Comentários de Citação sobre Gênesis 15:12

It did not state that a person called Him "Adon" - But if you would ask, it is written "Blessed be the L-rd, the G-d of Shem" (Bereishis 9:26)? It can be answered that there it is not spelled with an Alef and Daled, which is the language of "mastership". But if you would ask, why does it not bring the verse "My L-rd (Adonai with Alef-Daled), what will You give me?" (Bereishis 15:2) which is written earlier? It can be answered that the portions (of the Torah) were not stated in order, and there is no chronological order in the Torah, and this verse from the Covenant Between the Parts happened earlier. And so it must be, for Avraham was 70 years old at the Covenant Between the Parts. And "After these events" (Bereishis 15:1) was said after the war with the kings, as Rashi explains in his Torah commentary... And at the war with the kings he was 73 years old, for the entire duration of Sodom was 52 years, as we say in the first chapter of Shabbat (11a) - subtract 12 years that they served Kedorlaomer and 13 years of rebellion, leaving 26 years that it existed peacefully. And at its overturning, Avraham was 99 years old, for the overturning was one year before Yitzchak was born. Subtract those 26 years of tranquility, and it emerges that he was 73 years old at the war with the kings. If so, the portion of the Covenant Between the Parts was 3 years before the portion of "After these events," and that portion concludes "And He reckoned it to him as righteousness" - and therefore it brings that verse of "How shall I know?" because it came earlier. And with this, Rashbam reconciles that in one place it implies it was night, as it says "and count the stars" (15:5), and after that it says "and the sun was about to set" (15:12) implying it was day? Rather, it must be that these are two separate portions that were not said at one time, and "there is no chronological order in the Torah."

“I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will surely bring you up again.” All these circumstances and events were designed to bring them down to Egypt in order to pay the debt of “your offspring shall be strangers.” This was the profound strategy of that righteous one buried in Hebron [Abraham], who counseled and chose the exiles, to descend to the lands of nations deeper than the land of Canaan, to a place as deep as the depths of Gehenna. The Yalkut brings a midrash that interprets regarding Joseph the verse Deep waters are the counsel in a man’s heart, but a man of understanding will draw it out (Proverbs 20:5). It appears to me that Joseph also intended this — to orchestrate their descent to Egypt, to a place of deep waters, tumultuous waters. This was the planned counsel in Joseph’s heart that no one could fathom, except for Judah, the man of understanding, who grasped his intention and drew it out, revealing his thought concerning the Jews to bring them down to the lands of the nations. Therefore, God appeared to Jacob in night visions, just as we find when He foretold to Abraham that your offspring shall be strangers, He appeared to him when the sun was setting and a deep sleep fell upon people, as it is written As the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell upon Abram (Genesis 15:12). Similarly, God appeared to Jacob in night visions. All of this alludes to the darkness of exile, and therefore Jacob was afraid to descend to a place of darkness, cloud, and fog, until the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, Do not fear going down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. This would happen through the affliction, as they [the Egyptians] said lest [pen] they multiply but the Holy One, blessed be He, said so [ken] shall they multiply. The affliction was the cause for making them into a great nation, as it is written But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied (Exodus 1:12).

According to Nachmanides, this is why Bileam described himself as גלוי עינים, a level of prophetic insights characteristic of the בני הנביאים, “the disciples of the prophets” that we read about frequently in the Book of Prophets. In Kings II 6,17 for instance, we read of Elisha praying for G’d to open the eyes of his disciple. In our portion, chapter 22,31 we have a similar statement applied to Bileam when the Torah reports that G’d opened his eyes and he saw the angel.
When the sages in Sifri Vezot Habrachah comment on Deut. 34,10 where the Torah reports that “there never again arose a prophet of the level of Moses among the Jewish people who knew G’d face to face,” that there did arise a prophet among the Gentiles who was of similar stature, i.e. Bileam, the meaning is not that Bileam equalled Moses as a prophet. Rather, the author of Sifri compares the aspect of ידיעה, which Moses had of G’d’s ways to the clarity with which Bileam perceived that which he did perceive. He did not see fragmentary visions, unclear visions like other prophets, but had a perfectly clear understanding of what G’d conveyed to him — in honor of the people of Israel — (not because of his personal merit). This is the way Nachmanides understands the Sifri we quoted.
There is another way of understanding the words of the Sifri who writes: ‘but among the nations of the world there did arise such a prophet;” Sifri means when Bileam bestowed blessings, i.e. addressed exclusively the attribute of Mercy, his stature as a prophet equaled that of Moses, his blessings were just as powerful. Had it not been for the blessings of Bileam which he addressed to the attribute of Mercy exclusively, the Jewish people’s future would have been questionable at best. But seeing that Bileam reverted to the use of magic after bestowing his blessings, his power as a prophet evaporated completely.
נופל, the word is to be understood as analogous to Genesis 15,12: ותרדמה נפלה על אברם, “and a deep sleep overcame Avram.”
וגלוי עינים, “with his eyes open.” The meaning is: “he sees even while being asleep.” We have a similar verse by Solomon in Song of Songs 5,2: “I am asleep but my heart is awake.”

from a distant land I called My man of counsel, and with him I took counsel between the parts concerning the four exiles, as it is explained in Gen. Rabbah (44:17) “And behold, a fear, great darkness was falling upon him.” [“Fear” refers to Babylon... “Darkness” refers to Media, who darkened the eyes of Israel with fasting. “Great” refers to Greece... “Was falling upon him” refers to Edom..., etc.]