וַיָּבֹ֤א מֹשֶׁה֙ וְאַהֲרֹ֔ן אֶל־פְּנֵ֖י אֹ֥הֶל מוֹעֵֽד׃ (פ)
이튿날 모세가 증거의 장막 안에 들어가 본즉 레위 집을 위하여 낸 아론의 지팡이에 움이 돋고 순이 나고 꽃이 피어서 살구 열매가 열렸더라
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.