Parshat Korach, 2nd Portion, (Numbers 16:14-19), 7/4/2016

In Exodus 3:8, God tells Moses, 8 “I have descended to rescue them from the hand[s] of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land, to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivvites, and the Jebusites.”

And now, out of Egypt, they continue to complain to Moses, “You have not even brought us to a land flowing with milk and honey, nor have you given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Even if you gouge out the eyes of those men, we will not go up.” (Numbers, Chapter 16:14)

Promises are tricky. We sometimes use promises to take a person to the next step in their journey. We don’t tell the whole story. We just tell enough to get a person to the next place in their journey. The entire story would be TMI (too much information).

But sometimes we pay for it, and the people remember what was said, and they revolt. They lack faith that they will find the land of plenty. Moses is distressed, which Rashi says is more grieved than angry. Though Moses tells the Lord that he has not harmed any of them, nor has he taken their donkeys, it seems that Moses knows that they are not happy.

It appears as well that Moses doesn’t know what lies ahead.