Israel's Cry Are We All to Perish at the Tabernacle

"Are we to perish utterly" (Numbers 17:28). After the Holy One, blessed be He, said, "And the stranger who draws near shall be put to death" (Numbers 1:51), [they said:] if we draw near to the Tabernacle of the Lord we shall die — will You not make for us a remedy? [Therefore:] "we are all lost." From here you learn that the dispute of Korah was before they were appointed to make the standards, and before the Levites were appointed to make the Tabernacle and to guard it. For if it were after this, why would all Israel be complaining about this matter, that the Holy One, blessed be He, should give guardians for the Tabernacle? And has it not already been said, concerning the taking of the Levites, "they are given [given are they to Me] from among the children of Israel," etc. (Numbers 3:9), and it said, "the service of gift I give" (Numbers 18:7) — that is to say, concerning the service of gift, such as the gifts of the bull of the anointed priest and of the bull of the Day of Atonement, which were inside; and such as the sprinkling of the blood and the burning [of the incense]; and also the pouring of the wine and the water, for which a stranger is liable — and not the service of removal, such as the taking out of the ashes.