Why God Founded the World on Abraham the Rock

"For from the top of the rocks I see him" (Numbers 23:9): from Abraham, who is called a rock, as it is said, "Look to the rock from which you were hewn" (Isaiah 51:1), for the Patriarchs are called a rock. Just as the rock supports and bears the whole house that a person builds, so the merit of the Patriarchs bears and stands over their children. Another interpretation: "For from the top of the rocks I see him" — for from the top of the rocks I see them, who preceded the Creation. When the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to create the world, He would sit and gaze and contemplate the generation of Enosh, and of the Flood, and of the Sodomites, and He would say: How shall I create the world on account of these wicked generations, who provoke Me to anger? When He saw and foresaw that Abraham was destined to arise and to declare the unity of His name, the Holy One, blessed be He, said: Behold, I have found that upon which I may establish the world. And this is what is said, "Look to the rock from which you were hewn." "And from the hills" — these are the Matriarchs. "Lo, it is a people that shall dwell alone" — that is to say, they are destined to inherit the world. "And shall not be reckoned among the nations" — even though they are called among the nations, it is not reckoned a people like the rest of the nations, as the verse says, "All the nations are as nothing before Him" (Isaiah 40:17); and it says, "Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket" (Isaiah 40:15).