Q&A: General
General
Question
Hello Rabbi Michi,
In Parashat Balak, chapter 24 verse 16: “The utterance of one who hears the words of God, and knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty, fallen yet with uncovered eyes.” Rashi writes there in his commentary that he knows how to determine the moment when the Holy One, blessed be He, is angry, as brought in the Talmud, Sanhedrin 105b. Isn’t it a bit ridiculous to explain it this way? It comes out, essentially, that the Holy One, blessed be He, has no choice, because when a person gets angry we expect him to overcome it, and that cannot exempt him from punishment if he did something wrong as a result of the anger. But if the Holy One, blessed be He, gets angry and Balaam curses, then he is forcing Him to act according to Balaam’s will.
2. Likewise regarding accusation, supposedly they remind God and then He is forced to do harm to the object of the accusation.
I drink your words thirstily.
Best regards,
Yaakov
Answer
First, who said He has no choice? One can try at that moment, but it is not certain that we will succeed.
Second, all these are aggadic statements that neither add nor detract. I have no business with them.