Num. 16:1 - 18:32
PrĂ©cis: Korach foments a rebellion, claiming that Moses and Aaron have taken too much power for themselves. Datan and Abiram also attack Moses’ leadership, claiming that Moses has brought them from a land of milk and honey (Egypt!) only to let them die in the wilderness. A test of fire offerings is arranged, and Korach and his followers are destroyed as the earth opens and swallows them. The People continue to complain, God threatens to destroy them once again, but Moses and Aaron intercede. A plague takes the lives of 14,000 people. A final test, that of staffs, is performed, and when Aaron’s staff miraculously blossoms on the following morning, it is clear that his status as High Priest is secure.
Num. 16:16-17 “Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers are to appear before the Lord tomorrow—you and they and Aaron. Each man is to take his censer and put incense in it—250 censers in all—and present it before the Lord. You and Aaron are to present your censers also.”
Rabbi Sacks has noted (Rabbi Sacks Legacy, 7/4/24), that we usually place most of our attention on the rebels, and we do not think much about Moses’ response. Maimonides reminds us that this rebellion happened after the return of the spies. As long as the People expected to reach the Promised Land, there was no reason to question Moses’ leadership. When people have nothing to lose, rebellions happen.
When Korach faces Moses, Moses at first suggests a trial of incense to allow God to make the decision. But God threatens to punish the whole congregation, and Moses and Aaron intercede on their behalf. Moses separates the evil-doers from the rest of the People at God’s instruction. But Moses then does something unprecedented. He says (16:28-30):
“This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: If these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all humankind, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the realm of the dead, then you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt.”
This was the only time Moses asked God to punish someone, and the only time he challenged God to perform a miracle. God accedes to Moses’ request. When the rest of the People object to the slaying of the rebels, they seem ready to blame Moses. God sends a plague, and Aaron must atone for the People. Only after an additional miracle takes place (the flowering of Aaron’s rod) is the rebellion finally ended.
Moses’ leadership is called into question by Sacks. In anger, Moses took the rebellion personally. First, he defends himself after being insulted by Datan and Aviram. Second, he asks for a demonstration from God to show that he is in fact the true leader. The conflict was intensified instead of defused because Moses took it personally in anger. Anger has a place, Sacks notes. Anger motivated Moses to seek the salvation of the Israelites from slavery. But in anger, he killed a task master and was forced to flee. He is ultimately denied entry into the Promised Land 40 years later, when he strikes the rock in anger, after calling the People demanding water “rebels.”
Sacks cites Harvard leadership expert Ronald Heifetz who makes the point that it is essential for a leader to distinguish between role and self. A role is a position we hold. The self is who we are. Leadership is a role. It is not an identity. When a leader takes personal attacks personally, the leader makes himself the issue.
