Comentário sobre Números 26:9

אשר הצו WHO INCITED — i.e., who incited Israel, על משה AGAINST MOSES,

AND THE SONS OF ELIAB: NEMUEL, AND DATHAN, AND ABIRAM. THESE ARE DATHAN AND ABIRAM WHO [QUARRELLED AGAINST MOSES] etc. Scripture mentions this [episode leading to the death of Dathan and Abiram] in order to indicate that the whole inheritance of the Palluite family remained for Nemuel alone, because Dathan and Abiram [the other sons of Eliab] and all their belongings were swallowed up [in the earth, and hence Nemuel was the only surviving son of Eliab, who was in turn the only son of Pallu]. Or it may be, as our Rabbis have said,⁴⁰Baba Bathra 118 b. that [Dathan and Abiram’s death is mentioned here] to allude [to the fact] that they lost their share in the Land even though they were amongst those who came out of Egypt, and were therefore eligible to [receive] an inheritance.

הוא דתן ואבירם, "the same Datan and Aviram, etc." What did the Torah want to teach us by referring to Datan and Aviram at this point? If the Torah merely wanted to tell us that these two were the same Datan and Aviram we have encountered in connection with the rebellion of Korach, we knew this. It was hardly likely that two members of the tribe of Reuven both named Eliav each had two sons called Datan and Aviram. Moreover, their names did not need to appear here at all. None of the other families who had died before this census were mentioned in this sequence. Furthermore, why was the Torah so long-winded in telling us how these two brothers "incited in the company of Korach against Moses and Aaron when they incited against G'd?"

ובני אליאב נמואל ודתן ואבירם וגו', “and the sons of Eliav were Nemuel, Datan and Aviram, distinguished etc.;” Nachmanides writes that the latter detail was recorded here so that we would know that the entire inheritance (of land in the land of Israel) of the family of Palu-i accrued only to Nemuel. We know that both Datan and Aviram were swallowed up by the earth together with their entire families during Korach’s revolt. Alternatively, in accordance with views expressed by our sages, Baba Batra 118, the purpose of singling them out was to tell us that in spite of the principle of the distribution being governed by who arrived as adult in Egypt, the members of these families had forfeited their claim due to their conduct in the desert.

Israel. The words הצו ["incited"] and בהצותם ["when they incited"] are from the causative [הפעיל] conjugation which would refer to someone else, thus they require an object. Consequently, Rashi was obliged to explain the object of the incitement was the people. Re’m writes: I do not know why Rashi switched the objects, and said that one was Yisroel and the other was the people. Why were they not both the same? [He answers:] Perhaps the answer is that because the verse repeats itself with different terms, the words הצו ["incited"] and בהצותם ["when they incited"]. Rashi said [that it must mean], “[Who] incited Yisroel”…“when they incited the people,” or possibly the reverse.

V. 9. הוא דתן ואבירם. Nach Baba Batra 117b sind alle an dem Aufstand Korachs Beteiligten bei der Verteilung des Landes als nicht existierend betrachtet worden, während die anderen יוצאי מצרים, selbst, wenn sie beim Einzuge in das Land bereits verstorben waren, als die eigentlichen Besitznehmer zu betrachten waren, unter welche das Land dergestalt zur Verteilung kam, dass die am Leben befindlichen aktiven Besitzergreifer des Landes dasselbe nur als deren Erben erhielten (siehe zu V. 53). עדת קרח לא היה להן חלק בארץ הבנים נטלו בזכות אבי אביהן ובזכות אבי אמותיהן. Nach רמב׳׳ן dürfte aus diesem Grunde hier der Untergang Datan und Abirams erwähnt sein. — אשר הצו וגו׳: der Aufstand gegen Mosche und Aharon war in Wahrheit ein Aufstand gegen Gott, und weil er das war, darum ותפתח וגו׳.

.'בהצותם על ה, “when they agitated against the Lord.” Rav Chisda (in Sanhedrin folio 110) stated that anyone who agitates against his Rabbi is as if he had agitated against the Lord Himself. [Korach had agitated against Moses, his Rabbi. Ed.]

בהצתם WHEN THEY INCITED the people AGAINST THE LORD.

I believe that the reason the Torah recalls what these brothers had done was to inform us that they had been the cause of Korach's rebellion. It was G'd's wish to publicise the names of the wicked people who had orchestrated the evil in question. By writing אשר הצו, the Torah stresses that these two incited others both against Moses and Aaron as well as against G'd. Rashi explains the verse in the same sense. Once we have heard that these two caused the whole Israelite community to sin, it is quite possible to blame them also for having incited Korach. Although the Torah wrote (Numbers 16,1) "Korach took, etc.," which sounds as if Korach had initiated whatever he did, this may have occurred after something the brothers Datan and Aviram had already done, and that they had incited him. When the Torah repeats here once more what it had written in Numbers 16,32 that "the earth opened its mouth and it swallowed them and Korach," it may be that these two were the root cause why Korach and family were swallowed by the earth and why the 250 men who offered incense were burned to death at the time. The Torah also suggests here that but for the two demagogues Datan and Aviram the Israelites who had gathered threateningly against Moses and Aaron would have done תשובה.

הצו means they persuaded Israel to strive against Moses — it is a grammatical form denoting “they caused someone to do something".

The best proof for our theory is the fact that Moses is described as trying to placate only Datan and Aviram when he sent messengers to call them for a chat (Numbers 16,12). When they refused to come, Moses even went to look them up (16,25). The reason was that Moses felt that these two were at the bottom of the whole rebellion. Once we accept this, the death of all the people who perished can be attributed to Datan and Aviram. This results in our being able to find some excuse for both Korach and the 250 men who offered the incense. You find that the Torah wrote in Deut.11,6: "and what He has done to Datan and Aviram, the sons of Eliav, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their houses, and their tents and every living thing which followed them." Moses attributed the entire debacle exclusively to Datan and Aviram. Having explained this, we can now understand the scholar in Sanhedrin 110 who holds that the company of Korach does not qualify for life in the hereafter as referring only to Datan and Aviram. The contrary opinion who holds that Korach and company will enjoy life in the hereafter and who base themselves on Samuel I 2,8 that "G'd lowers people to Sheol and brings them up again," must be understood as referring to Korach and companions exclusive of Datan and Aviram to whom the verse does not apply.