Commento su Numeri 16:33

AND THEY PERISHED FROM AMONG THE ASSEMBLY. The meaning thereof is that they [Korach and his associates] perished in their sight [that of the people], while they were standing amongst them in their midst, since the earth suddenly opened up its mouth and closed it upon them, and the place where they had been [standing] was not noticeable.¹⁶⁸See Nahum 3:17. And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented that the meaning of the expression is: [they were blotted out from among the assembly] because of the death of their children who would have been in their stead.

ותכס עליהם הארץ, the Torah emphasises that this phenomenon was unlike an earthquake in which the fissures in the earth do not close again to wipe out any traces of what had occurred. Here, the earth looked as if nothing had happened after Korach and his fellow travelers had disappeared.

וירדו…חיים שאולה, they descended into Sheol while still alive. The earth did not kill them but they remained alive so that the bowels of the earth became their Gehinom. The reason the Torah did not say חיים לשאול, but חיים שאולה is that although generally speaking when a word should have the letter ל at the beginning, the letter ה at the end of that word can substitute for the missing letter ל at the beginning, the Torah does not make such changes arbitrarily, without a reason. In this instance the Torah hinted by means of this construction that after Korach and associates descended they did not die but were given the ability to remain alive. This is what is meant by Sanhedrin 100 that G'd gives the wicked the ability to experience their punishment. If they were to die too soon they would not suffer the pain of G'd's retribution. If the Torah had written לשאול instead of שאולה, the meaning would have been that they died as soon as they arrived in Gehinom.

ויאבדו מתוך הקהל, “they were lost from amongst the congregation.” This is a graphic description of how this spectacle affected the onlookers who saw these people one moment and when they looked again they had disappeared from sight within seconds. There was no visible trace of where they once had been. Ibn Ezra writes that the Torah selected the expression ויאבדו to illustrate that seeing that they did not leave any children behind them who would have replaced them, they could be considered as if “lost.” [I have not found this comment of Ibn Ezra in my editions. Ed.] Ibn Ezra adds that there are different opinions as to what happened to Korach himself. Some say that Korach himself was also swallowed up by the earth, what else could the meaning of the words ותבלע אותם be if afterwards the Torah adds: “not only they but all those who belonged to them?” Compare also Numbers 26,10, which is even more specific. Other commentators hold that Korach was burned to death, based on the second half of the same verse that speaks about the fire that consumed the two hundred and fifty men who presented their incense. Some of our most ancient sources believe that Korach was both burned and then his body was swallowed. Personally, (Ibn Ezra speaking) I believe the earth only opened beneath the feet of Datan and Aviram. Korach, at that time stood alongside Aaron and the 250 men offering their incense. Concerning the words ואת קרח “as well as Korach” in Numbers 26,10, these words do not belong with the word ותבלע, “it swallowed,” but belong to the words following, i.e. במות העדה, “when the congregation died.” The reason why the Torah does not mention Korach specifically in the same context as the people who were burned when offering the incense, is simply that once we had heard that the people making common cause with Korach had been burned, their instigator surely did not escape that fate?

V. 33. ותכם וגו׳ ויאברו וגו׳. Die Erde schloss sich in einer Weise über ihnen, dass nicht einmal eine Spur von ihrem Untergang hinterblieb und sie so völlig aus der Mitte des Volkes verschwunden waren.

וירדו הם, “they descended, they;” the reason that these people, not Korach’s family or household members, but sympathisers, over and beyond the two hundred and fifty people mentioned at the beginning of this episode. descended into the bowels of the earth also. The word: הם is a limitation, excluding the two hundred and fifty men who had offered incense, seeing they had done so at the invitation of Moses. Although they had been totally wrong, their motivation was noble so that they died by being burned on the spot, but presumably were buried with honours, just as their censers were used as covers for the altar subsequently. (Numbers 17,3) The people who had not followed Moses’ advice, were the ones that descended into the bowels of the earth. [Actually, of Datan and Aviram the Torah reports that they were burned to death (and that they descended into the bowels of the earth. Deut. 11.6)