The Navi Shmuel was the great grandson of Korach and he was equal in greatness to Moshe Rabainu and Aaron Ha’kohain. This was part of the reason that Korach led his revolt because he knew that he would have an extra-ordinary descendant and therefore he was certain the truth was with him. In this week’s haftorah of we read about the transition from the era of Navi’im to the period of kings. The Jewish people asked to be led by a king and Shmuel complied. He asked everyone to go to a place called Gilgal and there they appointed and anointed King Shul over the nation. Shmuel, in front of Hashem, requests from the nation to make an accounting and clarify that he had never taken anything from anyone. He was totally clean from any wrong doing. Then Shmuel states that he is too old to lead the nation and gives them one final lesson. Shmuel reminded the nation of the disastrous results when they leave Hashem’s ways and how only through teshuva they were saved. It was the time of the harvest when the land needed to remain dry, for if it were to rain it would destroy the crops in the fields. Thunder and lightning started to explode in the sky and the nation went into a panic. They beseeched Shmuel to daven to Hashem to forgive them for their request of a King. Shmuel prayed to Hashem on behalf of the nation and his tefillos were accepted. The people realized they were wrong and they did teshuva. There is an incredible lesson to be learnt from Shmuel who behaved completely opposite from Korach. How does one deal with rejection? Korach wanted to be the leader and not just a bystander in the nation. But he was not chosen to be a leader. So he created discord with Moshe and Aaron, Shmuel also was rejected when the nation was not satisfied with Nevayim anymore and wanted a king instead. Though he may have felt bad to be rejected he does not lose his composure. Hashem tells him do not be saddened, it is not you that they are rejecting but me Hashem as they ask for a King and not the King of Kings. Shmuel accepts the will of the people and put himself second.
Menachot 109b Rav Yehoshua ben Perachyah is quoted saying “in the beginning (my youth) whomever will ask me to act in a powerful position I would tie him up and feed him to the lions. But now that I am in a power position, whoever will try to remove me from power I will tie him up and pour boiling water on him”. We learn this lesson from King Shaul how at first he did not want royalty but when he started to lose it he was willing to kill David. He did not learn the first lesson that Shmuel taught him when it’s time to step down don’t fight it, instead do the will of the people and Hashem. Why the change in punishment from lion feed to boiling water, feed them all to the lions? Or burn them all with boiling water, what is the difference in the message? It could be Rav Yehoshua is suggesting to us what the effect of politics and power are. At first it rips a person apart like a lion does to his prey because a person enters the political world with lofty ambitions only to discover that his hands are tied. This frustration of being unable to do what he hoped to accomplish rips him apart like the prey of a lion. In time he gets better at the game but it is like when someone pours hot water over someone it deforms their image but they are not dead. The advanced politician because of his tied hands predicament, his accomplishments are not like his original lofty agenda. Now he appears to be deformed like the person who was scalded with hot water.
Korach wanted to be in charge of Moshe and believed that Moshe should be his subject; anything less than that would not fulfill his emotional need. What made Shmuel so special was that he was willing to step down and give up his needs for the needs of the people. He was selfless and just wanted to help the nation without taking anything in return.
