“For all the land that you see, I will give to you, and to your descendants, forever” (Genesis 13:15). “I will render your descendants like the dust of the earth; if a man could count the dust of the earth, so your descendants shall be counted” (Genesis 13:16). “The Lord said to Abram, after Lot parted…For all the land that you see, I will give to you…I will render your descendants like the dust of the earth” – just as the dust of the earth is found from one end of the earth to the other, so your descendants will be dispersed from one end of the earth to the other.
Just as the dust of the earth becomes blessed only through water [rain], so Israel is blessed only through the merit of the Torah, which is likened to water.42See Isaiah 55:1, Bereshit Rabbah 54:1. Just as dust wears out metal vessels43A metal implement buried in the ground will rust away. and endures forever, so, too, with Israel – all the idolaters will vanish, but they will endure. Just as dust is regularly trodden, so your descendants will be regularly trodden by the idolaters.
That is what is written: “I will place it44The cup of bitter punishment (see Isaiah 51:22). in the hand of your oppressors [mogayikh]…” (Isaiah 51:23) – what is mogayikh? They are those who cause your wounds to bleed [memigin] and cause your wounds to ooze. Nevertheless, it is for your benefit, as they mitigate your [liability for your] sins, just as it says: “Soften it [temogegena] with showers” (Psalms 65:11).
“Who said to your soul: Bend down, and we shall pass” (Isaiah 51:23) – what would they do to them? They would have them lie in the plazas and drive their ploughs over them. Rabbi Azarya in the name of Rabbi Aḥa: This was actually a good omen – just as a plaza outlasts those who traverse it, so, your descendants will outlast the idol worshippers and will endure forever.