Can you please explain to me Numbers Chapter 23:19?   Wouldn’t that
disprove the trinity?   Can you please help me understand contradictions
in the Bible?  I am very confused with these.

Answer:

This is an interesting question.  The answer involves how the phrase "son of man" is used in the Bible.  Let me discuss "contradictions" in the first place.  If you scan the questions and answers at the web site, you will find more on the subject of supposed contradictions than any other.  Perhaps you can do a little search using the word contradiction to get a feel.  My response to this is that the vast majority of supposed contradictions are very easily handled by simply looking at the context of the passages in question.  It helps to know the whole Bible well.  There is a chapter in my book, "Reasons for Belief," at the end of the book on the subject. (www.ipibooks.com).

About Numbers 23:19, it says that "God is not… a son of man."  The phrase "son of man" is used often in the Old Testament.  It is used of Ezekiel a number of times (Ezekiel 2:1 and many more).  It is also used of Daniel (Daniel 8:17).  Interestingly, it is also used of Jesus (Matthew 12:40 and many others).  In the Old Testament, the phrase "son of man" is used to mean something like a man of God or a godly man.  This may seem and odd phrase, but it seems to fit the usage.  Jesus is both THE Son of God and A son of man.   It is debatable whether the expression "son of man" in the New Testament is being used to express his humanity of his deity.  Jesus is both God and man, so in principle it could be used for either.

Getting back to your passage, I believe the statement "God is not… a son of man" basically means that God is not human.  God is not like one of us who changes his or her  mind.  God is eternal and unchanging.  I do not believe this passage has anything to do with the trinity or the difference in nature between the Father and the Son.

John Oakes, PhD