Korach’s Poor Judgement

Rav Kook has an interesting explanation as to why Korach made the horrible mistake that led to great controversy and his own demise.

He explained that there were two forms of communication between G-d and man. One came by way of prophecy, and the other, Divine Inspiration, or רוח הקודש.

Moshe and Aharon possessed prophecy, while Korach possessed, the lower level of communication of Ruach Hakodesh.

The message that Korach saw was that Shmuel Hanavi would descend from him. He would anoint King Saul and King David. He mistakenly thought that a dynasty was meant to come from him.

The nature of prophecy is that the message received is more of an eternal nature. It reflects a warning or preparation of what was to take place. For example, the Torah was received by way of prophecy, and it is eternal.

Korach did see into the future, but what he saw was in the category of הוראת שעה, an instruction for the moment. It was true that his descendant, Shmuel, was on the level of Moshe and Aharon. However, his big moment was for the moment. Korach’s limited vision of the future, deceived him.

This led him to make the claim that all of the nation is holy, so why should Moshe and Aharon have a higher position than his.

The real tragedy of the story was that Korach may have been the wealthiest man on earth, and he was given a very important position as a Levite. He carried the holy vessels.

This only proves what can happen to a person who is not satisfied with his lot. His jealousy and greed led to his own downfall. This is what happens to a person who allows his judgement to be flawed by the wrong motivation. It swallows him up, and destroys him.