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לזרעך נתתי UNTO THY SEED HAVE I GIVEN — The promise of the Holy One, blessed be He, is as an accomplished fact. (Consequently the perfect tense is here used) (Genesis Rabbah 44:22).

IN THAT DAY THE ETERNAL MADE A COVENANT WITH ABRAM, SAYING. Now the Holy One, blessed be He, promised Abraham the gift of the land many times, and all of the promises served a purpose. When he originally arrived in the land, He said to him, Unto thy seed will I give this land,³³⁷Above, 12:7. but He did not clarify the extent of His gift, for included in this promise is only the land where he walked, unto the place of Shechem unto the oak of Moreh.³³⁸Ibid., Verse 6. Afterwards, when his merits increased while in the Land, He bestowed upon him the additional promise: Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward, and eastward and westward,³³⁹Ibid., 13:14. meaning that He will give him all those lands in their totality, for the meaning of the expression, which thou seest,³⁴⁰Ibid., Verse 15. is not literally “with your eyes” for the sight of a person does not extend far. Rather, it means that He will give him [land which lies in] every direction in which he looks. It may be that He miraculously showed him all the land of Israel, as was the case with Moshe Rabbeinu.³⁴¹Deuteronomy 34:1-3. He further added in this second blessing: and to thy seed forever,³⁴⁰Ibid., Verse 15. and that his seed will increase as the dust of the earth.³⁴²Above, 13:16. At the third time, He clarified to him the boundaries of the land, mentioning all the ten nations [who presently inhabited it],³⁴³Here, Verses 19-21. and in addition He made a covenant with him that sin would not cause [the annulment of the gift]. When He commanded him concerning circumcision, He told him, for a possession forever,³⁴⁴Further, 17:8. that is to say, if they will be exiled from it they will again return and inherit it.³⁴⁵The promise, And to thy seed forever (13:15), does not imply that if they will be exiled from the land they will return and re-inherit it. It assures legal title but not necessarily actual possession. However, the expression, for ‘a possession’ forever, does indicate that it is to be their land forever. Hence even if they are exiled they will return and possess it. He also added at that time, And I will be their G-d,³⁴⁶See Ramban to Leviticus 18:25. meaning that He in His Glory will lead them, and they shall not be under the rule of a star or constellation or any power of the powers above, as will yet be explained in the Torah.³⁴⁶See Ramban to Leviticus 18:25.
Now at the time of the first gift, Scripture states, Unto thy seed will I give,³³⁷Above, 12:7. the verb being in a future tense, and similarly in the second time,³⁴⁷To thee will I give it. (Above, 13:15). because until then He had not given him the entire land, and therefore, He said to him, will I give it.³³⁷Above, 12:7. But at the third time, during the covenant, He said, Unto thy seed have I given,³⁴⁸In Verse 18 here. meaning that He will make the covenant for the gift that He had already given him. Similarly, at the time of the circumcision, when He said, for a possession forever,³⁴⁴Further, 17:8. He said to him, And I will give unto thee,³⁴⁴Further, 17:8. in the future tense.³⁴⁹Since, as explained above, this promises that if they will be exiled from the land, they will return and inherit it, the future tense refers to this future return to and repossession of the land.
Rashi wrote: Unto thy seed have I given.³⁴⁸In Verse 18 here. The word of the Supreme One is as if it were already accomplished. — But there is no need for this explanation in this passage.³⁵⁰Instead, the explanation is as set forth above.

ביום ההוא כרת ה׳ את אברם ברית. On that day G'd made a covenant with Abram. The reason that G'd used the past tense in referring to the gift of the land of Israel to Abraham and his descendants is that He had already made Abraham take possession of it, as we explained on 13,15. Abraham's children would henceforth own the land in their capacity as his heirs.

ביום ההוא כרת ה' את אברם בריתת, on the occasion of that vision G'd concluded a covenant with Avram to give the entire land of Canaan to his descendants. He hinted to him by means of this vision that they would inherit all of it at the conclusion of the final exile. We know this because now G'd named 10 tribes as being the ones whose lands would all become part of the territory of the Jewish people.

ביום ההוא כרת ה' את אברהם ברית לאמור, וגו, “on that day G’d entered into a covenant with Avraham, saying, etc.'” Nachmanides draws attention to the fact that G’d promised the land of Canaan to Avraham many times over. He proceeds to show that all these repetitions were necessary within the context in which they appear. Originally, (12,7) He told Avraham: “I will give the land to your descendants,” without enlarging on the nature and extent of the gift. At that time Avraham walked in the land as far as Shechem, a place then called Elon Moreh. Afterwards, when his merits had increased, (by his activities in the land) He added “raise your eyes and look northward, southward, eastward and westward.” At that time G’d specified that the land would include areas well beyond what he could see in any direction (13,14). As far as G’d saying to Avraham אשר אתה רואה בעיניך, “which you behold with your eyes,” the meaning is not that he would only inherit what he could see with his physical eyes, but this is a spiritual concept referring to the mind’s eye, or that G’d expanded Avraham’s sense of sight at that time so that he could see the whole extent of the land of Israel, just as was shown to Moses before his death. G’d added a special blessing by saying that his descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the earth, and that the gift would remain his descendants’ forever. The third time G’d delineated the borders of the land G’d would give to his descendants (17,5) He also mentioned all the ten Canaanite tribes whose lands would eventually become part of the greater land of Israel. He also concluded the covenant with Avraham as a sign that the promise would not be invalidated due to any sin that might be committed before it had been fulfilled. G’d added further, that in due course He would be the exclusive G’d of Avraham’s descendants. The first time the promise was couched in the future tense, i.e.אתננה , “I will give it,” as He had not yet begun to fulfill any part of the promise. The same was still true on the second occasion G’d promised the land to Avraham’s children who did not exist yet. The covenants both concerning the land and the circumcision, make it plain that even if at some time the conditions of the covenant are broken, this will remain a temporary condition and will not result in annulment of the validity of the terms of the covenants.

ביום ההוא כרת ה' את אברם ברית לאמור לזרעך נתתי את הארץ הזאת, “on that day G-d concluded a covenant with Avram, saying; ‘to your descendants I have given this land.’” After G-d had previously already twice mentioned giving the land to Avram and to his descendants, i.e. in 12, 7 where it is phrased as “I will give,” and in 1,15 “to your descendants I shall give it,” G-d now phrases the promise as something that had already been fulfilled, i.e. “I have given it” (past tense). He mentions the gift He had already given to Avram in the past. The word נתתי means the same as נשבעתי, “which I have sworn.” When G-d gives something by way of a promise it is as if the promise was equivalent to an oath. We have numerous examples of this in Scripture. I myself have explained this already in connection with Genesis 9,13 where G-d spoke about the rainbow He had placed in the sky. After this gift, i.e. the oath on the occasion of this covenant, there followed the practical part of the covenant, the passing between the parts of the animals which had been sacrificed. We have another example of such a procedure in Jeremiah 34,18 ואת העגל אשר כרתו לשנים ויעברו בין בתריו , “and the calf which they had cut in half so as to pass between the halves.” This covenant was in the nature of a חרם, “consecration,” a warning to remain true to this oath as if to say to the party who would default: “may your fate be similar to that of the animals which lie before you cut in half if you do not honour the agreement we have just now concluded.” This is also why Onkelos translates ברית simply as קים, “something that remains in effect.” The “something” is the oath preceding the sacrifice confirming it. This is also what Avimelech said to Yitzchak (Genesis 26,28) תהי נא אלה בינותינו, בינינו וביניך ונכרתה ברית עמך, “let there be an oath between us, between us and between you, and let us conclude a covenant with you.” The “covenant” was to confirm the oath mentioned previously. Of course, such a “covenant“ is not applicable to G-d (seeing it would be frivolous to assume that G-d would not honour His oath). However, the general tenor of a covenant is applicable to G-d’s promise. It is as if by passing between these cut up pieces of the animals G-d had said: “just as it is impossible to reconstitute these cut up animals, so it is impossible for Me to retract from My oath to give your descendants this land.”

הנהר הגדול THE GREAT RIVER—Because it is associated with (mentioned in connection with; see Rashi on Deuteronomy 1:7) the land of Israel, Scripture calls it “great” although it is the last mentioned of the four rivers that went out of Eden — as it is said (Genesis 2:14). And the fourth river is the Euphrates”. There is a popular proverb: “A king’s servant is a king; attach yourself to a captain and people will bow down to you” (Genesis Rabbah 16:3).

נתתי, a reference to what G'd had already given to Avram. When G'd makes a promise, it is as if He had already fulfilled it, as He does not renege. Hence the past tense, נתתי. The boundaries of these tribes at that time extended as far as the river Euphrates.

In view of this clear-cut promise of the Bible that the descendants of Abraham were to inherit the land of the ten nations mentioned, how could Jewish heretics delude themselves by denying that there is hope for us in the future, seeing that G'd's promise had already been fulfilled and we have forfeited it due to our sins?. [I believe the author refers to converts who accept the Christian theologians' views of Jewish history. Ed.] In view of the fact that we never possessed the land of all of these ten nations, the promise of the covenant has clearly not been fulfilled as yet. Up until now Israel only occupied the land belonging to seven of the ten nations listed here. We did not even possess all the land of those seven nations. How then can one understand the people of little faith [the author calls them the dried up bones describing the revelation in Ezekiel 37. Ed.] who have given up on our glorious messianic future? G'd treated us according to the principle of מדה כנגד מדה, that punishment must fit the crime. Seeing that we were supposed to be G'd's servants but rebelled in that we failed to observe many of His commandments, He caused those who were supposed to be our servants to rebel against us. This does not mean that G'd does not have the power to fulfil His covenant in full at the appropriate time.

עד הנהר הגדול נהר פרת, our sages (quoted by Rashi in commenting on the word הגדול, "the great one," being applied to the river Euphrates), say that even though among the four rivers listed as emanating from Gan Eden there was a bigger river than Euphrates, this one is called "the great one," as it traverses some parts of the land of Israel (in the future).

The reason that the Torah first lists the nations whose territory we never captured, i.e. the Keyni, the Knizi and the Kadmoni, is that they are only different names for the Ammonites, the Moabites and the Edomites. When the time arrives when we will experience realisation of G'd's promise concerning those three nations, we will also again recapture the lands of the other seven nations listed here at the end. The Torah mentions those three first in order to teach us that the essential element of G'd's promise is that we will dispossess those three nations. The author sees an allusion of the future in Abraham's defeat of the four kings listed in 14,1. Three of them symbolise the Ammonites, Moabites and the Edomites. The last one (of those four), "Tidal king of גוים," represents the other seven nations. [The author seems to feel that the word גוים does not describe the name of a specific nation. Ed.]