Bring your brother Aaron close to you, and his sons with him, from among Bnei Yisrael to serve Me [as Kohanim]: Aaron, Nadav, and Avihu, Eleazar, and Itamar, Aharon's sons. (Shemos 28/1)
On this possuk the Medrash (Medrash Rabah 35/7) comments, "This possuk can be explained in light of the possuk (in Tehillim 119/92) 'If Hashem’s Torah would not have been my pleasure, I would have perished in my suffering'. The Medrash explains; when HaKadosh Baruch Hu said to Moshe, 'Bring your brother Aharon close to you...to serve Me...' Moshe felt very distressed. Hashem said to Moshe, 'I had the Torah and I gave it to you. If not for this, the whole world would have been destroyed.'"
The simple explanation of this Medrash seems to be that Moshe was bothered that Aharon was chosen to be the Kohain Gadol instead of him, and to appease Moshe, Hashem told Moshe that he shouldn't feel bad, because even though he was not appointed to be the Kohain Gadol, Hashem gave the Torah through him. This is much more important than being the Kohain Gadol, since without the Torah; Hashem would have destroyed the whole world.
Zera Shimshon asks, when Bnei Yisroel were still in Mitzrayim and Aharon heard that Moshe was appointed by Hashem to be the leader of Bnei Yisroel, Aharon was very happy for him. How can it be that Moshe, the world's most humble person, was upset when Aharon and his children were chosen to be the Kohanim instead of him?
Because of this question Zera Shimshon learns a much deeper peshat on this Medrash.
First, we will give a little background. Initially Moshe and his descendants were supposed be the Kohanim and Aharon and his descendants were to be the Leviim. However, at the Burning Bush Moshe was reluctant to be the leader of Bnei Yisroel and as a punishment for not accepting this position eagerly, Hashem took away the priesthood from Moshe and Hashem gave it to Aharon.
We have to understand, what was behind Moshe's reluctance to accept Hashem's order. Moshe was the greatest servant of Hashem in the history of mankind, so why did he not accept the position that Hashem wanted to give him?
Zera Shimshon explains in light of the Medrash in Yalkut Shemoni (Zechariah remez 577) that all of our redemptions were not complete because they were carried out by human beings. Therefore, every redemption was followed by more exiles. However, the final redemption will be done through Hashem Himself and therefore it will be complete.
According to this, we can understand that Moshe argued that it would be detrimental for Klal Yisroel for HIM to redeem them since it will be followed by more exiles, persecutions and suffering! Moshe wanted Hashem to take Bnei Yisroel out of Mitzrayim in order for this to be the final redemption and Klal Yisroel will not suffer anymore.
Hashem, on the other hand, knew that Bnei Yisroel was going to sin with the Golden Calf. Unfortunately, Klal Yisroel would need more and more exiles to purify them.
We can now explain the Medrash.
When Hashem told Moshe to appoint Aharon and his family to be the Kohanim, Moshe was distressed. He wasn't upset that Aharon his brother was appointed to such an important and prestigious position and not him, like we said before, he was the humblest person ever to live. Rather, after Bnei Yisroel sinned at the Golden Calf he was upset WITH HIMSELF that he didn't immediately accept Hashem appointing him to be the leader at the Burning Bush. Moshe was afraid that had he not refused to be Hashem's shaliach to Bnei Yisroel his merit would have protected Bnei Yisroel from sinning at the Golden Calf. Therefore, now, at the time that he inaugurated Aharon to be the Kohain Gadol, he felt horrible since this inauguration was the direct result of Moshe's refusal to be Hashem's direct shaliach to Bnei Yisroel.
Hashem told Moshe, "I had the Torah and I gave it to you. If not for this the whole world would have been destroyed." Hashem didn't mean to appease Moshe that he did something more important than being the Kohain Godal. Rather Hashem's intent was to tell Moshe he should have felt bad earlier, not only now!
How is this?
As we wrote the past few weeks, when Bnei Yisroel heard the first two commandments directly from Hashem, they were freed from the yetzer hara, but it immediately came back to them. The reason for this was that Bnei Yisroel were scared to hear Hashem's voice and therefore pleaded to Moshe that he will convey to them the rest of the commandments. Why did Hashem agree to this? Why didn't Hashem simply speak to them softer at a level that they would be able to hear without dying?
Zera Shimshon explains that if Hashem would have continued to speak to Bnei Yisroel, even at their level, they would have no yetzer hara and therefore no inclination to do sin. However, there would still be the possibility to choose sin and if they would choose to sin they would be held totally responsible for their actions and the punishment would be tremendously harsh. Hashem, knew that Bnei Yisroel were about to worship the Golden Calf, therefore Hashem gave the Torah through Moshe in order that their yetzer hara will return and when they will sin at the Golden Calf, they could argue that they were not totally responsible for their actions, because they were under the influence of the yetzer hara, and Hashem would not have to totally annihilate Bnei Yisroel.
According to this, Hashem told Moshe, why are you only distressed now, "I had the Torah and I gave it to you. If not for this the whole world would have been destroyed." Meaning, when I gave the Torah through you instead of Me, you should have realized the reason for this was because Bnei Yisroel were going to sin and if I would have spoken to them directly I would have had to destroy the whole Jewish nation. At that time you should have been distressed that Bnei Yisroel were going to sin and that your refusal to immediately accept to be the sheliach between Me and Bnei Yisroel and not just now.
