“He took him outside, and said: Look now to the heavens, and count the stars, if you can count them, and He said to him: So will your offspring be” (Genesis 15:5). “He took him outside” – Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin in the name of Rabbi Levi: Did He take him outside the world, that the verse should say: “He took him outside [haḥutza]”? Rather, he showed him the streets of the heavens,34The arrangements of the stars into patterns. Ḥutzot can also mean streets. just as it says: “While He had not yet made earth and the outer ranges [ḥutzot]” (Proverbs 8:26).35The heavens are called here “outer ranges.”
Rabbi Yehuda said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: He took him up above the dome of the heavens. That is what He said to him: “Look [habet] now to the heavens” – [the expression] habata refers only to looking from above to below. The Rabbis say: [God told him:] ‘You are a prophet, not an astrologer,’36God "took him outside” of his reliance on astrological predictions. Astrology yields only an imprecise glimpse into the future.
God told him that he, as a prophet, had much clearer insight than an astrologer. as it is stated: “Now, restore the man's wife, as he is a prophet” (Genesis 20:7). In the days of Jeremiah, Israel sought to adopt this mindset,37Reliance on astrology. but the Holy One blessed be He did not allow them to do so. That is what is written: “So said the Lord: Do not learn the way of the nations, and from the signs of the heavens do not fear…” (Jeremiah 10:2) – your forefather Abraham sought to adopt that mindset, but I did not allow him to do so.
Rabbi Levi said: [The saying goes:] While your sandal is on your foot, trample the thorns. Anyone who is situated below them [the stars] fears them, but you, who are situated above them, trample them.38Trampling the stars is a metaphor for overcoming what the stars have predicted. Rabbi Yudan said in the name of Rabbi Elazar: There are three things that can annul evil decrees,39Misfortunes that have been decreed by God as punishment for wrongdoing. and they are: Prayer, charity, and repentance.
And the three of them are stated in one verse. That is what is written: “My people upon whom My name is called humble themselves, and pray” (II Chronicles 7:14) – this is prayer; “and seek My presence” (II Chronicles 7:14) – this is charity, as you say: “I shall encounter Your presence through charity” (Psalms 17:15); “and repent from their evil ways” (II Chronicles 7:14) – this is repentance. And following these, “I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (II Chronicles 7:14).
Rabbi Huna bar Rav Yosef said: Change of name and a good deed also [can annul evil decrees.] Change of name, we learn from Abraham: “Your name will no longer be called Abram” (Genesis 17:5). A good deed, we learn from the people of Nineveh, as it is stated: “God saw their actions, that they turned away [from their evil ways, and God relented of the disaster that he had said]…” (Jonah 3:10). Some say: Change of location, as well, as it is stated: “The Lord said to Abram: Go you [from your land]” (Genesis 12:1).40God told Abram to move from his native land, and only then would He “make you a great nation.”
Rabbi Muna said: A fast as well, as it is stated: “May the Lord answer you on a day of trouble” (Psalms 20:2).41Meaning, a fast day. Rava bar Maḥasya and Rabbi Ḥama ben Guryon said in the name of Rav: A fast is as effective against a [bad] dream42That the bad dream should not materialize. as fire is against chaff. Rav Yosef said: [Only if the fast is done] on that same day, even if it is on Shabbat.