Abraham Chooses the Kingdoms Over Gehinnom

"Many things have You done, O LORD my God, Your wonders and Your thoughts toward us" (Psalms 40:6). Rabbi Chanina bar Pappa said two things. All the wonders and thoughts that You devised were so that our father Abraham would accept the kingdoms [foreign dominations]. "Toward us" (ibid.) - for our sake, so that we would endure in the world. Shimon bar Abba in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: Four things the Holy One, blessed be He, showed our father Abraham - Torah, offerings, Gehinnom, and the kingdoms. Torah: "and a torch of fire" (Genesis 15:17). Offerings: "and He said to him, take for Me a three-year-old heifer" (ibid. 15:9). Gehinnom: "a smoking oven" (ibid. 15:17). The kingdoms: "and behold, a dread, a great darkness" (ibid. 15:12). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to our father Abraham: As long as your children occupy themselves with two things, they are saved from two things. As long as your children occupy themselves with Torah and offerings, they are saved from Gehinnom and from the kingdoms. But the Temple is destined to be destroyed and the offerings to cease - by which do you want your children to descend, by Gehinnom or by the kingdoms? Rabbi Chanina bar Pappa said: Abraham chose the kingdoms. What is the reason? "Unless their Rock had sold them and the LORD had delivered them up" (Deuteronomy 32:30), and "their Rock" is none other than Abraham, as it says, "look to the rock from which you were hewn" (Isaiah 51:1); "and the LORD delivered them up" (Deuteronomy ibid.) - that the Holy One, blessed be He, agreed with him. Rabbi Berekhya in the name of Rabbi Levi: All that day Abraham sat and wondered in his heart, saying, "Which of these shall I choose, Gehinnom or the kingdoms? This one is harder than that one." The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, "Abraham, how long will you sit and wonder in your heart? Cut off these kingdoms from your heart." This is what is written: "On that day the LORD cut [made] a covenant with Abram, saying [le'mor]" (Genesis 15:18). What is "saying"? Rabbi Chanina bar Pappa said: Abraham chose the kingdoms. We come to the dispute of Rabbi Yudan and Rabbi Idi. Rabbi Chama bar Chanina said in the name of a certain elder who said it in the name of Rabbi: The Holy One, blessed be He, chose the kingdoms for him. This is what is written: "You have caused men to ride over our heads, we went through fire and through water" (Psalms 66:12) - as if we went through fire and through water. Rabbi Chanina bar Pappa said another matter. Rabbi Chanina said: All the wonders and thoughts that You devised were so that a man would be drawn to his household. What is the reason? "And Adam knew his wife again" (Genesis 4:25). What is "again"? That desire was added to his desire. In the past, if a man did not see, he did not desire; but now, whether he sees or does not see, he desires. Rabbi Abba bar Yudan in the name of Rabbi Acha: A hint to merchants and seafarers, that they would remember and come home. Rabbi Simon said: All the wonders and thoughts that You devised were so that the nations of the world would not accept Your Torah. But was it not already revealed and known before You that the nations of the world would not accept Your Torah? Then why did You appear as one who circles back to them? In order to double our reward. For Rabbi Simon said: "In Your reckonings toward us" - that all those two thousand four hundred and forty-eight years before Israel went out from Egypt, the Holy One, blessed be He, sat and reckoned reckonings and intercalated leap years and sanctified the years and renewed the months; and when Israel went out from Egypt He handed them over to them. This is what is written: "And the LORD said to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying" (Exodus 12:1). What is "saying"? He said to them, "From here onward they are handed over to you: this month shall be for you" (Exodus 12:2).