ויקח קרח, The arrangement and meaning of the verse is as if it said: "And Korach, Datan and Aviram, and On ben Pelet took two hundred and fifty chiefs of the congregation, and they rose up before Moses, along with men from the Children of Israel." And after that:

ויקהלו על משה ועל אהרן, Korach, Datan and Aviram, assembled in order to incite against Moses and Aaron in the presence of 250 dignitaries of the people who had allowed themselves to be incited. This incident occurred at a time when a number of Israelites had assembled in the vicinity of Moses waiting to have their respective complaints adjudged. The 250 men mentioned walked around as if minding their own business, wanting to consult Moses about some harmless matter. It was their intention to arouse the crowd in order to provide support for Korach’s and his henchmen’s insurrection as soon as the latter would show up and begin asking hostile questions of Moses and Aaron. They selected an hour of day when there was a sizable crowd in Moses’ vicinity in order to reap the maximum benefit from that, and so that all those who were convinced of the validity of Korach’s complaints would spread the word and bring reinforcements from the plain people in the camp.

כי כל העדה, every one of the people

כולם קדושים, from head to toe; (compare Numbers 15,8 you will be completely holy”)

?ומדוע תתנשאו; in respect of the sanctity, by forbidding the firstborn to carry out sacrificial service in the Tabernacle? Moses himself had performed priestly duties during the first seven days of the consecration of the Tabernacle whereas subsequently Aaron and his sons became priests on a permanent basis.

וידבר אל קרח ואל כל עדתו, he informed them that he was sensitive to the trumped up nature of their charges and the rebellious nature of their complaints.

את אשר לו, who was the one who spoke sincerely in honour of G’d (did not mouth pious sounding phrases only)

ואת הקדוש והקריב אליו, He, G’d, Himself will make it plain who is entitled and worthy to offer sacrifices in His honour.

ואת אשר יבחר בו יקריב אליו, only the worthy person G’d will select from all those taking part in this commotion. The meaning is reflected in G’d saying later to Moses: הבדלו מתוך העדה, “separate yourselves from among this congregation” (verse 21)

הוא הקדוש, only he is the one accorded the title “holy.” In the test Moses proposes there could be only one winner. Moses made this statement in order to frighten his listeners (as they would become aware of the enormity of the gamble they were going to involve themselves in) and knowing this they might repent and not lose their lives. Just as G’d does not want the sinner to die but to repent, so Moses offered these people the chance to retract and thereby save their lives. (compare Ezekiel 18,32).

רב לכם בני לוי, you, inasmuch as you are considered people belonging to Korach (compare verse 32), are being judged more sternly, exactingly, precisely because due to your superior social position you must lead even more exemplary lives than ordinary Israelites. G’d will be much more angry at you if you fail to reflect the nobility you already represent.

ולעמוד לפני העדה לשרתם, to serve the Lord by representing the whole community by carrying the sacred vessels, and parts of the Tabernacle. G’d selected you to perform this service לפני העדה, in full view of the whole community to serve as a reminder that another group of your nation, the firstborn, had already been deprived of this privilege due to their having participated in the sin of the golden calf, and you had been chosen to replace them.

לכן, אתה וכל עדתך הנועדים, know that I leave the matter of judging who is right entirely up to the Lord. Let Him decide who has offended Him. I do not take any countermeasures against you at all.

(2) [It is] AGAINST ADONAI. Know that I am casting my burden on Adonai [see Ps. 55:23] to pursue a remedy for the affront to us, and I will not arise against you at all.

אף לא אל ארץ...ותתן לנו, not only did you worsen our lot by taking us out of Egypt, and bringing us to a desert leaving behind a land which was flowing with milk and honey, but you have mocked us by not even bringing us to another country, even though it might have been inferior to Egypt. To listen to you speak one might think that you had led us to a land of good fields and vineyards and allocated these to us as our inheritance. Anyone listening to your expounding on the Divine commandments linked to possession of such fields and orchards has been totally misled. (reference to Leviticus 19,9-10) When presenting this legislation to us one could think that the fields and orchards under discussion were already ours.

העיני האנשים ההם תנקר, do you really think that you can fool all these people into not recognising your machinations which are of such a deceptive nature?

אל תפן אל מנחתם, do not accept any kind of offering these people would You in order to atone for themselves. Moses chose the מנחה type offering as the example as this is usually the most welcome kind of offering to G’d, and we know that he referred to such gift offerings as being ריח ניחוח pleasant fragrance. He explains that the reason such offerings should not be accepted is that he, Moses, has not forgiven the insult fling at him. [In Samuel I 26,19 David explains to King Sha-ul that G’d is apt to be appeased by someone bringing an offering known as מנחה. Ed.] Here Moses conditions G’d accepting such an offering from Korach on he, Moses, first having been appeased by Korach before daring to ask G’d for atonement. We have a standing rule that even Yom Kippur, a day set aside for atonement, does not atone for sins committed between one person and another unless the offender had first reconciled himself with the party whom he had wronged. (Yuma 85). The prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 18,20-23) elaborates the same point also, asking G’d not to forgive the people for sins committed against fellow Jews until they had first been forgiven by those against whom they had sinned.

לא חמור אחד מהם נשאתי, I have not even made use of things which any ordinary person would borrow from his neighbour without giving it a thought. This proves that my position of authority was exclusively used for their benefit and not for mine. Their present complaints prove only that they are extremely ungrateful, seeing that they have benefited from my leadership.

ולא הרעותי את אחד מהם, they cannot even accuse me of having wrongly convicted anyone of them in legal proceedings as they never brought any of their quarrels before me to have me adjudicate them.

'אתה וכל עדתך היו לפני ה; be ready for judgment in His presence.

!הבדלו. In order that due to your remaining close to them your merit will not reflect on them to their credit. Compare Job 22,30 ימלט אי נקי, “he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

האיש אחד יחטא, by having assembled a whole congregation against us? (verse 19)

דבר אל העדה לאמר העלו מסביב, G'd now spelled out what he had meant when he said הבדלו in verse 21. He had meant that the people should only put distance between themselves and the supporters of Korach.

פן תספו, for you will not deserve being saved if you will remain in their physical proximity at the time they will be punished.

וידעתם כי נאצו, for they do not deserve to even be buried together with the remainder of the people.

ותפתח הארץ את פיה, the fissure in the surface of the earth became wide enough to extend all the way to their houses.

כל האדם אשר לקרח, all the people who had made common cause with Korach in this rebellion. Seeing that this is the meaning of the these words, we need not be surprised to be told that Korach’s sons did not die, as they did not “belong” to their father spiritually or philosophically.

ואת כל הרכוש, this was so that his righteous sons not be burdened with inheriting the ill gotten gains of their father. [the author quotes a Sifri on Ki Teytze item 283 in support of this. Ed.]

ותכס עליהם הארץ, the Torah emphasises that this phenomenon was unlike an earthquake in which the fissures in the earth do not close again to wipe out any traces of what had occurred. Here, the earth looked as if nothing had happened after Korach and his fellow travelers had disappeared.