כאשר נאסף אהרן אחיך. מִכָּאן שֶׁנִּתְאַוָּה מֹשֶׁה לְמִיתָתוֹ שֶׁל אַהֲרֹן (שם); דָּ"אַ — אֵין אַתָּה טוֹב מִמֶּנּוּ, "עַל אֲשֶׁר לֹא קִדַּשְׁתֶּם" (דברים לב, נא), הָא אִם קִדַּשְׁתֶּם אוֹתִי עֲדַיִן לֹא הִגִּיעַ זְמַנְכֶם לְהִפָּטֵר (שם); בְּכָל מָקוֹם שֶׁכָּתַב מִיתָתָם כָּתַב סֻרְחָנָם, לְפִי שֶׁנִּגְזְרָה גְזֵרָה עַל דּוֹר הַמִּדְבָּר לָמוּת בַּמִּדְבָּר בְּעָוֹן שֶׁלֹּא הֶאֱמִינוּ, לְכָךְ בִּקֵּשׁ מֹשֶׁה שֶׁיִּכָּתֵב סֻרְחָנוֹ, שֶׁלֹּא יֹאמְרוּ אַף הוּא מִן הַמַּמְרִים הָיָה, מָשָׁל לִשְׁתֵּי נָשִׁים שֶׁלּוֹקוֹת בְּבֵית דִּין, אַחַת קִלְקְלָה וְאַחַת אָכְלָה פַגֵּי שְׁבִיעִית וְכוּ', אַף כָּאן בְּכָל מָקוֹם שֶׁהִזְכִּיר מִיתָתָן הִזְכִּיר סֻרְחָנָן, לְהוֹדִיעַ שֶׁלֹּא הָיְתָה בָהֶם אֶלָּא זוֹ בִּלְבַד (יומא פ"ו): כאשר נאסף אהרן אחיך [THOU SHALT BE GATHERED TO THY PEOPLE] AS AARON THY BROTHER WAS GATHERED — From this it is evident that Moses longed for a death similar to that of Aaron (cf. Rashi on Numbers 20:26). — Another explanation: you will die as he died (in the wilderness) because you are no better than he (Midrash Tanchuma, Pinchas 9). — Such indeed is suggested by (Deuteronomy 32:50. 51): “[and die … as Aaron thy brother died …] because you sanctified me not”. Thus it follows, if ye (both of you) had sanctified me your time would not have yet come to depart this life and you would not have died in the wilderness (Sifrei Bamidbar 137:1). In every passage where it writes about their death you will find that it writes about their offence. Because a decree had been made against the generation of the wilderness (those who left Egypt) that they should die in the wilderness on account of the sin that they did not have faith in God, therefore Moses requested that the nature of his offence should be stated in the Torah, so that people might not say, “He, too, was one of those “rebels”. A parable: It may be compared to the case of two women who were punished by the Court; one was an immoral woman and one had merely eaten unripe figs of the sabbatical year’s growth. The latter, therefore, requested that the nature of her offence might be made public, and they did so by proclamation. So, too, here: wherever it mentions their death it mentions also their misdeed, in order to make it known that there was only this single sin in them (Tanchuma 4:6:10 on חקת; Yoma 86b; cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 137:2).