Comentario sobre Génesis 15:2

הולך ערירי I GO CHILDLESS — Menachem ben Seruk explained it (ערירי) as meaning heir, and another example of it is (Malachi 2:12) ער ועונה “son and grandsonערירי — (״ then would mean “without child or heir” being an example of a word that has two opposite meanings, just as you say (Job 31:12) “and it would תשרש all my increase” — meaning it would tear up its roots, and the same word might also mean to take root. So, too, the meaning of ערירי is “without a child” although ער means “a child”. old French désenfanté; English childless. It, however, seems to me that the word ער in ער ועונה is of the same derivation as the same word in (Song 5:2). ולבי ער “and my heart awaketh”, whereas ערירי has the meaning of destroyed (a childless person being “demolished” so far as his memory in future generations is concerned; cf. Rashi on Genesis 16:2). Similarly (Psalms 137:7) ערו ערו “Rase it, rase it”; (Habakkuk 3:13) ערות יסוד “destroying the foundation”, and (Jeremiah 51:58) ערער תתערער “shall be utterly destroyed” and (Zephaniah 2:14) כי ארזה ערה “for the cedar-work thereof shall be destroyed”.

AND ABRAM SAID, O LORD ETERNAL, WHAT WILT THOU GIVE ME? “Behold, Thou hast saved me from the kings, but Thou hast not assured me against extinction. Thou hast only said that Thou wilt give me great reward, but what can my reward be without children?”
Now it had not occurred to Abraham that this great reward would be in the World to Come for there is no necessity for such a promise; every servant of G-d will find life in the hereafter before him. But in this world there are righteous men, unto whom it happened according to the work of the wicked.²²¹Ecclesiastes 8:14. It is for this reason that the righteous have need of assurance. Moreover, very great²²²Thy reward shall be ‘very great.’ implies that he will merit both worlds²²³“Both worlds,” literally “two tables,” a Rabbinic figure of speech (Berachoth 5 b) signifying access to the best of this world and also of the hereafter. with all the best therein without any punishment whatever as befits the really righteous people. Moreover, an assurance is given for that which a person fears. [Hence, he needed no assurance concerning the hereafter. But he feared being childless; therefore G-d] rejoined and explained that His assurance included that he should not fear this either, as He will make his children as the stars of heaven for multitude.²²⁴Deuteronomy 1:10.
You may ask: Has it not been told to Abraham already, For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth,²²⁵Above, 13:15-16. and so, how could Abraham now say, Since I go childless…lo, my household slave will be mine heir?²²⁶Verses 2-3 here. And why did he not believe in the first prophecy, as he would believe in this [second one which G-d will now relate to him?] The answer is that the righteous ones have no trust in themselves, fearing they might have sinned in error. Thus it is written At one instant I may speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and plant it; but if that nation turn and do evil before Me, then I repent of the good.²²⁷Jeremiah 18:7-10, with some changes. Now when Abraham saw himself advanced in years and the first prophecy concerning him had not yet been fulfilled, he thought that his sins had withheld that good from him.²²⁸See ibid., 5:25. And perhaps he now feared that he would be punished for the people that he killed in the war, as our Rabbis have said.²²⁹Bereshith Rabbah 44:5. They have expressed a similar thought in Bereshith Rabbah:²³⁰Ibid., 76:2. “Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed.²³¹Genesis 32:8. From this we derive the principle that there is no assurance for the righteous ones in this world, etc.”

?מה תתן לי, a reference to the reward in this life.