior status by G'd. If now, after challenging this arrangement they were not prepared to retract their demand to be accorded the priesthood also, they should realise that they were placing themselves in mortal danger by presenting incense alongside Aaron. After this warning, Moses added "and Aaron, how is he involved?" This means "do not blame Aaron if you will die as a result of your experiment." (3) When Datan and Aviram who had been present at the start of the argument, saw that Moses had turned this into a confrontation with the Levites, they stalked away in haughty disdain. Moses thereupon had to ask them by messenger, since he wanted to include them in the warning he had issued. However, they chose to poke fun at Moses, sarcastically parrying Moses' words of ha-meat mikem, "is it not enough for you?," with a line of their own, using the very same words. They revealed themselves as master demagogues. They managed to convey the impression that Moses had taken them out of a beautiful country, Egypt, against the people's will. Moses' leadership, they claimed, had caused the people's death in the desert. Whereas until now they had suffered in silence, they could not longer do so. Even supposing that Moses had taken them out of a bad country to lead them to a land flowing with milk and honey, he had failed. By what right then, did he want to blind the eyes of the people into accepting his leadership? (4) When Moses realised that the whole diatribe was directed only against what they considered his own dictatorial leadership, he responded. Since Datan and Aviram had claimed that Moses' leadership had "interfered with bringing the people to the holy land," he had to point out that he had not in any way benefitted from his leadership role. Therefore, this could not have been his motive to act in the manner he was being accused of. Mention of the donkey is not part of Moses' prayer to G'd, but part of his defence against accusations levelled against him personally. At this point, Moses orders Datan and Aviram to offer their incense jointly with Aaron. Moses explains, that originally, he had not wanted to involve Aaron, so as to make Korach and his group feel that the incense of at least one of them would be accepted. Now, however, he wanted all two hundred and fifty plus Aaron to participate in the test. Otherwise, his action would be viewed as high handed, and the value of the victory would be diminished if Aaron had not participated. The test had to be under conditions of everyone having the same chance of victory.