Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Sforno · Torah
Sforno on Numbers 23:23/ספורנו על במדבר כ״ג:כ״ג
אכִּי לֹא נַחַשׁ בְּיַעֲקֹב. וְהַטַּעַם שֶׁהוֹצִיאָם מִמִּצְרַיִם וּמְגָרֵשׁ גּוֹיִם בִּשְׁבִיל יִשְׂרָאֵל וְנוֹתֵן לְיִשְׂרָאֵל תּוֹעֲפוֹת רְאֵם, הוּא כִּי הֵם דּוֹר דּוֹרְשָׁיו וְלֹא יִדְרְשׁוּ הַנָּחָשׁ, כְּאָמְרוֹ (דברים יח:יד) ״כִּי הַגּוֹיִם הָאֵלֶּה אֶל מְעוֹנְנִים וְאֶל קוֹסְמִים יִשְׁמָעוּ וְאַתָּה לֹא כֵן״.
1כי לא נחש ביעקב, the reason why G’d took the Jewish people out of Egypt and expels other nations in their wake by providing them with the horns of a wild ox is that they are a generation of people looking for G’d and His proximity instead of relying on all kinds of demonically inspired methods of divining the future. Moses spelled out this stark contrast between the Jewish people and their gentile neighbours in Deuteronomy 18,14 when he said: “for these nations that you are about to dispossess do indeed resort to soothsayers and augurs; to you however, the Lord your G’d has not assigned the like.”
בכָּעֵת. שֶׁהֵם רוֹצִים לָדַעַת עֲתִידוֹת.
2כעת, at any time they wish to know what the future holds.
גיֵאָמֵר לְיַעֲקֹב וּלְיִשְׂרָאֵל מַה פָּעַל אֵל. יֵאָמֵר לָהֶם בִּנְבוּאָה אוֹ עַל יְדֵי אֵיזֶה נָבִיא מַה גָּזַר הָאֵל יִתְבָּרַךְ, לֹא יֵאָמֵר לָהֶם מַה יוֹרוּ אוֹתוֹת הַשָּׁמַיִם וּמַה יִפְעֲלוּ מַעֲרְכוֹתֵיהֶם, מִפְּנֵי שֶׁאֵינָם תַּחַת אוֹתָן הַמַּעֲרְכוֹת.
3'יאמר ליעקב ולישראל מה פעל ה, they will be told by means of a prophetic message or through some other divine revelation what G’d has decreed. They will not be told what the various constellations of the stars appear to portend. The reason is that their fates are subject to direct supervision by G’d, not to the intermediaries He has appointed for that purpose for the gentile nations.