If These Men Die the Common Death of All Men
If these men die the common death of all men, or if they are visited after the visitation of all men; then Hashem hasn't sent me.
The possuk says וּשְמַּרְ תֶׁם אֶׁת חֻקֹתַּי וְאֶׁת מִשְפָטַּי אֲשֶׁר יַּעֲשֶׁה אֹתָם הָאָדָם וָחַּ י – And you shall guard my statutes and my rules, that a man will do them and live. The Gemara (Bava Kama 38a) says that the possuk is referring to any person even a non-Jew. The Ohr Hachaim uses this to explain our possuk. Even though they will die the death of כׇּל הָאָדָם – any person, even the worst of people, that will be insufficient to prove his point. (The Ohr Hachaim is probably referring to the pessukim in Parshas Balak (Bamidbar 23:10), where Bil’am wishes תָּמֹת נַּפְשִי מוֹת יְשָרִ ים וּתְהִי אַּחֲרִ יתִי כָמֹהוּ – that his death shall be that of the straight ones, and his end should be like theirs. He was envious of the death of a Yid, because the death of a gentile is the end of his life, and the death of a Yid is a beginning to a glorious afterlife.)
When referring to the bodily death, the possuk uses the words וּפְקֻדַּת כׇּל הָאָדָם - the memory of all men. This refers to the possuk (Melachim II 9:34) פִקְדוּ נָא אֶׁת הָאֲרוּרָה הַּזֹאת וְקִבְרוּהָ – remember this cursed one now and bury her. This was when Izevel the wicked wife of Ach’av was killed and her body defiled by dogs. Her memory was eternally and roundly cursed, and even that was insufficient for Korach.
Even if these two things were to happen, showing how terrible Korach was, that would not be the appropriate punishment and sign for Klal Yisroel. Only if something entirely new was created to swallow up Korach, destroying his body and soul, could they prove to the world how terrible it would be to contradict the prophecy of Moshe Rabbeinu.
Moshe Rabbeinu put himself in a difficult position to show how everything he did was only from Hashem. He left himself no wiggle room.
