Pensamiento judío sobre Génesis 15:5

Bereshit Rabbah 48 quotes Isaiah 33,15-17, "He who walks righteously," meaning Abraham, seeing that the Torah writes that he will command his sons and household after him to act righteously (Genesis 18,19). "He speaks uprightly;" this too refers to Abraham, since we read in Song of Songs 1, "The upright ones love you." "He who disdains profit gained through oppression." This too refers to Abraham, since the Torah testifies in Genesis 14,23, that Abraham refused to take as much as a shoelace from the booty of war. "He shakes off his hands in order not to hold bribes in them." This also is a reference to Abraham who said to G-d, "I raise my hand high to G-d who dwells on high"(Genesis 14,22). Rabbi Yehudah said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan, "G-d lifted him beyond the horizon, since He said to Abraham, ‘Please look at the skies.’ The term habet for ‘look’ always means to look down rather than up. Abraham was asked to look down at the sky since he had been transported beyond it.” "His fortress is his stronghold," refers to the protective clouds G-d spread over Israel in the desert. "His bread was supplied, his waters were dependable," refers to the angels whom Abraham had hosted. "The king in his beauty your eyes behold," refers to Abraham's vision of G-d after his circumcision. So far Isaiah.

The Zohar on Parshat Vayeshev relates a conversation between three Rabbis, from which it becomes clear that if an unexplained dream compares to an unread letter, that it is not the reading itself that makes it come true, but that, having read it, one becomes alerted to the fact that it has come true. This then is the meaning of "all dreams follow the mouth," not that the latitude granted the interpreters determines the cause of events. When Joseph said, "Do the interpretations not belong to the Lord?", he meant that even if G-d has endowed someone like himself with the insight to elicit a message from this dream, there may well be additional interpretations which would become clear only in later generations or even in subsequent eras. If this were not so, Joseph would have used the word "interpretation" in the singular. Since Joseph's own dreams foreshadowed events in the near future as well as events in the more distant future, any interpretation would not have to be exclusive of other meanings. One of the prerequisites of success when interpreting dreams is the knowledge the interpreter has about the dreamer himself. Not all dreamers will interpret identical dreams identically (compare Yuma 87). Rabbi Chanina dreamt that Rav had been hung on a palm tree. He took this to mean (knowing Rav's stature) that Rav would be appointed head of the academy. Had he dreamt the same thing about a robber, no doubt he would have interpreted such a dream completely differently.

In the same manner the Hebrew hibbit signifies “he viewed with the eye; comp. “Look (tabbit) not behind thee” (Gen. 19:17); “But his wife looked (va-tabbet) back from him” (Gen. 19:26); “And if one look (ve-nibbat) unto the land” (Isa. 5:30); and figuratively, “to view and observe” with the intellect, “to contemplate” a thing till it be understood. In this sense the verb is used in passages like the following: “He hath not beheld (hibbit) iniquity in Jacob” (Num. 23:21); for “iniquity” cannot be seen with the eye. The words, “And they looked (ve-hibbitu) after Moses” (Exod. 33:8)—in addition to the literal understanding of the phrase—were explained by our Sages in a figurative sense. According to them, these words mean that the Israelites examined and criticised the actions and sayings of Moses. Compare also “Contemplate (habbet), I pray thee, the heaven” (Gen. 15:5); for this took place in a prophetic vision. This verb, when applied to God, is employed in this figurative sense; e.g., “to look (me-habbit) upon God” (Exod. 3:6) “And the similitude of the Lord shall he behold” (yabbit) (Num. 12:8); And thou canst not look (habbet) on iniquity” (Hab. 1:13).