Chapter 106 reviews Hashem's kindnesses toward Israel in contrast to the ingratitude and sins that followed them. In the section before us, we continue from the salvation at the Yam Suf, through the song and faith that immediately followed, and from there to the quick forgetting, the cravings at Kivrot HaTa'avah, and the rebellion of Korach and his congregation. We will follow the order of the pesukim, examine the explanations of the Radak and the Malbim, and draw out the moral lessons they offer.
וַיּוֹשִׁיעֵם מִיַּד שׂוֹנֵא וַיִּגְאָלֵם מִיַּד אוֹיֵב׃ - And He saved them from the hand of the hater, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
The Radak explains this according to its plain meaning, just as it is written, "Thus Hashem saved Israel that day from the hand of Egypt" - He saved us from their hand. However, the Malbim makes a precise observation: He not only saved them from the hand of a hater (soneh), but also redeemed them from the hand of an enemy (oyev). The Malbim has already explained in several places the distinction between a soneh and an oyev: a soneh hates in his heart, and his hatred is concealed. An oyev, by contrast, has open hostility, and it is evident that he seeks our harm.
An example was once given: the European nations are our haters, while the Ishmaelites are our enemies. The European nations do not take direct action to destroy us; rather, they aid and abet, undermining us from within in all sorts of ways, because their hatred is in the heart. The enemy, by contrast - his hostility is overt, and he acts openly. Similarly, lehavdil, on the domestic front: there are those who fight openly, coming out to protest, strike, and shout, while there are those who do covertly, under a facade of statesmanship, what the others do openly.
Furthermore, the Malbim adds: the Holy One, blessed be He, did not merely grant them a temporary salvation, but redeemed them completely. Salvation (yeshuah) is temporary - I saved you for now, and in two weeks you might need another salvation; a new round of conflict, a new military operation, and again and again there is a need for more. But "and He redeemed them" (vayigalem) - redemption (ge'ulah) is final and absolute; it is over, He took us completely out of Egypt and out of the hands of our enemies.
וַיְכַסּוּ מַיִם צָרֵיהֶם אֶחָד מֵהֶם לֹא נוֹתָר׃ - And the waters covered their adversaries; not one of them was left.
The Radak notes: not only did Hashem save us from their hand, but He also shook out their adversaries into the sea; the waters covered them, and not one of them remained. Here the Malbim adds a third category: there was a hater (soneh), an enemy (oyev), and now an oppressor or adversary (tzar) appears. The tzar is worse than an oyev, for the tzar actively fights and oppresses - he actually shoots and causes tangible harm, whereas the oyev merely manifests his hostility, and the soneh harbors his hatred secretly. The Egyptians who pursued them were classified as tzarim (oppressors), and therefore the waters covered them until not one of them remained.
The Torah states, "There did not remain of them even one" (lo nish'ar bahem ad echad), and Chazal expounded: "up to" (ad), but not including - only one remained, and that was Pharaoh, whom Hashem kept alive to be a witness (ed). If so, there is an apparent contradiction: our pasuk says, "not one of them was left" (echad mehem lo notar), whereas the Torah implies that one did remain.
The Malbim resolves this based on the distinction between nish'ar and notar, a concept that has been addressed several times: nish'ar denotes something left behind intentionally, whereas notar denotes something left over on its own, unintentionally. We find this distinction in everyday speech as well: "I left (hish'arti) one there for you" means it was done deliberately. But when asked, "What about what is here?" the answer is: "That is left over (notar), you can take it" - it remained on its own.
According to this, the matter is wondrous: "There remained not so much as one of them" - meaning, purposefully, none remained except for one alone. The Holy One, blessed be He, intentionally spared Pharaoh so that he would later recount all the signs and wonders he had witnessed, and he later reigned in Nineveh. Whereas here in our verse it says, "Not one of them was left" - of their own accord, not a single one survived. And if you ask: but what about Pharaoh? Pharaoh did not "survive" on his own; rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, intentionally "left" him alive.
וַיַּאֲמִינוּ בִדְבָרָיו יָשִׁירוּ תְּהִלָּתוֹ׃ - Then they believed in His words; they sang His praise.
Just as it is written: "And they believed in Hashem and in Moshe His servant," and immediately afterward: "Then Moshe and the Children of Israel sang" - "they sang His praise." However, this state did not last very long.
מִהֲרוּ שָׁכְחוּ מַעֲשָׂיו לֹא חִכּוּ לַעֲצָתוֹ׃ - They swiftly forgot His deeds; they did not wait for His counsel.
Radak explains: "They swiftly forgot" - after traveling just three days from the Yam Suf, they arrived at Marah, and immediately the people complained. Not much time had passed, yet they forgot all the wonders. Had they remembered all that Hashem did for them, they would never have said that Hashem brought them out of Egypt to kill them in the wilderness. All the wonders you witnessed - just to kill you in the wilderness? How could anyone even conceive of such a thought, let alone utter it? But "they swiftly forgot His deeds," and when everything is forgotten, one is capable of saying even something like that.
"They did not wait for His counsel" - they should have waited and seen what else the Holy One, blessed be He, would do for them today, for He certainly did not bring them out to make them die of thirst. His counsel was good for them, and all they had to do was wait - and indeed, Hashem performed a wonder for them and sweetened the bitter waters. But they did not wait; instead, they complained immediately.
And why indeed did Hashem not perform the miracle for them immediately? Because the Holy One, blessed be He, led them through the wilderness to test them. The wilderness was a school for a people who had just come out of Egypt, a kind of training ground: to face trials and hardships in order to acquire the virtues that would enable them to enter the Land as a free people capable of building it. Yet every trial caused them to stumble, and every trial immediately brought them to outcries. "And He afflicted you and let you hunger... to test you" - the Holy One, blessed be He, does this to test us, but they failed to realize that it was a test.
The Malbim explains the two parts of the verse based on what he already explained in Chapter 78: Initially, Hashem gave them manna and quail; then, when they reached Rephidim, the quail ceased and He gave them water. They deduced from this that the Holy One, blessed be He, was unable to provide three things at once - either manna and quail, or manna and water, but manna, quail, and water together was "too much for Him," Heaven forbid. To such an extent were they lacking in faith, believing that Hashem lacked the ability to provide three things simultaneously, and that if He gave bread and water He could no longer provide meat. This was their complaint at Kivrot HaTa'avah - a lack of faith in Hashem's omnipotence. And this is "they swiftly forgot His deeds."
And why indeed did He not give them meat just as He gave them bread? "And He afflicted you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna... to humble you and to test you, to know what was in your heart." Everything was a test, and it was part of Hashem's counsel - says the Malbim - to subdue their physicality and lust: to confront the challenge, to learn not to cry out, to learn to trust that if the Holy One, blessed be He, did something, you must know how to wait, for it is for the good. This they did not learn - "they did not wait for His counsel."
וַיִּתְאַוּוּ תַאֲוָה בַּמִּדְבָּר וַיְנַסּוּ אֵל בִּישִׁימוֹן׃ - And they craved intensely in the wilderness, and tested God in the wasteland.
"They craved an intense craving" - "Who will feed us meat?" Ibn Ezra explains "and they tested God in the wasteland": in a desolate land they tested God - who could provide meat here, in such a desolate place?
The Malbim explains: "They craved an intense craving in the wilderness" - this was the exact opposite of what Hashem wanted of them, which was to overcome desire. For that was the entire test: that they should overcome their desires and have faith and trust in Hashem that this was for their good, yet they did the exact opposite. "And they tested God in the wasteland" - by saying, "Can He also give bread?", casting doubt upon the ability of the Holy One, blessed be He. And why does it specifically say "in the wasteland" (yeshimon)? Because a wasteland denotes an even greater desolation than a wilderness (midbar): they craved a craving in the wilderness, and tested God even in the wasteland - asking whether Hashem could supply all their needs even in the most desolate of places.
וַיִּתֵּן לָהֶם שֶׁאֱלָתָם וַיְשַׁלַּח רָזוֹן בְּנַפְשָׁם׃ - And He gave them their request, and sent wasting disease into their soul.
"And He gave them their request" - He brought down the quail for them. "And sent wasting disease into their soul" - meaning that those who craved died, as it is written, "and the wrath of Hashem flared against the people," and as Rashi explains. And what is meant by "wasting disease" (razon)? They sought to satisfy their craving souls and fatten themselves, but in the end they became wasted and emaciated from all the calamities that befell them. Thus, "He gave them their request" corresponds to "they craved an intense craving," while "and sent wasting disease into their soul" corresponds to "and they tested God."
The Malbim explains this based on what he explained in chapter 78: Had they desired meat out of craving alone, once their craving was fulfilled, the matter would have ended. For the rule is that as long as desire burns within a person, he pursues it, but once the desire subsides, the matter ends and he no longer cares for it. But when an action stems from heresy and disbelief, whether he has a desire or not, he persists. This is like the man who was asked, "What pleasure do you derive from sinning with your mother?" and replied indignantly, "I am a man of ideology! Do I do things for pleasure? I do this specifically to anger my Creator!" In other words, when a person acts out of physical desire, once the desire passes, the wrongdoing ceases. But when a person acts out of defiance and to provoke anger, even when the desire passes, he continues.
And so it was here: this was not mere craving, but also heresy and disbelief. This is the meaning of "and they tested God in the wasteland" - testing whether Hashem has the power or not. Therefore they did not repent, and therefore they died at Kivrot HaTa'avah - "and sent wasting disease into their soul," bringing death upon them. For instead of believing in Hashem, and resting content once He fulfilled their desire, they continued wanting more and more. This proved that it did not stem from physical desire, but from a wish to provoke the Creator.
As has already been noted, precisely where something is unattainable, the desire to attain it intensifies, even if it is not necessary at all. A fitting illustration: at a hotel where catering was brought in from elsewhere during the summer for families and children, the caterers miscalculated the amount of french fries needed. They brought out two or three large trays, and they were emptied within the first three minutes. Another batch was brought out - and it too was gone in three minutes. This repeated itself perhaps six times. Had they brought an ample amount from the start, following the principle that "the eye sees and the soul is satisfied," everyone would have taken what they needed and that would have been that. But once a sense of scarcity set in, every time a new tray arrived, everyone rushed to grab some. A perceived lack always breeds frenzy - one feels compelled to grab more, to take everything. This is "they craved an intense craving in the wilderness": precisely because it was a wilderness, a place of scarcity, a craving was aroused to want more, even though there was no real need.
וַיְקַנְאוּ לְמֹשֶׁה בַּמַּחֲנֶה לְאַהֲרֹן קְדוֹשׁ יְהֹוָה׃ - And they were jealous of Moshe in the camp, of Aharon, the holy one of Hashem.
Rashi explains "and they were jealous" (vayekan'u) - in the wilderness they angered him, related to the usage in "They provoked My jealousy with a non-god, they angered Me with their vanities." Radak notes that the verse is apparently referring to the assembly of Korach; if so, why is it phrased in the plural, when it was not the entire nation, and it should rather have said, "And Korach was jealous of Moshe in the camp"? Radak answers: Scripture attributes this to all of Israel because they did not protest against them. Furthermore, it was not merely Korach's faction alone, for men of the tribe of Reuven and two hundred and fifty heads of Sanhedrin, princes of the congregation, joined them as well.
And what is meant by "of Aharon, the holy one of Hashem"? They were also jealous of Aharon, their claim being, "For the entire congregation, all of them are holy" - why do you call him the holy one of Hashem? Is he the only holy one here? We are all holy! And Moshe Rabbeinu replied, "He whom Hashem chooses, he is the holy one." And Hashem demonstrated that there is only one "holy one of Hashem," and that is Aharon. Their argument that everyone is holy might have been true to a certain extent, but there is only one who is "the holy one of Hashem."
The Malbim notes that according to the chronological sequence presented here in the chapter, it implies the view of those who say that the rebellion of Korach took place before the incident of the Spies, right after Kivrot HaTa’avah. Others disagree, maintaining that Korach's rebellion occurred after the sin of the Spies. According to this latter opinion, we must say that the chapter arranges these events according to the severity of the sin and the punishment; it therefore juxtaposed the Golden Calf and the Spies together after the story of Korach, even though the Spies preceded it, because those were the gravest sins.
Some commentators suggest that the episode of Korach must have taken place after the sin of the Spies, for only then did Korach find fertile ground for incitement throughout the camp: "Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey," seeing that following the sin of the Spies, it was decreed that everyone would remain and die in the wilderness. It follows, therefore, that Korach waited for an opportune moment to challenge Moshe - a moment when unrest was already brewing among the people and many were bitter - and only then did he rise up and rebel.
The Malbim explains that within Korach's faction there were two distinct groups. Dathan and Aviram and the two hundred and fifty heads of the Sanhedrin rose up against the seventy elders chosen by Moshe. Because they were prominent leaders called to the assembly, men of renown, it troubled them why the divine spirit rested upon those seventy elders and not upon them. That was their grievance, and this is the meaning of "They were jealous of Moshe in the camp" - they were envious because of what Moshe did in the camp, as it says, "And Moshe returned to the camp, he and the elders of Israel": why were these chosen while we were disqualified? In contrast, Korach himself mounted a different sort of challenge - he disputed the High Priesthood, arguing that he deserved to be the Kohen Gadol, and this is alluded to by the words, "and of Aharon, the holy one of Hashem."
תִּפְתַּח אֶרֶץ וַתִּבְלַע דָּתָן וַתְּכַס עַל עֲדַת אֲבִירָם׃ - The earth opened and swallowed Dathan, and covered the company of Aviram.
וַתִּבְעַר אֵשׁ בַּעֲדָתָם לֶהָבָה תְּלַהֵט רְשָׁעִים׃ - And fire burned among their assembly; a flame consumed the wicked.
Consequently, there were three kinds of punishments, says the Malbim. Dathan and Aviram were the ones swallowed by the earth. Dathan was swallowed alone, whereas Aviram had an entire assembly of sons and daughters - an edah consisting of no fewer than ten - which is why it says, "and covered the company of Aviram."
Our Sages state that whenever the root for jealousy or zeal (kin'ah) is followed by the preposition lamed, it denotes a positive sense, such as "he was zealous for his God" (kinei lelohav) or "I have been very zealous for Hashem" (kano kineiti laHashem). Conversely, when followed by a bet, it denotes jealousy in a negative sense, such as "and his brothers envied him" (vayekan'u vo echav) or "for I was envious of the arrogant" (kineiti baholelim). If so, here, where the envy was negative, Scripture should have said "vayekan'u beMoshe." Why, then, does it say "vayekan'u leMoshe"?
Radak senses this difficulty and explains that the letter lamed here functions like a bet, just as in "I have slain a man for wounding me" (lefitz'i), meaning "by my wound"; "before you to the sword" (lacherev), meaning "by the sword"; and "at the waters of Merivah" (lemei Merivah), meaning "by the waters of Merivah." Yet this is quite surprising, for if so, what becomes of the grammatical distinction between lamed and bet? Scripture writes a lamed, and you interpret it as a bet!
Because of this difficulty, the Malbim explains that here the lamed does indeed signify "for" - meaning "on account of Moshe." They came to express jealousy (in the halachic sense of warning a wife), where each man warned his wife, alleging that she had secluded herself with Moshe, and they went so far as to make their wives drink the bitter waters of a sotah, suspecting that Moshe had acted improperly with their wives. This is the meaning of "They were jealous of Moshe in the camp" - they warned their wives on account of Moshe.
And why indeed did they come with such a claim? First, Moshe Rabbeinu had separated from his wife, so they said: if so, he is without a wife and is surely looking for another. And second, as explained by the Kli Yakar: Chazal say that an arrogant person ultimately stumbles with a married woman, and they had said to Moshe, "Why do you exalt yourselves above the congregation of Hashem?" (Bamidbar 16:3), and "That you make yourself also a prince over us" (ibid. 16:13) - meaning, you are arrogant and haughty; and therefore, according to their logic, he would surely stumble with a married woman. From this, they found a pretext, as it were, to warn their wives regarding Moshe.
And what caused them to suspect him? When Moshe was sent to count the people, he was expected to come to their tents. Chazal say that Moshe said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, shall I enter the tent of each and every person? The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to him: No, the Divine Spirit will proclaim to you from the outside - in this tent there are this many, and in that tent there are that many. And so it was. But they claimed: Moshe certainly came to the tents, and who knows what took place there.
And this is a general rule: those who harbor suspicions have no need for facts. Someone has a theory - do not confuse him with the facts; the facts confuse him, and most often he does not want to hear them, so that he is not forced to abandon his theory. Whoever wants to fabricate accusations can level charges that have no basis or foundation whatsoever. Moshe Rabbeinu, the man of God, from his midriff down a man and from his midriff up Godly, who speaks with the Holy One, Blessed be He - and of what do you suspect him? Of an illicit affair with a married woman? The most absurd thing imaginable! Moreover, this is a man over the age of eighty, who has separated from his wife, and you still suspect him. But those who constantly look for faults will find them even in the holiest of the holy.
In the book Ateret Shlomo, Rav Laniado cites from commentators another explanation of "They were jealous of Moshe in the camp, and of Aharon, the holy one of Hashem" (Tehillim 106:16). Regarding Moshe Rabbeinu, it is written, "And it came to pass, when Moshe went out to the Tent, that all the people rose up" (Shemot 33:8) - everyone treated him with honor, fitting for honoring a king, for Moshe was a king and the master of the prophets. And Korach and his congregation were jealous of this honor. Yet they did not understand how Moshe attained this: he sat, persevered, immersed himself in Torah, sanctified himself, taught Torah to all of Israel, defended them, and gave his very life for them. The effort and the toil they did not see - they saw only the honor that ultimately arrived, and of that they were envious.
As for Aharon, it is written of him that he would go out and mingle among the people, loving peace and pursuing peace, going and bringing peace between a man and his wife, and between one person and another. He did not conceal himself from them, but interacted with them warmly and with simplicity. And of what were they jealous of him? Of his holiness: that he enters the Sanctuary and the Holy of Holies to offer sacrifices, where any outsider who approaches shall be put to death, yet he alone can enter, and he merits all the priestly gifts. This is the meaning of "They were jealous of Moshe in the camp" - of the great honor he received while in the camp, where everyone rose in his honor and gazed at him; "and of Aharon, the holy one of Hashem" - of his holiness.
And such is the way of envious people, he says: they do not see all the deeds of the sage and the righteous person, but rather search searchingly - a Talmudic expression - to find some minute detail that is not so pleasing in their eyes, and pounce upon him like a lurking bear. This is also the way of the media: they will not see all the good, but if a tiny flaw is found, the news broadcasts open with it. Look at the whole picture, one says to them, but the whole picture does not interest them; what interests them is only to shine the spotlight on that one thing they perceive as disgraceful, and attack. All of this, as we said, stems from nothing other than fault-finding and chronic discontent.
A complete progression unfolds across these verses: The Holy One, Blessed be He, saves from the hand of the hater, redeems from the hand of the enemy, and covers the adversaries with water, until "not one of them remained" - nothing was left on its own, and only Pharaoh was deliberately spared as a witness. The people believe and sing, but "they soon forgot His works," and instead of waiting for Hashem's counsel, which was meant to test them and subdue their physical nature, they lusted intensely and tested God. Their sin was not merely desire, but doubt in His ability, may He be blessed - and therefore, "He sent a wasting disease into their soul." And from there to jealousy: Korach and his congregation did not see Moshe's toil or Aharon's holiness, but only the honor and the exalted standing, and out of fault-finding they looked for a flaw until they suspected Moshe of things that were utterly baseless. From here comes an enduring lesson for generations: to remember the kindnesses of Hashem, to wait patiently and believe that everything is for the good, and to see the whole picture rather than search for flaws in those greater than oneself.
וַיִּשְׂרָאֵל - הַלְלוּ־יָהּ הוֹדוּ לַיהֹוָה כִּי טוֹב כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ׃ - And Israel: Halleluya! Give thanks to Hashem, for He is good, for His kindness is forever.