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5 ā[1] IN THE MORNING THE ETERNAL WILL MAKE KNOWN WHO ARE HIS ā āfor the Levitical service. AND WHO IS HOLY ā for the priesthood.ā This is Rashiās language. He has explained it well; and the verse is thus stating that G-d will make it known if the Levites *are His*, just as it is said, *and the Levites shall be Mine*, or whether the firstborns *are* still *His*, just as it is said, *for all the firstborn are Mine*, so that He will not exchange them for the Levites. *And who is holy*, this refers to the priests who are sanctified for the Divine Service, just as it is said, *and Aaron was separated, that he should be sanctified as most holy*. [He mentioned the Levites] because Korach, in [his attempt] to rally all the people to his side, contested also the [position of the] Levites, and tried to restore the entire service [of the offerings] to the firstborns. And then when these firstborns were burnt up, it became clear that G-d did not choose them for the service, but when Aaronās [burning of the] incense was accepted, it became known that he is the holy one [selected for the priesthood].
ā[2] EVEN HIM WHOM HE HATH CHOSEN WILL HE CAUSE TO COME NEAR UNTO HIM. The meaning of this repetition [since the first half of this verse already says, *and who is holy, He will cause him to come near unto Him*] is that [at first Moses said] *the Eternal will make known who are His, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near unto Him* tomorrow, and He will have regard for his offering, whereas He will not turn to the others and to their offerings. *Even him whom He hath chosen* forever *to stand to minister* before Him, *him and his* seed *forever*, *will He cause to come near unto Him* tomorrow. Thus he is saying that this test will be a proof to them throughout their generations not to contest [the rights of] him who is chosen, nor those of his seed forever.
Now Rabbeinu Chananel wrote that all these people who assembled [against Moses] were Levites, of the same tribe as Korach, this being the reason for the expressions [by Moses]*: ye take too much upon you, āye sons of Levi;ā* *Hear now, āye sons of Levi.ā* Perhaps they thought that their whole tribe had been chosen for the priesthood, and that it was Moses of his own accord who gave the honor to his brother. Thus far [are the words of Rabbeinu Chananel]. But G-d forbid that there should be in the tribe of the ministers of our G-d *two hundred and fifty men* ā of the most distinguished [of the people], and *princes* ā who were *sons of rebellion*, rejecting their leader, the greatest of their tribe, and murmuring against G-d! And [furthermore], if these [rebels] were only of that tribe [of Levi, as Rabbeinu Chananel wrote], then all the tribes of Israel would not have murmured on the next day [after the rebels were killed] *saying: āYe have killed the people of the Eternal,ā* since not one of their own tribe died, [and those who did die were] only of Mosesā and Aaronās tribe. Similarly the sign of the rod also proves that the controversy embraced all tribes of Israel. In addition, Scripture expressly states, [*and they rose up in the face of Moses*,] *with certain men āof the children of Israel,ā* in order to point out that the men were from all the tribes, not only from the two tribes [previously] mentioned [Reuben and Levi]. But the reason why [Moses said] *ye take too much upon you, āye sons of Leviā* is that Korach won the tribes over to his side [by persuading them] that it was because of *their* honor that he wanted to restore the service [of the offerings] to their firstborns, as he said, *seeing all the congregation are holy*. But Moses in his wisdom laid bare the hidden motives of Korachās heart to the whole people, namely that he was only protesting because of his own [failure to attain the] priesthood; therefore Moses said to him that he had sufficient [honor] in the honor bestowed upon his tribe, for āyou have enough honor, you sons of Levi.ā Then Moses continued and said, *Hear now, ye sons of Levi*. [This he said] to Korach their leader ā as is shown by [the first part of] that verse, *And Moses said unto Korach* ā but he included in his words all the Levites, since Moses in his wisdom spoke conciliatory words to Korach and all his tribe, so that none of them should be drawn after him.
Now it was Moses himself who thought of this procedure, and chose the burning of incense [as the test to show who was suitable for the priesthood] rather than any of the other offerings, because he had already seen in the case of Nadab and Abihu that when they offered strange incense before the Eternal they were burnt. Therefore he permitted Aaron to burn the incense, because of the special needs of the time, or maybe it was the [daily] incense of the morning which he used to burn when he kindled the lamps, according to the ordinance, and Moses trusted that G-d *confirmeth the word of His servant, and performeth the counsel of His messengers*.
And some scholars say that [the meaning of the verse], *And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face*, is [that he did so] in order to inquire of G-d to know what to do, and then he was told, *In the morning the Eternal will make known* etc.; but it is mentioned only in Mosesā account to the people. I have already shown you that in many places Scripture will sometimes deal at length with the account of G-dās communication to Moses, but mention [the matter] in brief in Mosesā narration thereof, and at other times it does the opposite. At other instances [still] it does not mention one of the communications at all, such as in the story of the children of Gad and the children of Reuben, where Scripture tells the event [only] with respect to Moses himself [that he gave them the land east of the Jordan as a conditional inheritance], and [this whole matter] was [in fact] done by the commandment of the Eternal, as they said, *As the Eternal hath said unto thy servants, so will we do*. And in [the Book of] Joshua it is written, [*And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Menasheh returned ā¦ to go*] *unto the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession, whereof they were possessed, āaccording to the commandment of the Eternal by the hand of Mosesā*. And if we say that [Moses in fact gave these lands to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Menasheh on his own authority, and the above-mentioned verse which says that it was done *according to the commandment of the Eternal*] refers to G-dās [subsequent] agreement to Mosesā action, similar to that which it says, *This is the Land wherein ye shall receive inheritance by lot, which the Eternal hath commanded to give unto the nine tribes, and to the half-tribe*, in which case this would be one of the occasions when Moses acted of his own accord and the Holy One, blessed be He, [later] approved his decision ā [this cannot be so because] it is not right [to say] that Moses would have done anything in connection with the division of the Land without [Divine] permission. For [in dividing the Land] he did everything at the command of G-d, as it is written, [*And the Lord spoke unto Moses saying:*] *Unto these the Land shall be divided* etc.
My own opinion in this matter [of Mosesā command to Korach and his company to take censers and burn incense], and in that which he said to Aaron [during the outbreak of the plague], *Take thy fire-pan, and put fire therein from off the altar, and lay incense thereon* is that *the hand of the Eternal was upon* him in these matters, and it is this which is called *Ruach Hakodesh*, as happened with the books of David and Solomon which were written by *Ruach Hakodesh*, and as David said, *The spirit of the Eternal spoke by me, and His word was upon my tongue*. For Moses our teacher was *trusted in all* His *house*, and I have explained the matter of āthe houseā and mentioned it many times; but since this was not in the usual course of Mosesā prophecy, Scripture did not mention G-dās communication to him about these matters.
Now I have seen in Onkelosā translation that every time the word *kātoreth* (incense) appears in this section, he rendered it in his language [Aramaic also] as *kātoreth* and he did not translate it [as he does in all other places] as *kātoreth busmin* (aromatic incense), as he usually does. From this it would appear that he was of the opinion that this was not the aromatic incense used in the Sanctuary [i.e., Tabernacle], but it [consisted of] frankincense and similar ingredients which he [Moses] made them burn for the test. Onkelos translated likewise in the case of Aaronās sons [Nadab and Abihu, who burnt *the strange incense*, for there too he did not render the Hebrew *kātoreth* as he usually does: *kātoreth busmin*, but as *kātoreth*]. But in the opinion of our Rabbis it *was* the sacred incense, and this is the correct interpretation. Perhaps Onkelos [agrees that this was the sacred incense, but he] did not want to praise the incense by adding thereto the word *busmin* (aromatics), except when it [the incense] was used in performance of the [daily] commandment [to burn incense].
Version: Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976
Source: https://www.nli.org.il/he/books/NNL_ALEPH002108945/NLI
License: CC-BY