“This you shall do: take for you fire pans, Koraḥ, and all his congregation” (Numbers 16:6). “And place fire in them, and place incense upon them before the Lord tomorrow, and it will be the man whom the Lord will choose, he is the holy one; it is too much for you, sons of Levi” (Numbers 16:7). “This you shall do: take for you fire pans…And place fire in them, and place incense upon them before the Lord tomorrow” – what did he see that led him to say so?
He said to them: ‘In the ways of the gentiles, there are many protocols and many priests. Do they all gather together at the same time? But we have only one Lord, one Torah, one protocol, one altar, and one High Priest. You are two hundred and fifty men seeking the High Priesthood.
I, too, want that. “Therefore, you and your entire congregation” (Numbers 16:11). “This you shall do: take for you fire pans, Koraḥ, and his entire congregation” – you have the service that is most beloved of all, it is the incense, more beloved than all the offerings. But a deadly poison was placed within it, by means of which Nadav and Avihu were burned.’
That is why he forewarned them: “It will be the man whom the Lord will choose, he is the holy one” (Numbers 16:7). I am telling you, so you will not incur liability. The one among you who will be chosen, will emerge alive, but all of you will be eliminated. “It is too much for you, sons of Levi” – I have told you.
Were they not fools, that he forewarned them in this manner, but they accepted the contest upon themselves? They sinned against their souls, as it is stated: “The firepans of these sinners against their souls” (Numbers 17:3). But Koraḥ, who was clever, what did he see that led him to this foolishness? His eye deceived him.
He saw a great dynasty emerging from him. Samuel, who is the equivalent of Moses and Aaron, as it is stated: “Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those who called His name” (Psalms 99:6). Twenty-four watches emerging from his descendants, all prophesying with the divine spirit, as it is stated: “All of these were sons of Heiman,12“From the sons of the Kehatites: Heiman the singer, son of Yoel, son of Samuel…son of Koraḥ” (I Chronicles 6:18, 22). [the king's seer in matters of God]” (I Chronicles 25:5).
He said: ‘Is it possible that all this greatness will emerge from me, and I will be silent?’ But he did not see well. It was because his sons repented, and they emerged from them. But Moses saw.
That is why he [Koraḥ] came to participate, based on his presumption regarding what he heard from the mouth of Moses, that all of them would be eliminated, and one would survive: “It will be the man whom the Lord will choose, he is the holy one.”