Midrash for Numbers 23:19

(Deut. 1:1:) THESE ARE THE WORDS THAT MOSES SPOKE. This text is related (to Prov. 28:23): THE ONE WHO REBUKES A PERSON WILL IN THE END FIND MORE FAVOR THAN THE ONE WITH A FLATTERING TONGUE. THE ONE WHO REBUKES A PERSON is Moses, since he rebuked Israel.⁷Deut. R. 1:2. (Ibid., cont.:) WILL IN THE END FIND MORE FAVOR <also refers to Moses>, since he found favor and good insight in the eyes of God and humanity. Thus it is stated (in Exod. 34:9): PLEASE, IF I HAVE FOUND FAVOR IN YOUR EYES, O LORD. (Prov. 28:23:) THE ONE WITH A FLATTERING TONGUE refers to Balaam, since he said to Israel (in Numb. 24:5): HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE YOUR TENTS, O JACOB; YOUR TABERNACLES, O ISRAEL. To what were they comparable? To a king's son, who had two guardians.⁸Gk.: paidagogoi. One loved him and the other hated him. The one who loved him warned him and said: My son, watch yourself, lest you make a transgression, since your father is judge; and if he hears that you have committed a transgression, even though he is your father, he will not show partiality to you. But the one who hated him said to him: Why are you depressed? Your father is king! Do as you desire. Be afraid of no mortal, for your father will not be upset with you. Similarly the son is Israel. The two guardians are Moses and Balaam. Moses loved them and said to them (in Deut. 11:16–17): TAKE HEED LEST YOUR HEART BE DECEIVED …; FOR THE ANGER OF THE LORD WILL BE KINDLED AGAINST YOU. Why? Because he is judge, as stated (in Deut. 4:39): SO KNOW THIS DAY AND TAKE TO HEART THAT THE LORD IS GOD. Balaam, however, said: Do not be afraid. You are his children. Do whatever you want, for he will not be upset with you. To all the nations he does whatever he decrees over them. Why? (Numb. 23:19:) GOD IS NOT A HUMAN, THAT HE SHOULD SPEAK FALSEHOOD. But in your case he said (ibid., cont.): HAS HE GIVEN HIS WORD WITHOUT ACTING <ON IT>? AND HAS HE SPOKEN <SOMETHING> WITHOUT FULFILLING IT? On this point Solomon cries out and says (in Prov. 27:6): THE WOUNDS OF A LOVED ONE ARE FOUND TO BE TRUSTWORTHY. This refers to Moses. (Ibid., cont.): AND THE KISSES OF AN ENEMY ARE PROFUSE. This refers to Balaam. (Deut. 1:1:) THESE ARE THE WORDS.

"Command the Children of Israel" (Numbers 34:2:). This is what is stated in the verse (in Numbers 23:19), "God is not a man to be deceitful," [meaning] a man will not make God deceitful; "nor the son of" Amram (this is a play on words, as the verse reads, the son of man, "Adam") to make Him "change His mind." As [only after God] said, "Let Me go," did the son of Amram stand and make Him change His mind, as stated (Exodus 32:14), "And the Lord rescinded the evil that He was saying to do to His people." Another interpretation (of Numbers 23:19): "God is not a man to be deceitful," with the good. When He speaks to bring good - even if the generation is liable - He does not go back on it, [as] "God is not a man to be deceitful." But when He speaks to bring evil, He does go back on it, as it is stated (Numbers 23:19), "He said it but does not do [it]." You should know that He said to Avraham (Genesis 15:5), "Look toward heaven and count the stars...." And He did it, as stated (Deuteronomy 1:10), "The Lord, your God, multiplied you, and behold you are today...." [But when] He said to Avraham (Genesis 15:13), "Know well that your offspring shall be strangers [... four hundred years]," they were oppressed for only two hundred and ten years. That is [the meaning of], "God is not a man to be deceitful" - with the good. But with the evil, "He said it but does not do [it]." [In this vein,] He said to Israel, "as you are not My people" (Hosea 1:9). But He went back and said, "and I will say to Not My People, 'You are My people'" (Hosea 2: 25). That is [the meaning of], "He said it but does not do [it]." He said to Avraham, "As I will give [the land] to you and your offspring" (Genesis 26:3), and He did not go back [on it]. As it is stated (Numbers 34:2), "when you come to the Land of Canaan," and He brought them into the Land.

And the Lord remembered Sarah, as he had said (Gen. 21:1). Scripture states elsewhere in allusion to this verse: God is not a man that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent; when He hath said, will He will not do it? Or when He hath spoken, will He not make it good? (Num. 23:19). R. Samuel the son of Nahman contended: The conclusion of this verse contradicts the beginning. It begins: God is not a man that He should lie, but subsequently it reverses itself by stating: when He hath said, will He not do it? What is meant by God is not a man that He should lie? It indicates that when the Holy One, blessed be He, promises to perform a good deed, He does so. For example: A mortal king may promise his son a gift, but if his son angers him, he will withdraw his promise. However, if the Holy One, blessed be He, promises to do a good deed, He will not retract His promise even though they sin against Him. Scripture states: And He gave them the lands of the nations, and they took the labor of the peoples in possession; that they might keep His statutes and observe His Laws (Ps. 105:44–45), and even though they neglected to keep His commandments and to observe His laws, He gave them the land. Similarly, though the Israelites erected the golden calf, when Moses pleaded for mercy in their behalf, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: Depart, go up hence, thou and the people thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt (Exod. 33:1). The Holy One, blessed be He, said: Moses, I am not like a man who promises a gift and then retracts. Hence, it says: God is not a man that He should lie.