וְעָמַ֛ד מִנֵּ֥צֶר שָׁרָשֶׁ֖יהָ כַּנּ֑וֹ וְיָבֹ֣א אֶל־הַחַ֗יִל וְיָבֹא֙ בְּמָעוֹז֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ הַצָּפ֔וֹן וְעָשָׂ֥ה בָהֶ֖ם וְהֶחֱזִֽיק׃
Kemudian seorang tunas dari akar-akarnya akan bangkit menggantikan kedudukannya. Ia akan datang menyerang tentara itu dan memasuki benteng raja Utara. Ia akan bertindak terhadap mereka dan menguasai mereka.
Radak
seeing that it was כחם היום, the hottest part of the day. Possibly, due to the heat of the sun Avraham had fallen asleep, a fact which facilitated his receiving this vision. Before G’d started speaking to him about what He intended to do to Sodom, He showed him three angels, the biggest one of whom told him the news about Sarah‘s going to give birth to a son in the following year, confirming what G’d had told him when He commanded him to circumcise himself, etc. When Avraham would hear this by a special messenger from G’d, his faith in the realisation of this promise would be further reinforced. Perhaps, more to the point, G’d wanted Sarah to overhear what the angel told Avraham, as apparently, Avraham had not told her of the previous promise, nor of his praying on behalf of Ishmael. [I do not understand how Sarah could hear what Avraham only saw in dream. Perhaps we must assume that the author continues with the original approach of all of what is written in this chapter having occurred while Avraham was fully awake. Ed.] Even (assuming) that this whole paragraph describes a vision, sometimes people close to the recipient of such a vision would hear a voice, a sound, as we have been told by Daniel who wrote: “the men with me did not see this great spectacle, but they were gripped by a great tremor so that they fell on their faces and took refuge in places to hide.” (Daniel 10,7) It seems clear from that verse that these men heard the content of the vision Daniel experienced without seeing any of it. The vision the Torah speaks about here occurred at the entrance of Avraham’s tent, so that Sarah could hear what transpired. Our sages’ comment that Avraham sat in front of his tent recuperating from the wounds inflicted by his circumcision is familiar to all of us, as is the surmise that he applied bandages to his wound (Baba Metzia 86). They add that the words וירא allude to G’d Himself visiting Avraham as one visits the sick.
Rashi
but this coming will not be as successful as the first one mentioned above (verse 7): “A scion of her roots will arise etc.,” in which the king of the north succeeded over the king of the south, or like the last, meaning this second time, about which we said: “and he will return to his land” with many possessions.