Eretz Yisroel is the one who raised the fathers, as the Midrash (Leviticus Rabbah,36) says: "And why when the fathers are mentioned, the merit of the land is mentioned together with them? Said Rabbi Shimon Ben Lakish [as] a king who had three sons and one of his maidservants raised them, when the king inquires about his sons, he was wont to say: ask about the one who raised you. So Hashem mentions the merits of the forefathers and alongside the merit of the land- as it says (Leviticus, 26) "then will I remember My covenant with Jacob, and also My covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land". And the land has the power to raise the sons.
Therefore, when Hashem promises the forefathers progeny, He always preceded with the promise of the land, so that if they merit to live on the land, the land will be the one to "raise" them.
Hashem said to Avraham:
1. "Now the L-RD said unto Abram: 'Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee"
2. "And I will make of thee a great nation"
3. |for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever…. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth."
To Yitzchok Hashem said:
1."And the L-RD appeared unto him, and said: 'Go not down unto Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of. Sojourn in this land."
2. "and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven"
To Yaakov Hashem said:
1. "The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed."
2. "And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south."
This is the order of things, and as Yitchok our Forefather said in the previous Parsha: "For now the L-RD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land"- widening our hold of the land brings about the blessing of progeny- "and we shall be fruitful in the land." |
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