All is not well in the Midbar. There’s turmoil in the camp, rebellion in the air. Korach and his followers are questioning Moshe’s appointment of several individuals to positions of authority, and they’re distrustful of some mitzvos he’s taught. When the dissidents refuse to submit to rebuke, how does Moshe, the raya mehemna, faithful and compassionate shepherd, respond?
Moshe, the finest advocate Klal Yisrael ever had, the leader who spent 40 days and nights without food or drink in supplication on behalf of his people, seems to abandon his defending role as he calls for a punishment both swift and spectacular (Bamidbar 16:28–30): “By this you will know that Hashem sent me to do all these acts; it didn’t come from my heart. If these people [Korach and his followers] die the death of all men, then Hashem has not sent me. But if Hashem produces a new creation and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them and all that is theirs, and they go down alive into the grave, then you will know that these men have rebelled against Hashem!”
Why this horrific proposal? Why doesn’t Moshe ask Hashem for erech apayim, an extension of time, as he did on other occasions of offense in the camp? Was Korach’s sin so grave that he couldn’t be granted the opportunity to repent before facing Hashem’s wrath?
The proposed punishment is also unprecedented. No mere plague fell Korach and company. Pirkei Avos tells us that the extraordinary “mouth of the earth” was created during the first week of Creation. As the Malbim describes, the earth turned into a grotesque and avaricious creature, opening its mouth and then closing it, swallowing the sinners, and leaving behind not even their smallest possession. “And all of Yisrael who were around them fled at the sound, saying, ‘Lest the earth swallow us.’ ”
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