Numbers 16:15

Moshe was extremely distressed. And Moshe was very grieved.

Do not turn to their offering. According to the plain interpretation, [through] the incense which they will offer before you tomorrow, do not turn to them. According to the Midrash, he said, “I know that they have a portion in the continual communal sacrifices. Let their portion not be received by you favorably. Let the fire allow it to remain without consuming it.”

Not a donkey did I sequester from any one of them. I did not take a donkey from any one of them. Even when I went from Midyan to Egypt and set my wife and sons on a donkey, when I could have justifiably taken that donkey from them, I took only of my own. Onkelos translates שְׁחָרִית, “sequestered.” In Aramaic, the king’s service is called שַׁחְוַור .

And Mosheh was very wroth, and said before the Lord: I beseech thee, look not upon their offering, the portion of their hands; for not an ass have I taken from one of them, nor to any of them done an injury,

RESPECT NOT THOU ‘MINCHATHAM’ (THEIR OFFERING). “According to its plain sense [the meaning of ‘their offering’ is] ‘the incense which they will offer up before You tomorrow — do not turn to it.’ The Midrashic explanation is that Moses said: ‘I know that they have a portion in the Daily Whole-offerings of the congregation; let not [their part in it] be accepted before You favorably.’” This is Rashi’s language. But it does not seem to me to be correct that it is referring to the incense, because it was with reference to Dathan and Abiram that Moses said this, because he became angered by their words, and they were not amongst the company who gathered together to burn the incense. But the plain meaning [of the verse] is that because these people wanted the priesthood, to be able to perform the service of the offerings, Moses said: “Respect not Thou their offering, meaning: respect not the offering which they want to bring before You, nor the prayer which they will pray unto You,” for all offerings, including prayer, are called minchah (offering) in Scripture. Onkelos also rendered [minchatham] as kurbanhon (their offering), meaning “anything that they will offer before You.”

I HAVE NOT TAKEN ONE ASS FROM THEM. The meaning thereof is that Moses said: “What lordship am I exercising over them, for I have never taken from them even one ass to do my work, as is the manner of kings and princes?” For this is the manner of the kingdom, as it is written, and he will take your asses, and put them to his work., 8:16. This is the meaning of Onkelos’ rendition: [“I have not taken one ass from them] sh’chorith (as a levy),” for [in Aramaic] the king’s levy is called shichvur. Thus Moses mentioned the smallest incident amongst the laws of royalty, and then he said, Neither have I hurt one of them by appointing him to my chariot, Verse 12. or to do my work, as is befitting for a king, or by perverting his judgment [in a lawsuit] or by treating him with disrespect, for [the phrase “hurting” in neither have I ‘hurt’ one of them] includes all kinds of injustice.

אל תפן; the word תפן is derived from the root פנה, as in Genesis 43,34 ותרב משאת בנימין “Binyamin’s gift was more substantial,” after the Torah first described Joseph giving gifts to the other brothers, but introducing Binyamin’s gifts with the words מאת פניו, indicating a “turn around” by treating Binyamin differently than the other brothers. We must view the expression אל תפן as אל תפנה, seeing the vowel pattern under the letters תפ are tzeyreh followed by segol. If the Torah had written אל תפן with the vowel pattern segol, segol, it would have been tafneh, i.e. a causative mode “do not bring about a change.”

לא חמור אחד מהם נשאתי, I have not even appropriated a single donkey of theirs (the entire people) as a form of taxation as do most others rulers from all of their subjects. Seeing that this is so, on what do they base their claim that I behave like a ruler, a despot? If the vowel pattern under the word אחד would not have been “segol” followed by “kametz,” but two successive vowels “patach,” the meaning would be: “I have not taken away a single one of their privately owned asses.” It would have been a construct mode as in Genesis 26,10 אחד העם, i.e. “one of the common people.”

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.