Numbers 23:19
RASHI
God is not man to be
capricious, or mortal to change His mind. He has already sworn to give the Israelites possession of the land of
the seven nations. And you expect to be able to kill them in the wilderness?
RASHBAM
God is not man. He will not renege on His blessing after
such a short time. For they have not transgressed since the blessing with which
I blessed them earlier today. To be
capricious. Literally, “to lie” (OJPS). But it is a question. Reneging on
the blessing would amount to a lie—how could God do this? To change His mind. Again, the Hebrew frames a question: “God is
not mortal—how could He change His mind? Would
He speak and not act, promise and not fulfill? Here the translations
recognize that the text is asking a question.
IBN EZRA
God is not man to be
capricious. Balak asked
Balaam to “damn them for me from there” (v. 13), but Balaam had already told
him, “How can I damn whom God has not damned?” (v. 8). Would He speak and not act? More literally, “would He say and not
do” what He said? Promise and not
fulfill? “Utter, and not fulfill” His utterance? The fact that the verb has
a suffix shows that such an object is to be understood.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
God is not man to be
capricious, or mortal to change His mind. There are three scenarios in which human beings do not fulfill a
promise—either they decide not to, or they are not able to, or the recipient of
the promise has not fulfilled his side of the bargain. Balaam’s reply pertains
to the first two of these (Bekhor Shor). (Numbers:
Introduction and Commentary [trans. Michael Carasik; The Commentators’
Bible; Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2011], Logos Bible
Software edition)
