Musar for Bava Kamma 119:8

The answer to this is that, although G–d is well aware of what goes on within the heart of man, man is nonetheless required to declare his innocence through prayer. By doing so he evokes the goodwill of the attribute of Justice. Ever since earth had become tainted the attribute of Justice can be reconciled only through the prayers of the righteous. The goodwill of that attribute is secured in direct proportion to the efforts of the righteous to lead exemplary lives. The Zohar describes that the state of guilt in which the world finds itself because of the deeds of the wicked, can be set right only through the removal from earth of a number of righteous people who will atone for the state of the world in the Celestial Regions. Our sages (Bereshit Rabbah 44,5) comment on Genesis 15,1: אנכי מגן לך, where G–d promises to act as shield for Abraham [after he had defeated the four most powerful kings with the help of supernatural intervention on his behalf. Ed.] that G–d said to Abraham that ever since the generation of Noach He had not used the righteous as protectors for their respective generation, but that starting with Abraham's generation He would do so. Moreover, whenever Abraham's descendants would become deeply involved in wickedness, G–d would focus on a righteous person in that generation who would confront the attribute of Justice calling out "enough" and offer himself as atonement for the sins of his contemporaries, [a synopsis of the principle of זכות אבות. Ed.].This is the meaning of the statement: "give Satan a limb as a bargaining chip." This is the meaning of Job 16,11: יסגירני א-ל אל אויל ועל ידי רשעים ירטני, "G–d hands me over to an evil one, thrusts me into the clutches of the wicked." It is considered better that a righteous person confront Satan rather than that the wicked should be the ones who goad him. Thus far the comment on Genesis 15,1. [I believe the author portrays Job as complaining that he the innocent has been treated as the scapegoat for the wicked. Ed.] This is also the meaning of the statement by our sages in Baba Kama 60 that "once G–d has given free rein to Satan to punish the guilty, Satan no longer distinguishes between the guilty and the innocent. At such a time the righteous are invariably his first victims." [Cf. Rashi on Exodus 10,22. Ed.] On the same folio Rav Joseph quotes biblical proof for this thesis from Ezekiel 21,8: "I shall cut off from you the righteous and the wicked alike." Additional support comes from Exodus 22,5: "If a fire is started and the stacked corn is consumed and it spreads to thorns, etc." The Talmud says that the only time a fire "spreads" beyond the confines of one's own property is when the גדיש, "stacked corn" (simile for the righteous) has already been consumed i.e. נאכל instead of ואכל. Afterwards the "thorns," i.e. the wicked, are also consumed by such a fire [seeing that there are no more righteous people to step into the breach. Ed.]. This is yet another description of the principle of בקרובי אקדש, "I will be sanctified by those who are closest to Me," which we discussed in connection with the death of Aaron's two sons Nadav and Avihu. Another occasion when our sages focus on this phenomenon of G–d's justice is Ezekiel 9,6: וממקדשי תחלו, "And begin from My Sanctuary." Rav Joseph suggests that the reading should be ממקדושי, from those that are holy to Me. This means that destruction will commence with the righteous. [In that connection the righteous are seen as guilty for not having sufficiently protested the wickedness. Ed.]

If we want to answer this in a simple way, all we have to know is that there is no remedy against G–d's own decree. Once G–d personally has decreed that so and so is going to die, no incense or other remedy can prevail against such a decree. The secret that the angel of death revealed to Moses, concerned matters not decreed by G–d directly, but which the angel of death saw fit to include in his general authority to kill, without regard to guilt and innocence, but within the area of his authority. In the plague described here there were many people whose death had been decreed by G–d personally. The angel of death had come to kill these people. Aaron tried to stop him, but to no avail. This is why we are told how the angel of death responded to Aaron's attempts to restrain him by telling Aaron about individuals whom he was empowered to kill. His argument was that he killed these people at the specific instruction of His Employer. He told him that no incense can prevail in situations such as these. He claimed that the secret he had revealed to Moses was effective only when he was not killing at the specific command of G–d, but only within his own general authority. Aaron countered that the authority of Moses was such that he had succeeded on previous occasions to reverse fatal decrees that had been issued by G–d directly and specifically, and that most likely he could also do so in this case. He therefore pleaded with the angel of death to wait. This would be an appropriate explanation, except for the fact that in our situation the very sin had involved use of, or rather misuse of, incense. Therefore incense was not thought to be effective here to ward off the angel of death. The Israelites then complained to Moses that he had neutralized the very secret that the angel of death had revealed to him by advising the two hundred and fifty men to prove their case by offering incense.