וַיֹּאמֶר֮ מֹשֶׁה֒ בְּזֹאת֙ תֵּֽדְע֔וּן כִּֽי־יְהוָ֣ה שְׁלָחַ֔נִי לַעֲשׂ֕וֹת אֵ֥ת כָּל־הַֽמַּעֲשִׂ֖ים הָאֵ֑לֶּה כִּי־לֹ֖א מִלִּבִּֽי׃
Lalu Musa berkata: “Dengan inilah kamu akan tahu bahwa Yang Mahakekal telah mengutus aku untuk melakukan segala perbuatan ini, dan bahwa semua itu bukan dari kehendak hatiku sendiri.
Kedushat Levi
Numbers 16,28. “none of it was of my own devising.” These words of Moses help us understand 17,8 where the survivors accuse Moses and Aaron as having engineered the death of “G’d’s people.” We have a rule that the tzaddik, by means of his prayers, can bring about events that had not previously been decreed by G’d to happen. On the other hand, perhaps more frequently, the tzaddik’s prayer is the catalyst that sets in motion the execution of a Divine decree whose time had not previously been ripe for execution. In this instance, the Israelites who had watched Korach and the other rebels descend to their death, suspected Moses of having been the instigators of the death of these people through their prayers. In our verse, Moses wants to make clear that what is going to happen is not something that he had either instigated or hoped for. G’d Himself, without any contribution by himself or Aaron, had both decreed and executed it.