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Ramban on Numbers 16:26/רמב"ן על במדבר ט״ז:כ״ו

אוְאַל תִּגְּעוּ בְכָל אֲשֶׁר לָהֶם פֶּן תִּסָּפוּ – שִׁעוּר הַכָּתוּב: סוּרוּ נָא מֵעַל אָהֳלֵי הָאֲנָשִׁים הָרְשָׁעִים הָאֵלֶּה פֶּן תִּסָּפוּ בְּכָל חַטֹּאתָם, וְאַל תִּגְּעוּ בְּכָל אֲשֶׁר לָהֶם. וְהַטַּעַם, שֶׁאִם לֹא יָסוּרוּ מִשָּׁם יִהְיוּ נִבְלָעִים בְּפִי הָאָרֶץ. וְיַזְהִירֵם שֶׁלֹּא יִגְּעוּ לְהַצִּיל מִמָּמוֹנָם דָּבָר וְלָקַחַת לָהֶם, כִּי חֵרֶם הוּא. וְר״א אָמַר (אבן עזרא על במדבר ט״ז:כ״ו) שֶׁאִם בָּאוּ לְהַצִּיל מָמוֹנָם יֵרְדוּ שְׁאוֹל כְּמוֹ הֵם, וְאִם כֵּן יִהְיֶה זֶה כְּטַעַם ״וַתַּבֵּט אִשְׁתּוֹ מֵאַחֲרָיו וַתְּהִי נְצִיב מֶלַח״ (בראשית יט כו), כַּאֲשֶׁר הִזְכַּרְתִּי בְּטַעְמוֹ שָׁם (רמב״ן על במדבר ט״ז:י״ז):
1[DEPART, I PRAY YOU, FROM THE TENTS OF THESE WICKED MEN], AND TOUCH NOTHING OF THEIRS, LEST YE BE SWEPT AWAY IN ALL THEIR SINS. The correct order [in meaning] of this verse is as follows: “Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, lest ye be swept away in all their sins and touch nothing of theirs.” The meaning [therefore] is that if they do not depart from there, they will be swallowed up by the mouth of the earth, and he furthermore warned them that they should not touch [their property] and try to save any of their wealth by taking it for themselves, for it is a doomed thing.140 And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra wrote that [the verse is to be interpreted as it reads, and it is saying] that if they attempt to save their wealth, they will go down into the pit like them [Korach and his company]. And if so, the meaning of this will be like that of the verse, And his [Lot’s] wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt,141 for taking their wealth, but that they will automatically be affected as if it were a contagious disease. This is what happened to Lot’s wife when she turned back to see Sodom, for “the plague entered her mind when she saw the brimstone and salt, and it cleaved to her” (Ramban on Genesis, Vol. I, p. 259). as I have mentioned there in explaining the meaning of it.142, Verse 17 (Vol. I, pp. 258-260).