창세기 15:11의 주석

העיט THE BIRD OF PREY— It is a bird so called because it swoops down (עט) greedily upon dead bodies, darting quickly upon its food. Similarly we have the verbal form (1 Samuel 15:19) “And thou didst pounce down (ותעט) upon the spoil”.

AND THE BIRDS OF PREY CAME DOWN UPON THE CARCASSES. [They came down] to eat them, as is the nature of birds.

וירד העיט, the word עיט is description of predatory birds generally.

וירד העיט על הפגרים, “the vulture swooped down on the carcasses;” an allusion to the future when the nations of the world would endeavour to do away with the practice of animal sacrifice and the descendants of Avraham would chase them away and would uphold the practice.

וירד העיט על הפגרים, “The bird of prey descended on the carcasses.” This was a hint that in the future the Gentile Nations would try and prevent the Israelites from performing sacrificial service in the Temple.

On the pieces. Rashi explains this because the term פגרים usually refers to complete bodies, while here the bodies were split into two. Therefore Rashi says that here הפגרים means “the pieces.” Rashi is thereby telling us that the vultures did not descend also on the birds, [which were not split]. For that would make it seem as if Israel too would be annihilated as the birds symbolize Yisrael [see Rashi on v. 10]. Thus Rashi explains that הבתרים means the [split] pieces, which symbolize the nations [ibid]. (R. Yaakov Kenizal)

וישב אותם אברם, Avram chased the vultures away. This verse has been inserted in the Torah only in order to draw our attention to the great sensitivity of Avram. After all, the vultures were only doing what vultures were supposed to do. Avram chased them away temporarily, until the presence of the Lord had taken leave of him, and the covenant had been concluded.

על הפגרים UPON THE CARCASSES i.e. the pieces of the carcasses. — The word הפגרים we should translate in the Targum by פגל) פגליא being the same as פגר); since, however, people were familiar with the Targum’s translation of the words איש בתרו (in Genesis 5:10) ‘‘each piece” by פלגיא (the halves), the word פגליא here was mistakenly changed by them into פלגיא and so they gave the Targum of פגרים (carcasses) by פלגיא (halves). But whoever renders it thus in the Targum is wrong for there is no comparison (similarity in meaning) between בתרים and פגרים; for the Targum of בתרים is פלגיא (“parts”, from פלג “to divide”,) whilst the Targum of פגרים is פגליא, which has the sense of פגול, something; abhorrent, as (Leviticus 7:18) פגול הוא “it shall be an abhorred thing”, similar in sense to פגר a carcass.

על הפגרים, the carcasses which are whole. This term is not applied to the animals which had been cut in half as part of the sacrificial procedures, [presumably, the author does not feel comfortable in the Torah describing sacrifices which had been accepted by G’d winding up as the food for vultures. Ed.] The author quotes a number of examples where the word פגר occurs in the Bible, in all of which the reference is to a whole carcass, not to a section of it. (compare Isaiah 14,19; Chronicles I 10,12; Samuel I 31,12) The symbolism in all this is that there would hardly be a generation in which the gentile nations would not attempt to devour the Jewish people, and to annihilate them utterly. Nonetheless, in the final analysis, G’d has always saved us from becoming total victims. This confirms the prediction in Leviticus 26,44 that even during our darkest days when we are being punished collectively for our sins and the sins of our fathers, “I will not despise you and allow you to be wiped out completely.” In the verse following the one we just quoted, the Torah adds verbatim: וזכרתי להם ברית ראשונים, at such a time “I will remember for them the covenant I concluded with the forefathers.”

AND ABRAM DROVE THEM AWAY. It was thus alluded to Abraham that the nations would come to abolish the sacrifices, but the children of Abraham would drive them away.

וישב [AND ABRAM] SCARED THEM AWAY — The word means “blowing upon a thing and making a thing fly away”, similar to (Psalms 147:18) יַשֵּׁב רוחו “He causeth His wind to blow”. It is a symbol that David, the son of Jesse, will wish to destroy them (the nations), but that he will not be permitted by God to do so until king Messiah comes (Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer 28).