Przysłów 30:5 Midrasz: Shemot Rabbah, Midrash Tanchuma, Vayikra Rabbah & Midrash Tanchuma Buber

Another matter, “Moses was herding” – that is what is written: “Every word of God is pure” (Proverbs 30:5); the Holy One blessed be He does not bestow greatness upon a person until He tests them with a minor matter, and only then does He elevate him to prominence. There were two preeminently great ones whom the Holy One blessed be He tested with a minor matter, and they were found trustworthy and He elevated them to prominence.
He tested David with the flocks, and he led them only to the wilderness to distance them from robbery, as Eliav⁴David’s older brother. said to David: “With whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness?” (I Samuel 17:28). This teaches that David observed [the halakha cited in] the mishna (Bava Kamma 79a–79b): One may not raise a small domesticated animal in the Land of Israel.⁵For that reason David shepherded his flock in the wilderness. The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘You have been found trustworthy with the flocks, come and herd My flock,’ as it is stated: “From the suckling ewes He brought him” (Psalms 78:71).
Likewise, regarding Moses it says: “He led the flock deep into the wilderness,” to remove them from theft [by grazing in fields belonging to others], and the Holy One blessed be He took him to herd Israel, as it is stated: “You led Your people like a flock in the hand of Moses and Aaron” (Psalms 77:21).

“God spoke to Moses and said to him: I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by My name the Lord I did not make Myself known to them” (Exodus 6:2–3).
“God spoke to Moses and said to him: I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac...” That is what is written: “I turned myself to behold wisdom and madness and folly; for who is the man who comes after the king to do what he already has done?” (Ecclesiastes 2:12). This verse is referring to Solomon and to Moses. How to Solomon? When the Holy One blessed be He gave the Torah to Israel, he gave positive mitzvot and prohibitions, and gave the king a few mitzvot, as it is stated: “Only he shall not accumulate horses for himself…and he shall not accumulate wives for himself, and his heart will not stray, and silver and gold he shall not greatly accumulate for himself” (Deuteronomy 17:16–17). Solomon rose and thought to outsmart the decree of the Holy One blessed be He. “He shall not accumulate [yarbe] wives for himself,” isn’t that so “his heart will not stray?” I will accumulate and my heart will not stray. At that moment, the yod that is in yarbe¹The letter yod in this form indicates the future tense. Solomon was confident that he would not stray, and thus thought the future “so that his heart will not stray” did not apply to him. went up and prostrated itself before the Holy One blessed be He and said: ‘Master of the universe, didn’t You say that there will never be a letter negated from the Torah? Behold, Solomon is revoking me. Perhaps today he will negate one and tomorrow another, until the entire Torah is negated.’ The Holy One blessed be He said to it: ‘Solomon and one thousand like him will be negated, and not one calligraphical embellishment will I negate.’ From where He negated it [the letter yod] from the Torah, and it returned to the Torah? It is as it is stated: “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her by the name Sarai, as Sarah²Sarai is spelled sin, resh, yod. God replaced the letter yod at the end of her name with the letter heh, rendering it Sarah. is her name” (Genesis 17:15). Where did it [the letter yod] return? “Moses called Hoshea bin Nun, Joshua” (Numbers 13:16).³The change from Hoshea to Joshua is made with the addition of the letter yod at the beginning of the name, so that it is spelled yod, heh, vav, shin, ayin.
Solomon, who considered negating a letter from the Torah, what is written about him? “The words of Agur ben Yakeh”⁴The book of Proverbs is attributed to Solomon. (Proverbs 30:1) – who collected [iger] matters of Torah and expelled them [hekian]. “The utterance of the man to Itiel” (Proverbs 30:1), this matter that the Holy One blessed be He said: “He shall not accumulate wives,” He said only so “his heart will not stray.” “To Itiel” – who said: God is with me [iti El] and I will prevail.⁵My numerous wives will not cause my heart to stray. What is written about him? “It was when Solomon grew old, his wives led his heart astray” (I Kings 11:4).
Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai said: It would have been preferable for Solomon to have been a sewer cleaner than to have this verse written about him. That is why Solomon said about himself: “I turned myself to behold wisdom and madness and folly” (Ecclesiastes 2:12). Solomon said: ‘That which I [thought that I] have grown wise in matters of the Torah, and have shown myself that I know the wisdom of the Torah; that understanding and that knowledge were actually of madness and folly. Why? “For who is the man who comes after the king to do what he already has done?” (Ibid.). Who is it who has license to question the ways and the decrees of the King of kings, the Holy One blessed be He? Matters are shaped before Him; for everything that emerges from before Him, He has already consulted with the heavenly entourage, and has informed them of the matter, so that they all will know and attest that His ruling is a ruling of truth and His decrees are truth and everything of His is done wisely. Thus it says: “Every word of God is refined” (Proverbs 30:5); and it says: “This matter is by the decree of the watchers, [and the sentence by the word of the holy ones; to the extent that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whoever He will, and raises over it the lowest of men]”⁶The heavenly entourage (the watchers and the holy ones) are informed by God of His decrees concerning the kingdom of men. (Daniel 4:14). Because I questioned His actions, I failed.’
How is it [the verse in Ecclesiastes 2:12] stated about Moses? The Holy One blessed be He had already informed Moses that Pharaoh would not allow them to go, as it is stated: “I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go” (Exodus 3:19), “and I will harden his heart” (Exodus 4:21). Moses did not keep this matter in mind, and thought to outsmart the decree of the Holy One blessed be He, and began saying: “Why have You harmed this people?” (Exodus 5:22); he began arguing before Him. About this it is stated that this wisdom and knowledge of Moses was of madness and folly, “For who is the man who comes after the king,” – how could he question the ways of the Holy One blessed be He “to do what he already has done?” – after He had already revealed to him that He is destined to harden his [Pharaoh’s] heart in order to punish him for his enslaving them with hard labor? For this thing, the attribute of justice sought to harm Moses. That is what is written: “God [Elohim]⁷Elohim is the divine name that represents the attribute of justice. spoke to Moses” (Exodus 6:2). Because the Holy One blessed be He observed that it was due to the suffering of Israel that he spoke in that manner, He reconsidered and treated him with the attribute of mercy. That is what is written: “He said to him: I am the Lord [Y-H-V-H] (Exodus 6:2).”⁸Y-H-V-H, pronounced Adonai, is the divine name that represents the attribute of mercy.

Now Moses was keeping the flock (Exod. 3:1). Scripture states elsewhere: Every word of God is tried; He is a shield unto them that take refuge in Him (Prov. 30:5). The Holy One, blessed be He, does not confer greatness upon a man until He tests him in lesser things. Only then does He elevate him to greatness. Two great men in the world were tested and found to be faithful before He raised them to positions of greatness. He tested David by means of a sheep. What did David do? He led the sheep into the desert to keep them from feeding from the field of others, and that is why his brother Eliab said to him: With whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? (I Sam. 17:28). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: Thou hast been found trustworthy with regard to sheep, and so now I shall entrust My flock to you that you may shepherd them, as it is written: Thou shalt shepherd My people Israel (I Chron. 11:2). And Scripture likewise says: From following the ewes that give suck He brought him to be shepherd over Jacob, His people, and Israel, His inheritance (Ps. 78:71).