Moshe Rabbenu, accused adulterer?

An interesting midrash presents itself in Targum Pseudo-Yonasan. On the pasuk:

ד וַיִּשְׁמַע מֹשֶׁה, וַיִּפֹּל עַל-פָּנָיו.

4 And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face.

we have:

And Mosheh heard, as if every one of them was jealous of his wife, and would have them drink of the trial‑water on account of Mosheh; and he fell on his face for shame.

The source of this is Sanhedrin 110a. There, Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani cites Rabbi Yochanan to that effect. It says vayishma Moshe, but what did he hear (other than the obvious, the complaint just presented to him)? He heard the rumors that he had committed adultery with the married women. A prooftext is made of Tehillim 106:6:

טז וַיְקַנְאוּ לְמֹשֶׁה, בַּמַּחֲנֶה; לְאַהֲרֹן, קְדוֹשׁ ה'.

16 They were jealous also of Moses in the camp, and of Aaron the holy one of the LORD.

where the jealousy is not taken as jealousy of position, but the formal declaration of jealousy of a jealous husband who suspects his wife of adultery. Therefore, Moshe moved outside the camp, to avert suspicion. Thus, in Shemot 33:7:

ז וּמֹשֶׁה יִקַּח אֶת-הָאֹהֶל וְנָטָה-לוֹ מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה, הַרְחֵק מִן-הַמַּחֲנֶה, וְקָרָא לוֹ, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד; וְהָיָה, כָּל-מְבַקֵּשׁ ה', יֵצֵא אֶל-אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, אֲשֶׁר מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה.

7 Now Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it without the camp, afar off from the camp; and he called it the tent of meeting. And it came to pass, that every one that sought the LORD went out unto the tent of meeting, which was without the camp.

Either that, or they remained in the camp and were suspicious of Moshe who was therefore in relative privacy, even when women come to visit him. There is no indication that he did this in response to their accusations; and suddenly he is shocked at the allegations. The full context of those pesukim is:

ז וּמֹשֶׁה יִקַּח אֶת-הָאֹהֶל וְנָטָה-לוֹ מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה, הַרְחֵק מִן-הַמַּחֲנֶה, וְקָרָא לוֹ, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד; וְהָיָה, כָּל-מְבַקֵּשׁ ה', יֵצֵא אֶל-אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, אֲשֶׁר מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה.	7 Now Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it without the camp, afar off from the camp; and he called it the tent of meeting. And it came to pass, that every one that sought the LORD went out unto the tent of meeting, which was without the camp.
ח וְהָיָה, כְּצֵאת מֹשֶׁה אֶל-הָאֹהֶל, יָקוּמוּ כָּל-הָעָם, וְנִצְּבוּ אִישׁ פֶּתַח אָהֳלוֹ; וְהִבִּיטוּ אַחֲרֵי מֹשֶׁה, עַד-בֹּאוֹ הָאֹהֱלָה.	8 And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the Tent, that all the people rose up, and stood, every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the Tent.
ט וְהָיָה, כְּבֹא מֹשֶׁה הָאֹהֱלָה, יֵרֵד עַמּוּד הֶעָנָן, וְעָמַד פֶּתַח הָאֹהֶל; וְדִבֶּר, עִם-מֹשֶׁה.	9 And it came to pass, when Moses entered into the Tent, the pillar of cloud descended, and stood at the door of the Tent; and [the LORD] spoke with Moses.
י וְרָאָה כָל-הָעָם אֶת-עַמּוּד הֶעָנָן, עֹמֵד פֶּתַח הָאֹהֶל; וְקָם כָּל-הָעָם וְהִשְׁתַּחֲווּ, אִישׁ פֶּתַח אָהֳלוֹ.	10 And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the door of the Tent, all the people rose up and worshipped, every man at his tent door.
יא וְדִבֶּר ה' אֶל-מֹשֶׁה פָּנִים אֶל-פָּנִים, כַּאֲשֶׁר יְדַבֵּר אִישׁ אֶל-רֵעֵהוּ; וְשָׁב, אֶל-הַמַּחֲנֶה, וּמְשָׁרְתוֹ יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בִּן-נוּן נַעַר, לֹא יָמִישׁ מִתּוֹךְ הָאֹהֶל. {פ}	11 And the LORD spoke unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he would return into the camp; but his minister Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the Tent. {P}

That all the men, and their tent doors, looked after him, could be interpreted as this jealousy.

I believe we can do better in finding prooftexts for this idea, and specifically prooftexts local to the statement that Moshe heard, in parshat Korach. While often foreign psukim give their input, if there is some local pasuk which can be interpreted in a supporting manner, all the better! That pasuk would be Bemidbar 16:15:

טו וַיִּחַר לְמֹשֶׁה, מְאֹד, וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל-ה', אַל-תֵּפֶן אֶל-מִנְחָתָם; לֹא חֲמוֹר אֶחָד מֵהֶם, נָשָׂאתִי, וְלֹא הֲרֵעֹתִי, אֶת-אַחַד מֵהֶם.

15 And Moses was very wroth, and said unto the LORD: 'Respect not Thou their offering; I have not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them.'

Why speak of a mincha, when they are bringing ketores? Rather, interpret it that these 150 men are bringing minchat kenaot.

We can prop it up even more, though in a somewhat awkward manner. The Septuagint renders the translation as:

15 And Moses was exceeding indignant, and said to the Lord, Do thou take no heed to their sacrifice: I have not taken away the desire of any one of them, neither have I hurt any one of them.

The desire?! What seems to have happened is that a daled was read instead of a resh, and the word chamor in our pasuk was misread as חמד, the desire, or the thing to be coveted. (This is, according to the Aseres Hadibros, his wife, or his donkey, or ox or servant or any of his possessions.) This variant girsa perhaps helped spark the midrash; or else the midrash helped spark the variant girsa.