Baba Basra 119a - Tzlafchad the Mekoshesh

The gemara groups together tzelafchad and the one who gathered wood on shabbos (after the sin of the meraglim) not only because these were 2 halachos that moshe had to consult on and were attributed to the person he raised the issue, but also because the gemara says in shabbos that the mekoshesh was tzlafchad.

The gemara says that Moshe knew that the daughters of tzlafchad had rights to inherit, but didn't know if they were entitled to the right of bechor because he didn't know if EY was considered muchzak in the hand of Cheifer. Also, Moshe knew that the one who gathered wood should be killed but didn't know which death penalty he deserved. The parsha of inheritance was attributed to the daughters of tzlafchad from which they benefited (by receiving yerusha) and the parsha of stoning for chilul shabbos was attributed to the mekoshesh from which he was killed - this teaches מגלגלין זכות ע"י זכאי וחובה ע"י חייב.

However, Tosafos 119b writes that the mekoshesh wasn't quite as bad as we think. The story happened immediately following the meraglim because he was afraid that when people realize that they aren't going into EY for 40 years they won't be accountable for the keeping of mitzvos. He davka violated shabbos so that he can be publicly killed to teach a lesson to all the Jews that we are still bound to the mitzvos. The maharsha asks, if his intent was truly l'sheim shamayim, how was he able to do this? How can he do such a severe aveira just to make a point? The maharsha answers that since he was doing it just to make a point, it wasn't actually a violation of shabbos because it is a מלאכה שא"צ לגופה, since the melacha isn't being done for its intended purpose. Based on this, the mekoshesh wasn't really mechalel shabbos, he just gave the impression to the witnesses of being mechalel shabbos so that he can be killed to make the point of showing the severity of keeping mitzvos.

The approach of Tosafos as explained by the Maharsha seems to indicate that the mekoshesh was a big tzadik who was moser nefesh to teach the Jewish people the severity of mitzvos. Why then does the gemara say that the mekoshesh was מגלגלין חובה על ידי חייב, he should have been considered a tzadik? We learn from here that although the mekoshesh technically didn't do an aveira of chilul shabbos, and although he intended l'sheim shamayim, but the fact that he did an aveira that gave the impression of chilul shabbos, it was considered a chilul hashem which he is considered guilty for. Although the mekoshesh sacrificed his life to show the severity of mitzvos, and technically didn't violate anything, he was considered a rasha for giving the impression that he violated shabbos. We learn from here how sensitive a person has to be not to even give the impression that he is doing something wrong, even when it is completely correct.