Parshat D'varim - Abraham's Promise for Humanity

(3) Abram threw himself on his face; and God spoke to him further, (4) “As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You shall be the father of a multitude of nations. (5) And you shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I make you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fertile, and make nations of you(6), and kings shall come forth from you. (7) I will maintain My covenant between Me and you, and your offspring to come, as an everlasting covenant throughout the ages, to be God to you and to your offspring to come. (8) I assign the land you sojourn in to you and your offspring to come, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting holding. I will be their God.”

(46) Thus, after you had remained at Kadesh all that long time, 2 (1) we marched back into the wilderness by the way of the Sea of Reeds, as Adonai had spoken to me, and skirted the hill country of Seir a long time. (2) Then Adonai said to me: (3) You have been skirting this hill country long enough; now turn north. (4) And charge the people as follows: You will be passing through the territory of your kinsmen, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. Though they will be afraid of you, be very careful (5) not to provoke them. For I will not give you of their land so much as a foot can tread on; I have given the hill country of Seir as a possession to Esau. (6) What food you eat you shall obtain from them for money; even the water you drink you shall procure from them for money. (7) Indeed, Adonai your God has blessed you in all your undertakings. He has watched over your wanderings through this great wilderness; Adonai your God has been with you these past forty years: you have lacked nothing.

§ The mishna teaches: One does not protest against poor gentiles who come to take gleanings, forgotten sheaves, and the produce in the corner of the field, which is given to the poor [pe’a], although they are meant exclusively for the Jewish poor, on account of the ways of peace. Similarly, the Sages taught in a baraita (Tosefta 5:4): One sustains poor Gentiles along with poor Jews, and one visits sick Gentiles along with sick Jews, and one buries dead Gentiles along with dead Jews. All this is done on account of the ways of peace, to foster peaceful relations between Jews and Gentiles.

(8) We then moved on, away from our kinsmen, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the road of the Arabah, away from Elath and Ezion-geber; and we marched on in the direction of the wilderness of Moab. (9) And Adonai said to me: Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war. For I will not give you any of their land as a possession; I have assigned Ar as a possession to the descendants of Lot.— (10) It was formerly inhabited by the Emim, a people great and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. (11) Like the Anakites, they are counted as Rephaim; but the Moabites call them Emim. (12) Similarly, Seir was formerly inhabited by the Horites; but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them, wiping them out and settling in their place, just as Israel did in the land they were to possess, which Adonai had given to them.— (13) Up now! Cross the wadi Zered! So we crossed the wadi Zered. (14) The time that we spent in travel from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the wadi Zered was thirty-eight years, until that whole generation of warriors had perished from the camp, as Adonai had sworn concerning them. (15) Indeed, the hand of Adonai struck them, to root them out from the camp to the last man.

(16) When all the warriors among the people had died off, (17) Adonai spoke to me, saying: (18) You are now passing through the territory of Moab, through Ar. (19) You will then be close to the Ammonites; do not harass them or start a fight with them. For I will not give any part of the land of the Ammonites to you as a possession; I have assigned it as a possession to the descendants of Lot.— (20) It, too, is counted as Rephaim country. It was formerly inhabited by Rephaim, whom the Ammonites call Zamzummim, (21) a people great and numerous and as tall as the Anakites. Adonai wiped them out, so that [the Ammonites] dispossessed them and settled in their place, (22) as He did for the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, when He wiped out the Horites before them, so that they dispossessed them and settled in their place, as is still the case. (23) So, too, with the Avvim who dwelt in villages in the vicinity of Gaza: the Caphtorim, who came from Crete, wiped them out and settled in their place.—

David said: There are three distinguishing marks of this nation, the Jewish people. They are merciful, they are shamefaced, and they perform acts of kindness.
They are merciful, as it is written: “And He will give you mercy, and have mercy upon you and multiply you” (Deuteronomy 13:18); not only will God have mercy upon you, but He will bestow the attribute of mercy upon you.
They are shamefaced, as it is written: “And that His fear shall be upon your faces” (Exodus 20:17), and the fear that is on one’s face is his shame.
They perform acts of kindness, as it is written: “For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Adonai, to practice righteousness and justice” (Genesis 18:19), i.e., to perform acts of kindness.
Whoever has these three distinguishing marks is fit to cleave to this nation.

(1) But in the end of days it shall come to pass, That the mountain of Adonai’s house shall be established as the top of the mountains, And it shall be exalted above the hills; And peoples shall flow unto it. (2) And many nations shall go and say: ‘Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Adonai, And to the house of the God of Jacob; And He will teach us of His ways, And we will walk in His paths’; For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of Adonai from Jerusalem. (3) And He shall judge between many peoples, And shall decide concerning mighty nations afar off; And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruninghooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war any more. (4) But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree; And none shall make them afraid; For the mouth of Adonai of hosts hath spoken. (5) For let all the peoples walk each one in the name of its god, But we will walk in the name of Adonai our God for ever and ever.