Why was Korach punished by the ground swallowing him? Couldn’t Hashem have stuck him down with lightning? Couldn’t be changed to a block of stone – Why specifically this form of death?
One suggestion was that just as Korach opened his mouth without justification, so too the ground opened its mouth. It made a statement: Do you think it a big deal to open your mouth? Well even the ground can do it too!
Another thought was that some people are consummately fit for Gan Eden. So fit, in fact, that they enter there alive. (Four individuals have, according to Jewish tradition) Korach, in the opposite direction, was consummately fit for Gehenom. So fit, in fact, that he entered it alive. Swallowed by the earth means entering Hell alive!
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