Introduction
In this part of Chapter 45, we continue the explanation of the psalm based on this approach, where the entire chapter is expounded as referring to Avraham Avinu and the events of his life. After describing the war - the War of the Four Kings and its aftermath - the text continues to describe the sanctification of God's Name that emerged from it, the blessings and spiritual heights Avraham attained, and the promise that his descendants would multiply. Let us follow the order of the verses.
"Your Throne, O God, Is Forever and Ever" - The Miracle Wrought for the King of Sodom
כִּסְאֲךָ אֱלֹהִים עוֹלָם וָעֶד, שֵׁבֶט מִישֹׁר שֵׁבֶט מַלְכוּתֶךָ. (ז) - "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of equity is the scepter of Your kingdom." (7)
The Midrash states: When Avraham went down into the fiery furnace and was saved, some among the nations believed, while others did not believe. But once the king of Sodom fell into the bitumen pits and was saved, they immediately believed in Avraham retroactively. That is to say, the rescue of the king of Sodom from the tar pits is what led the nations to believe in retrospect that Avraham had indeed been miraculously saved from the fiery furnace.
Here, one must wonder, as was previously raised when studying Chumash with Rashi: How does the rescue of the king of Sodom serve to prove the miracle performed for Avraham? Seemingly, the opposite should be true - if the Holy One, blessed be He, saves even an evildoer like the king of Sodom, there is no longer any proof that the salvation came about due to Avraham's righteousness. When this question was posed to Rav Assulin, he replied citing the Ramban: that Avraham Avinu was present near those bitumen pits, and in his merit the king of Sodom was saved, and only through this did people recognize the miracle that had been performed for Avraham in his time. However, this is difficult to accept, as it is not the plain meaning of Rashi's words. Rashi explains that because people witnessed the miracle done for the king of Sodom, they retroactively understood that Avraham also experienced a miracle and was saved from Ur Kasdim; Rashi does not write that Avraham stood there or that the salvation came about in his merit. While such an explanation is certainly possible, it does not appear to be the straightforward meaning of Rashi.
Therefore, another explanation was suggested: This miracle was not meant to convince the wicked. A wicked person will deny the truth even if a miracle occurs right before his eyes. One who wishes to deny will find a way to deny, for everything depends on the desire of the heart. Rather, the miracle was meant to convince those who are open to believing, but simply lacked the knowledge: Does the Holy One, blessed be He, actually perform miracles? To such a person, it is said: Come and see, the Holy One, blessed be He, performed a miracle even for the king of Sodom. And why specifically the king of Sodom? Because the example chosen was the most morally flawed and unworthy individual, someone everyone clearly recognized was utterly undeserving of a miracle, so that a person of understanding would realize this miracle was performed only as an illustration, to draw an inference regarding Avraham. For if a miracle was performed for the king of Sodom, all the more so does Hashem perform miracles for the righteous. Those who merely lacked proof that miracles exist in the world - those were the ones this came to convince. As for those seeking excuses to deny, even an overt miracle done for Avraham would not have convinced them; they would have dismissed it as mere coincidence.
Returning to our subject, the Malbim explains: Through that rescue, the honor of the heavenly Throne and the sovereignty of Heaven were magnified in the world, as people saw that the Holy One, blessed be He, performs miracles and rules over His world. It was already explained previously, based on the Malbim, that those who do not believe in the creation of the world ex nihilo - that the Holy One, blessed be He, brought His world into being at a specific point in time - also do not believe in miracles, and the two always go hand in hand. The reason is simple: if one does not believe that Hashem created the world, one believes He does not hold the keys to alter it either, since He did not create it. But one who believes that Hashem formed the world understands readily that He performs miracles, for the One who fashioned it can surely alter it. Consequently, those who believe in the eternity of the universe do not believe in the reality of miracles at all. Now, when they witness a miracle, the honor of the Throne and the kingdom of Heaven are magnified in the world, for they also recognize that Hashem created the world and that the world is not eternal.
And although He performed an act of kindness with the king of Sodom, the verse says, "Your throne, O God [Elohim]" - invoking the Name of strict justice (din). For even though He saved him from the bitumen, it was not the will of the Holy One, blessed be He, that he should continue to reign as king, as the Gemara states in the third chapter of Nedarim (32a) that Avraham was punished for returning the captives to him. That is to say, although the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, was magnified, it unfolded through the attribute of judgment rather than through lovingkindness, for this was a wicked king, the king of Sodom; and particularly so since Avraham Avinu was held accountable for returning the people to him instead of bringing them under his own influence.
"You Loved Righteousness and Hated Wickedness" - Malki-Tzedek and the King of Sodom
אָהַבְתָּ צֶּדֶק וַתִּשְׂנָא רֶשַׁע, עַל כֵּן מְשָׁחֲךָ אֱלֹהִים אֱלֹהֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן שָׂשׂוֹן מֵחֲבֵרֶךָ. (ח) - "You loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows." (8)
"You loved righteousness" - this refers to Malki-Tzedek, as the verse states, "And he gave him a tithe of everything." "And hated wickedness" - this refers to the king of Sodom, to whom Avraham declared, "Not a thread nor a shoelace." "Therefore God... has anointed you" - anointing applies to the priesthood, as it is written, "the anointed priest" (ha-Kohen ha-mashiach), who was anointed with the anointing oil. Avraham received this priesthood from the portion of his fellow, namely Shem, as it was taken from him and given to Avraham. And this is the meaning of "the oil of gladness above your fellows": that same oil of gladness with which kings and priests are anointed - you received it from your fellow, namely Malki-Tzedek, king of Shalem, who had served as the priest until then.
Myrrh and Aloes - The Reward for "From a Thread to a Shoelace"
מֹר וַאֲהָלוֹת קְצִיעוֹת כָּל בִּגְדֹתֶיךָ, מִן הֵיכְלֵי שֵׁן מִנִּי שִׂמְּחוּךָ. (ט) - Myrrh, aloes, and cassia are all your garments; from ivory palaces they have gladdened you.
Regarding "Myrrh and aloes", the Midrash states: You said, "Neither a thread" - by your life, I shall give your children the mitzvah of tzitzit. Avraham said to the king of Sodom, "Neither a thread nor a shoelace, nor will I take anything that is yours" - I will take nothing from you, lest you say, "I made Avram rich." All the credit belongs to the Master of the World, for the Holy One, blessed be He, promised me, "And I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing," and all my wealth is from Him and not from you. In this merit, his children received the mitzvah of tzitzit. Another explanation: "Neither a thread" - this refers to the Mishkan, which was adorned with turquoise, purple, and scarlet yarn.
"Myrrh, aloes, and cassia are all your garments" - this refers to tzitzit, for he received a garment that has tzitzit, as it is written, "Upon the corners of their garments," which corresponds to "your garments." "From ivory palaces" - this refers to the Mishkan and the Temple, which was adorned with scarlet yarn. Avraham merited all of this because he said, "Neither a thread nor a shoelace."
Daughters of Kings - Sarah Nurses Children
בְּנוֹת מְלָכִים בְּיִקְּרוֹתֶיךָ, נִצְּבָה שֵׁגַל לִימִינְךָ בְּכֶתֶם אוֹפִיר. (י) - Daughters of kings are among your treasures; the queen stands at your right hand in fine gold of Ophir.
"Daughters of kings are among your treasures" - this alludes to what our Sages, of blessed memory, expounded on the verse, "And Avraham made a great feast," that he invited the luminaries of the generation along with their wives. They brought their infants but did not bring their wet nurses, and Sarah nursed them all. For there were cynics who cast doubt and said: He brought a foundling from the marketplace and calls him his son - he simply brought a child from somewhere and claims he is his son. Sarah then came and nursed them all, and only then did they believe that Yitzchak was truly Sarah's son. This is the meaning of "Sarah nursed children."
Therefore the verse says: when daughters of kings came to honor and revere you, then "the queen stands at your right hand." The word shegal means the queen, and this likely refers to Sarah our Matriarch, the queen who stood at Avraham's right hand and who nursed those children.
Listen, Daughter, and See, and Incline Your Ear - The Order of the Verse
שִׁמְעִי בַת וּרְאִי וְהַטִּי אָזְנֵךְ, וְשִׁכְחִי עַמֵּךְ וּבֵית אָבִיךְ. (יא) - Listen, daughter, and see, and incline your ear; forget your people and your father's house.
This verse is puzzling: it should have said "incline your ear" first and only then "listen and see," as is customary throughout Scripture - "Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, and your soul shall live," or "Incline Your ear, my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see." One always inclines an ear first, and only then hears and sees. Yet here the order is reversed: first listen, then see, and only afterwards incline your ear. Once one has already heard and seen, what further need is there to incline an ear?
However, it is known that during the Covenant Between the Parts Avraham was seventy years old, and this event preceded the command of Lech Lecha ("Go forth"), for there is no strict chronological order in the Torah. It is well known that the biblical narrative concerning the Covenant Between the Parts does not follow chronological sequence: from the text's layout, it seems that the Covenant Between the Parts took place after Avraham arrived in the Land, after Lech Lecha. But chronologically this cannot be; rather, it occurred earlier. Avraham had visited the Land of Israel beforehand, experienced the revelation of the Covenant Between the Parts, and returned to Charan. Only afterward did God command him to uproot himself and journey to the Land of Israel to settle there permanently - which was the call of Lech Lecha. This is clearly substantiated by the verses.
If so, at the Covenant Between the Parts, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, "but one who shall come forth from your own innards shall inherit you" - meaning Yitzchak, not Eliezer; "and the steward of my house is Damascus Eliezer," it is not he who shall inherit you. And this is what Scripture meant by "Hearken, O daughter, and see," as it is written, "And He said: Look now toward heaven... so shall your seed be" - and this is one utterance. And afterwards, "and incline your ear" - to another utterance, namely, "Go forth" (Lech Lecha). For this reason, Rabbi Yitzchak cited this verse and the midrash expounded upon it regarding the verse of "Lech Lecha." And this resolves the point with which the Malbim opened: Scripture first says "Look now toward heaven," which was spoken once, and afterwards "and incline your ear" - let your ear be inclined to an additional speech, which is "Go forth," spoken after the Covenant Between the Parts.
Why Specifically a "Daughter"
And as for using the term "daughter" (bat), it seems that the Holy One, blessed be He, brought him the good tidings that his seed would multiply like the stars and be exceedingly fruitful and multiply, as we say in the first chapter of Bava Batra: when a daughter is born, multiplication comes into the world. Generally, an analogy to a daughter or a female expresses weakness or depletion of strength, but here that is certainly not the intention.
The Gemara relates that one of the Sages said he preferred daughters, because when a daughter comes into the world, multiplication comes into the world. Now ostensibly, multiplication requires two, so why specifically a daughter? The answer is simple, to take an example from the animal kingdom: for one who raises a herd, a single bull is sufficient for two hundred cows. When you have two hundred cows, you will have two hundred calves; but if you have two hundred bulls, what have you gained? One bull does what two hundred do. It turns out that every additional daughter brings multiplication to the world, whereas a multiplicity of males does not necessarily increase propagation, since a single male can marry many women. Therefore it says, "Hearken, O daughter, and see" - because here there is a promise to Avraham that his seed would multiply.
This has already been noted several times, including in the study of the Kuzari: one can palpably see how the promise to Avraham was fulfilled in a wondrous manner. If one examines how many descendants Avraham Avinu has today: the entire Muslim world stems from his seed, all the descendants of Edom stem from his seed, and in the Far East - those whom he sent "eastward, to the land of the east," the sons of Keturah, they too stem from his seed, and the Jewish people stem from his seed. It turns out that Avraham Avinu fathered billions; today, two to three billion trace back to him, and even if one were to say less, at least a billion. Imagine if every member of Avraham's generation had produced a billion descendants - the world would suffer from a population explosion; and in his generation there were at least several million people. Observe how from one person such a vast multitude emerged - the Holy One, blessed be He, promised him, "and I will multiply your seed," and this was fulfilled above and beyond.
My Daughter, My Sister, My Mother - Levels of Affection
The Malbim further explains that which is stated in Midrash Chazita. Incidentally, many make the mistake of calling it "Midrash Chazit" - it has no front line (chazit) with anyone; its name is "Chazita," named after the first verse it expounds: "Seest thou (chazita) a man diligent in his business." There are many midrashim named after their opening exposition, such as Midrash Tadshe - so named because it opens with the exposition of "Let the earth put forth (tadshe) grass."
And in the midrash there on the verse "Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and behold": A parable of a king who had an only daughter, and he loved her exceedingly - that is, dearly, as per their phrasing - and called her "my daughter." He did not cease loving her until he called her "my sister"; he did not cease loving her until he called her "my mother." So too, the Holy One, blessed be He, cherished Israel and called them "my daughter"; He did not cease cherishing them until He called them "my sister"; and He did not cease until He called them "my mother," as it is said, "with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart." And since Avraham was not yet complete (tamim) - meaning he was not yet circumcised - He therefore addressed him with a modest term of affection, with the term "daughter." For there are higher levels, "sister" and "mother," but since he had not yet reached perfection and was not yet complete through the covenant of circumcision, He called him "daughter."
I Will Make Your Name to Be Remembered in All Generations
תַּחַת אֲבֹתֶיךָ יִהְיוּ בָנֶיךָ, תְּשִׁיתֵמוֹ לְשָׂרִים בְּכָל הָאָרֶץ. (יז) - Instead of your fathers shall be your children; you shall make them princes throughout the land.
אַזְכִּירָה שִׁמְךָ בְּכָל דֹּר וָדֹר, עַל כֵּן עַמִּים יְהוֹדוּךָ לְעֹלָם וָעֶד. (יח) - I will make your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore shall the peoples praise you forever and ever.
"I will make your name to be remembered in all generations" - for our Sages of blessed memory said: There is no generation that does not contain someone like Avraham. Furthermore, Avraham is called "a father of a multitude of nations," and it turns out that his name is mentioned in every generation, so that he has, as it were, existence in every generation.
The commentary explains the end of the verse: "Therefore nations will praise You forever and ever" - that converts can say in their prayer "God of our fathers" for this reason, as is well known, since Avraham Avinu is the "father of a multitude of nations," and therefore even one who comes from the nations can say "our God and God of our fathers." Thus, by virtue of you being the father of a multitude of nations, through this "nations will praise You" - those peoples who come to convert, who by your merit can say "God of our fathers," for everything traces back to Avraham, who is the father of a multitude of nations.
In summary: in this section we have seen how the entire chapter is expounded regarding Avraham Avinu: "Your throne, O God" - the sanctification of the Heavenly Name that emerged from the rescue of the king of Sodom, through which the nations recognized that there is a Creator Who performs miracles and rules His world, and yet it was expressed in the terminology of strict judgment. "You loved righteousness and hated wickedness" - the love of Malki-tzedek and the hatred of the king of Sodom, from which came to Avraham the Kehunah that was removed from Shem. "Myrrh and aloes" - the reward for "neither a thread nor a shoestring": tzitzit and the Mishkan. "Daughters of kings" - the deed of Sarah, who nursed the children of the nobles. "Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear" - the order of the declarations: the promise at the Covenant Between the Parts, which preceded "Lech Lecha," and the term "daughter" hinting at the blessing of multiplication that was fulfilled in a wondrous manner. And finally, "I will make Your name remembered in every generation" - that there is no generation that lacks someone like Avraham, and he is the father of a multitude of nations, through whose merit the peoples coming under the shelter of the Shechinah praise Him forever and ever.