A Covering for What? ‘פסוקים: א’-ה

After the painful and upsetting end of מרד קרח, Hashem commands משה to tell אליעזר to clean up all of the holy מחתות in the אהל מועד that the 250 men used to give a קטורת קורבן to Hashem. With the fire pans,אליעזר should make a covering for the מזבח as a reminder for בנ”י. Moshe tells אליעזר what he needs to do and a beautiful covering is made. “1. פסוק ה’: ויקח אלעזר הכהן את מחתות הנחשת אשר הקריבו השרופים וירקעום צפוי למזבח” However, there are a few questions that come up on this. 1. Why does Hashem chose אליעזר and not אהרון to do this? 2. Why are the מחתות described as holy if the rebels used them? 3. What reminder is the covering for the מזבח going to be for בנ”י? Rashi, a famous writer, answers these questions for us. He explains that Hashem chose אליעזר and not אהרון because it wouldn’t be proper for the כהן גדול to clean up garbage and אהרון was involved in the death of the rebels so if he got rid of the מחתות, it wouldn’t be nice. Also, the מחתות are described as holy because they were used for a מצוה and for Hashem’s command and therefore can’t be used for any normal activity and are holy “RASHI 1. מחתות ואסורין בהנאה שהרי עשאום לכלי שרת” Finally, the covering was supposed to remind בנ”י that only a כהן can give a  קטורת קורבן and not to be like קרח ועדתו (Simple meaning: Don’t act like קרח and his rebels did. Deeper meaning: There will never again be a rebellion or argument like the one with קרח and his rebels. Usually, in an argument, each person is partially correct, but in this situation, משה was 100% right and קרח was 100% wrong.) 

Why must you complain? ‘פסוקים: ו’-ה 

After אליעזר did his job, בנ”י complained to משה and אהרון that they made the 250 rebels die. After Hashem hears that בנ”י complained, He was so angry that he told משה and אהרון to separate themselves from the nation because He will destroy them in an instant!  משה and אהרון immediately fall on their faces to daven to Hashem to change His decree!

“2. ‘פסוק ו’: אתם המתם את העם ד”

“3. פסוק י’: מרימו מתוך העדה הזאת ואכלה אתם כרגע” 

תפילה and השתדלות is the perfect route! פסוקים: י”א-ט”ו

משה instantly tells אהרון to run and give a קטורת קורבן to Hashem to ask for forgiveness for בנ”י! Hashem was so mad at בנ”י for complaining that He started a plague on them! אהרון immediately gave a קטורת קורבן and he saw the plague started. Once אהרון gave the קטורת קורבן while standing between the living and the dead the plague stopped! Sadly, 14,700 people died in the plague.

“4. פסוק  י”ד: ויהיו המתים במגפה ארבעה עשר אלף ושבע מאות מלבד המתים על דבר קרח” After that, אהרון returned to the אהל מועד and saw משה speaking with Hashem. But hold it, something isn’t quite right. What does it mean that אהרון stood between the dead and the living and how exactly did he stop the plague? Also, did משה specifically want אהרון to give a קטורת קורבן? Again, Rashi helps us with this. He says that when אהרון stood between the dead and the living he saw the מלאך המות and grabbed him to stop the plague. The מלאך המות tells אהרון to let him go and do his job. אהרון said no, משה sent me to do stop you! Then, the מלאך המות said Hashem sent me and only משה sent you, why should I listen to you! אהרון answers by saying that משה only tells me what Hashem commands! אהרון drags the מלאך המות to the אהל מועד and once he sees that משה is speaking to Hashem, he stops killing בנ”י and the plague ends! Also, since בנ”י were always making fun of the קטורת קורבן, saying it was a “killer קורבן” and not to use it because נדב and אביהו used it and died and so did the 250 rebels. Therefore, they decided to use that קורבן to show בנ”י that it wasn’t a killer קורבן, but instead it was a savior קורבן because it saved them from the plague and that sins are what really cause death. “RASHI 2. הוא תראו שעוצר מגפה הוא והחטא הוא הממית” Wow! Rashi really knows how to explain this well! אהרון and משה used תפילה and השתדלות to save the day! 

The Stick contest! פסוקים: ט”ז-כ”ו

Since משה and אהרון just saved בנ”י, Moshe felt that he had to show בנ”י, one last time, that אהרון was the rightful כהן גדול and that they should respect him. Hashem says to Moshe that each leader of each שבט should take a מטה and write their name and שבט on it (there are 12 שבטים so there’ll be 12 מטות in all). אהרון should also take a stick and write his name and שבט לוי on it, to represent שבט לוי. All of the sticks should be put in the אהל מועד, next to the ארון of Hashem. The stick of the rightful כהן גדול will bloom! Now משה tells the leaders of the שבטים to do what Hashem said to do, and they do so. They put their מטות in the אהל מועד and אהרון’s stick is in the other sticks. This doesn’t make any sense!? How can אהרון’s stick be in the other sticks? Well, this means that אהרון’s stick was in the middle and the other 11 מטות were surrounding his in a circle. “RASHI 3. הניחו באמצע, שלא יאמרו מפני שהניחו בצד שכינה פרח” But why this set up? The answer is that it was in this way so that if אהרון’s מטה were to blossom, then no one could say that the only reason that it blossomed was because it was closest to the ארון. Now that the מטות were placed in the אהל מועד before Hashem,another question can be asked. Why would Hashem want this contest, the מבחן המטות? Hashem specifically wanted this contest to show בנ”י that שבט לוי is a special שבט, that אהרון is the rightful כהן גדול, and to stop בנ”י from complaining any more. The next day משה went to the אהל מועד and a miracle had occurred. Aharon’s stick, a dead branch, blossomed, sprouted a bud, and grew almonds all at the same time! Also, this happened over night on a dead stick! Just a side note, why would his stick grow almonds? Why not apples or oranges? Rashi explains that almonds are the fastest growing fruits. So too, anyone who complains anymore should get a fast punishment. Next, משה took out all of the מטות and each man saw the miracle and took back their stick. Hashem now tells משה to take אהרון’s stick and put it in front of the אהל מועד as a reminder for בנ”י forever to never again complain! “5. פסוק כ”ה: השב את מטה אהרון לפני העדות למשמרת לאות לבני מרי ותכל תלונתם מעלי ולא ימתו” Wow! Four huge miracles just happened! 1. אהרון’s מטה blossomed. 2. It blossomed, budded, and grew almonds all at the same time! 3. All of these things occurred over night on a dead stick! 4. Finally, it will last forever as a reminder for בנ”י!!! 

What to do… What to do…? פסוקים: כ”ז-כ”ח

בנ”י now learn their lesson about complaining! They will never do it again! However, they are very nervous right now. They really don’t want to sin anymore and don’t know what to do! They’re afraid that going touching, or even going near, to the משכן or אהל מועד will make them die! “6. פסוק כ”ח: כל הקרב הקרב אל משכן ד’ ימות האם תמנו לגוע” But בנ”י don’t need to worry! Hashem, משה, and אהרון are all there to lead the way!

THE END!!