פרשת לך לך תשי"ב - הבטחת הזרע לאברהם

And He said unto him: ‘I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.’

And Abram fell on his face; and God talked with him, saying:

And God said unto Abraham: ‘And as for thee, thou shalt keep My covenant, thou, and thy seed after thee throughout their generations.

אני אל שדי I AM GOD ALMIGHTY — I am He whose (ש) Godship suffices (די) for every creature (Genesis Rabbah 46:3), therefore, ‘‘walk before Me”, and I will be your God and Protector. Similarly, wherever in the Scriptures this Divine Name שדי occurs, it signifies the idea of His sufficiency — but it all depends upon the context as to what the “sufficiency” refers to.

והיה תמים AND BE PERFECT — This, too, is a command following upon the previous command: be whole-hearted in all the trials I impose upon you. According to the Midrash (Genesis Rabbah 46:4), however, it means: walk before Me by observing the precept of circumcision and through this you will become perfect, for so long as you are uncircumcised I regard you as having a blemish. Another explanation of היה תמים BE THOU PERFECT — at present you lack the power of controlling morally five organs, viz., two eyes, two ears and the membrum. Therefore will I add a letter (i. e. the letter 'ה the numerical value of which is five) to your name (אברם which equals 243) so that the total of the letters of your name (אברהם) will become 248, corresponding to the number of limbs of your body (cf. Nedarim 32b).

Thou shalt be whole-hearted with the LORD thy God.

והיה תמים AND BE PERFECT — This, too, is a command following upon the previous command: be whole-hearted in all the trials I impose upon you. According to the Midrash (Genesis Rabbah 46:4), however, it means: walk before Me by observing the precept of circumcision and through this you will become perfect, for so long as you are uncircumcised I regard you as having a blemish. Another explanation of היה תמים BE THOU PERFECT — at present you lack the power of controlling morally five organs, viz., two eyes, two ears and the membrum. Therefore will I add a letter (i. e. the letter 'ה the numerical value of which is five) to your name (אברם which equals 243) so that the total of the letters of your name (אברהם) will become 248, corresponding to the number of limbs of your body (cf. Nedarim 32b).

והיה תמים AND BE PERFECT — This, too, is a command following upon the previous command: be whole-hearted in all the trials I impose upon you. According to the Midrash (Genesis Rabbah 46:4), however, it means: walk before Me by observing the precept of circumcision and through this you will become perfect, for so long as you are uncircumcised I regard you as having a blemish. Another explanation of היה תמים BE THOU PERFECT — at present you lack the power of controlling morally five organs, viz., two eyes, two ears and the membrum. Therefore will I add a letter (i. e. the letter 'ה the numerical value of which is five) to your name (אברם which equals 243) so that the total of the letters of your name (אברהם) will become 248, corresponding to the number of limbs of your body (cf. Nedarim 32b).

And Abram fell on his face; and God talked with him, saying:

And there came forth fire from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar the burnt-offering and the fat; and when all the people saw it, they shouted, and fell on their faces.

And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face.

And they fell upon their faces, and said: ‘O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt Thou be wroth with all the congregation?’

’Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.’ And they fell upon their faces.

And he said: ‘Nay, but I am captain of the host of the LORD; I am now come.’ And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said unto him: ‘What saith my lord unto his servant?’

And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.

And Abraham said unto God: ‘Oh that Ishmael might live before Thee! ’

לו ישמעאל יחיה means O THAT ISHMAEL MIGHT LIVE: I am unworthy to receive such a reward!

אני אל שדי I AM GOD ALMIGHTY — I am He whose (ש) Godship suffices (די) for every creature (Genesis Rabbah 46:3), therefore, ‘‘walk before Me”, and I will be your God and Protector. Similarly, wherever in the Scriptures this Divine Name שדי occurs, it signifies the idea of His sufficiency — but it all depends upon the context as to what the “sufficiency” refers to.

IF YISHMAEL WILL LIVE BEFORE YOU. The meaning of this word (לו ) throughout the Torah is like the meaning of ("if"). Its [sometimes] combined with the word לא into the word לולי whose meaning is "if not." the word לולי is sometimes with an alef. [people] also combine it and say אלו as in, "if (אלו) we would be sold as slaves and maid servants" (Esther 7:4). and "And if (אלו) he would live a thousand years twice over" the intent of the word [אלו] is אם and לו meaning the same as אם אם ("if if"). the doubling comes for emphasis like "was it only (רק) only(אך) with Moshe?" and "is it because there are no (בלי) no (אין) graves?" and others like these. Avram was saying, "If(לו)Yishmael lives before You I will be pleased with this blessing that You have blessed me regarding Sarah [producing] offspring." For G-d promised Avram originally "someone who shall come forth from within you shall inherit you" Now [this implied] there would one person inherit him, and he always thought it was Yishmael. So now, when he was told he would father a child thru Sarah, and understood that this child would be the heir, he feared Yishmael would die. That's why he said this-["'m happy to hear about the birth of Isaac but only 'if Yishmael continues to live'"]! WILL LIVE BEFORE YOU. Rashi explains: "will live in fear of you" just as "walk 'before' me" (which Onkelus translates "serve before me") This isn't correct, because of what G-d answered "But concerning Yishmael I have heard you" Rather, it means: "May his offspring live and survive all the days of the world".