If one feels he was overlooked for a desired position, or he feels a lack of acknowledgment for something he did, and those feelings aren’t dealt with in a healthy way, the results may be disastrous.
An example of this is in this week’s Parsha. Korach, a prestigious Levite and a cousin to Moshe and Aaron, felt slighted when Moshe appointed a younger cousin as a leader of a tribal unit while he was ignored.
With the encouragement of his wife, Korach went after Moshe, the one in charge of appointing leaders. Korach blatantly accused Moshe of nepotism, because Moshe had appointed his brother Aaron as the High Priest. Korach’s argument was, “Since the entire nation heard G-d proclaim the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, they were all equally holy and fit to serve as High Priests in the Temple.”
Korach’s assertion that Moshe personally appointed Aaron as High Priest was an attack on the veracity of the transmission of the Torah that G-d entrusted to Moshe to teach and instruct the Jewish people.
Moshe tried to peacefully communicate with Korach but Korach had already gone too far. He began mocking Moshe and a number of the laws, and was thus able to persuade a following of 250 people.
Having no choice, Moshe challenged the group and called for a showdown where G-d would miraculously prove who was correct. Sure enough, Korach and his family were swallowed up in the ground in an awesome way, and a fire descended from heaven and consumed the 250 followers.
Thus Moshe’s authentic G-d given prophecy and leadership was proven, and henceforth not challenged.
The Torah highlights two people who Korach pulled into his argument; Dasan and Aviram.
Dasan and Aviram were brothers who way back in Egypt had issues with Moshe. The Torah relates that Moshe was raised by Basya, the daughter of Pharoh, in the palace of Pharoh. When Moshe was twenty years old, he went out to check on his brethren. He observed an Egyptian hitting a Jew whereupon Moshe recited a special name of G-d and killed the Egyptian. The Jew that was being beaten was none other than Dasan. The next day Moshe went out again and saw two Jews fighting. It was Dasan and his brother Aviram, and Moshe reproved them. They said, “Who placed you in charge!”, and promptly reported Moshe to Pharoh. Moshe had to flee for his life from Egypt.
Sixty years later, when G-d dispatched Moshe at the burning bush to lead the Jews out of Egypt, G-d mentioned to him that Dasan and Aviram were considered as dead and no longer a threat, since they had lost all their money.
Although many Jews who did not believe in the eventual redemption died during the plague of darkness, Dasan and Aviram remained alive. Obviously, they believed in the redemption but had an issue with Moshe’s leadership and could not come to terms with it.
We see this manifest in four incidences. 1) A few days after the Jews left Egypt and they realized that Pharoh was pursuing them, Dasan and Aviram started complaining to Moshe, “Why do we have to die in the desert and not in Egypt.”
2) When Moshe instructed the Jews that they would receive a double portion of Manna on Fridays, and that the Manna would not appear on Shabbos, Dasan and Aviram spread out Manna to disprove Moshe. Birds actually took care of the planted evidence by eating the Manna.
3) When the spies returned with their bad report, Dasan and Aviram proclaimed, “Let’s appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”
4) Finally, when Korach led a rebellion against Moshe, Dasan and Aviram were the first to follow. Their disrespect toward Moshe was apparent; even when Moshe approached them in his humble fashion and interest in peacefully dealing with their claim, they lacked the decency of responding to him.
Until now, Moshe was able to overlook Dasan and Aviram’s issues with him regarding his appointment as leader. However, now they had crossed a line; Dasan and Aviram’s disdain for Moshe had led them to rebel against G-d Himself, and it was crucial for Moshe to address this.
From all that Moshe did in Egypt and at the splitting of the Red sea, and from his prophesy and being in Heaven with G-d after the Revelation at Sinai, it was quite evident that that he did everything through the direct instruction from G-d. However, Korach claimed, that since no one else heard these instructions from G-d, that Moshe made them up.
With Korach, Dasan and Aviram and company challenging this communication, they were now going against G-d’s wishes, and to this Moshe had to call upon G-d to prove through a miraculous public display that whatever he said or instructed was through a direct command from G-d.
Had Korach worked through his feelings he would have come to realize that G-d had a plan and if he would accept it, it would ultimately be for the best. G-d would have then recognized his self-discipline and blessed him greatly!
