אבן עזרא — וישלח משה לקרא לדתן ולאבירם בני אליאב ויאמרו לא נעלה

Q — Why do Datan and Aviram twice say "לא נעלה" — we will not go up — when Moshe summons them? Rashi (per Chazal) reads "פיהם הכשילם" — their mouths tripped them up, since they were heading only downward (to Sheol). The phrase is wrong but prophetically right.

A — Ibn Ezra reads the phrase plainly. Two possible readings: (1) Physical: the ohel moed was on elevated ground within the camp — proven by "העלו מסביב למשכן קרח" and "הרמו מתוך העדה" (17:10), both suggesting elevation. So going to ohel moed was literally "going up," and Datan/Aviram's refusal naturally takes the form "we won't go up." (2) Spiritual: "מי שילך לעבודת ה', או אל המקום הנבחר יקָּרא עוֹלה" — going to serve God or to the chosen place is itself called "ascending," regardless of geography. The phrase is therefore not an aggadic slip — it's the appropriate verb for refusing avodat Hashem. Ibn Ezra preserves the dignity of the phrase as peshat rather than turning it into a divinely-engineered slip.