How the Torah Was Refined Before the World Was Made

You have learned from this that a person should not fall into complaining against the Holy One, blessed be He, when he sees people one righteous and faring well, and one righteous and faring ill, and one wicked and faring well, and one wicked and faring ill. And if he does fall into complaining against the Holy One, blessed be He, behold, he is held liable in his own life, as it is said, "Do not let your mouth bring guilt upon your flesh, and do not say before the messenger that it was an error; why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands?" (Ecclesiastes 5:5). And the Sages taught: nine hundred and seventy-four generations before the world was created, the Holy One, blessed be He, sat and expounded and searched and refined and tested all the words of the Torah two hundred and forty-eight times, corresponding to the two hundred and forty-eight limbs that are in a man; and afterward the Holy One, blessed be He, brought forth all the words of the Torah and fixed them in His Torah, and not a single thing of it moves from its place, as it is said, "The sayings of the LORD are pure sayings, like silver refined" (Psalms 12:7). And every single thing that He fixed in the Torah, if it moves even a little from its place, ruins the whole world. And because Adam transgressed the Torah by a little, it arose in the mind of the Holy One, blessed be He, to destroy the whole world. And so too it had arisen in the mind of the Holy One, blessed be He, not to give an opening of the mouth to beast, animal, and bird; and because He gave a little opening of the mouth to the serpent, the serpent arose and ruined the whole world. And so too in the ten generations from Adam to Noah, it had arisen in the mind of the Holy One, blessed be He, to visit the iniquity of fathers upon children; and because He did not visit it, the Holy One, blessed be He, instead made each and every one like a king over his wife and his children and his household. Immediately they arose and corrupted their deeds, eating and drinking and kicking out of plenty, and they sought to destroy the whole world with their evil deeds and rebelled against the Holy One, blessed be He, and said that the Holy One, blessed be He, had over them neither kingship nor the attribute of retribution nor the attribute of justice, as it is said, "They say to God, Depart from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit should we have if we entreat Him?" (Job 21:14-15). And they fell into violence and robbery, as it is said, "And the earth was filled with violence" (Genesis 6:11); and they fell into idolatry and forbidden relations, as it is said, "And the earth was corrupt before God" (Genesis 6:11), and so it is said, "For all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth" (Genesis 6:12); and they fell into bloodshed, as it is said, "And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt" (Genesis 6:12). And not only that, but they would strip off their garments and lay them upon the ground and walk about naked without clothing, as it is said, "They go about naked without clothing" (Job 24:10). And so too in the ten generations from Noah to Abraham, it had arisen in the mind of the Holy One, blessed be He, to visit the iniquity of fathers upon children; and because He did not visit it, but the Holy One, blessed be He, made them all one tongue, immediately they arose and corrupted their deeds and sought to destroy the whole world with their evil deeds and rebelled against the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said, "And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech" (Genesis 11:1). And so too it had arisen in the mind of the Holy One, blessed be He, to give the crown of kingship to David and to his seed forever; and because it was given to the kings of Israel, immediately they arose and corrupted their deeds with it and sought to destroy the whole world with their evil deeds. And so too it had arisen in the mind of the Holy One, blessed be He, to give the holy Torah to Israel alone because they are holy; and because it was given to Balaam son of Beor, immediately he arose and corrupted his deeds with it and sought to destroy the whole world with his evil deeds. And the Holy One, blessed be He, did not leave a single thing in the world that He did not reveal to Balaam; for the Holy One, blessed be He, knew that the nations were destined to say before Him: Had You given us a prophet like Moses, we too would have accepted Your Torah just as Israel accepted it through Moses. Were it not that Balaam son of Beor was as exalted in wisdom as Moses -- therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, gave the nations Balaam son of Beor, who was as exalted in wisdom as Moses. But Moses had one thing more, and Balaam lacked one thing compared to Moses: of Moses it is written, "And He called to Moses" (Leviticus 1:1), but of Balaam it is written, "And God chanced upon Balaam" (Numbers 23:4). And Balaam had one thing more than Moses, and Moses lacked one thing compared to Balaam: of Balaam it is written, "And he knows the knowledge of the Most High" (Numbers 24:16), but of Moses it is written, "Make known to me now Your ways" (Exodus 33:13). But no good way and no way of righteousness was ever found in the world that came into the world through Balaam; rather, he came to slander and sought to destroy the whole world. At that moment the Holy One, blessed be He, swore to His people Israel that He would no longer rest His Divine Presence upon the nations but upon Israel alone, and that He would not exchange Israel for another people nor replace them with another nation, as it is said, "I will not execute the fierceness of My anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim, for I am God and not man" (Hosea 11:9).