After the covenant between the parts, the sun set, a deep sleep fell upon Avram, and “behold, a great, dark, fright rested upon him.”
Amidst this darkness, Hashem told Avram that his children would be strangers in a foreign land, where they were to be in servitude. Not only that, but they would be mistreated and remain this way for four hundred years.
The commentaries explain that this “great, dark, fright” which descended upon Avram reflected the darkness of the experiences the Jews would have in Egypt. He was able to get a glimpse and a taste of what they would go through.
But what was the necessity of Avraham being afraid? He wasn’t actually in danger. He didn’t even have children yet, and was not going to suffer the bondage in Egypt.
Could Hashem not simply have told him what was going to happen without the fear and darkness?
While perhaps Hashem could have, the fact that He did not is very telling. It imparts a lesson to us, Avram’s children, who are still strangers in a strange land.
Avram wasn’t in true danger, but in his dream, he experienced the feelings of the servitude. Dovid HaMelech says, in one of the Shir HaMaalos, “we were as dreamers.” This refers to the exile of Persia, which, after seventy years, ended, and we returned to Jerusalem.
What we go through in life is just like a dream. It passes quickly and doesn’t affect our essence, our neshamos. Those live on forever, and will never be eradicated by the despots and tyrants who rise against us time and time again.
Thought of the week:
Everyone believes in something, but it’s up to them to choose what that something is.
