Moshe sent to call to Dasan and Aviram, the sons of Eliav, but they said, "We will not go up. (16:12) The question arises that the word d«¤l£r«©p means to go up, if so which mountain were they referring to they won’t ascend? Another difficulty is in Posuk 14 when they answered Moshe o¤Y ̧¦Y©e Ep ½ ̈z `i ́¦a£d ÆW©a §cE a³ ̈l ̈g z ̧©a ̈f Áu ¤xÁ¤` l¤` ` ́ s¿©` d«¤l£r«©p `¬ l x−¥T©p §Y m²¥d ̈d mi¬¦W ̈p£`« ̈d iº¥pi¥r«©d m¤x® ̈k ̈e d ́¤c ̈U z−©l£g«©p Ep½ ̈l “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."
The difficulty is why did they mention “if you gouge out the eyes of those men, we will not go up.” Why their eyes? To answer this: When Moshe asked them to come, it was simply to make peace, and reason with them that they were wrong in the dispute, and not to punish them. However, they thought that the reason why Moshe was calling them was that Moshe wanted to bribe them by offering them royalty in his camp, and be a leader by us. They felt, that since they were the elite of the disputants and they will become silent, the dispute will stop. Unfortunately, they wanted to continue the dispute, and they said, d«¤l£r«©p `¬ l "No, we do not want to be elevated in ranks from you to a higher post.
Then they gave an explanation since it says in the Torah :m ¦wi ¦c©v i ¥x §a ¦c s¥l©qi¦e mi ¦n ̈k£g i¥pi¥r x¥e©r§i c©g y©d i¦k (yh zy ohrcs) and you shall not take a bribe, for bribery blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the righteous. Then it repeats again (j df ,una) i ¥x §a ¦c s¥l©qi¦e mi ¦g§w ¦t x¥e©r§i c©g y©d i¦k mi¦wi ¦c©v You shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe will blind the clear sighted and corrupt words of the righteous. Therefore, by offering us a bribe and if we accept it, it would blind our eyes. For that reason they answered we will not come to you. (Kli Yakar)
Based on this insight we can derive a powerful lesson: Moshe never intended to bribe them, yet they were convinced that Moshe meant to bribe them. To understand this unfortunately, in a dispute, the mind becomes distorted and people perceive crooked beliefs and justify themselves. Even the righteous people can fail in this, and perhaps about this point, it is written twice in the Torah, mi¦wi ¦c©v i ¥x §a ¦c s¥l©qi¦e here and in (Shemos 23:8) to show how fierce controversy is, that even the righteous can fail when it comes to controversy. When someone wants to continue in a dispute, he would prove that he is right. The right way is to calm down, and consider what the other person is saying, and analyze if your reasoning is correct or crooked. Hashem should bless his people with peace.
(Yehuda Z. Klitnick)
