Why God Divided His World Among the Nations to Protect Israel

Once I was passing from place to place, and a certain old man met me and said to me: My teacher, why did the Holy One, blessed be He, divide His world among two nations and two kingdoms? I said to him: In order to guard Israel. They told a parable; to what may the matter be compared? To schoolchildren whom the teacher guards so that they do not go out and drown in the river, and so that they do not come and strike one another, and so that the sun does not strike them; so the Holy One, blessed be He, guards Israel so that they do not sin, that they not be like those who went up out of Egypt, as it is said, "Thus says the LORD, Behold, waters are rising from the north and shall become an overflowing torrent" (Jeremiah 47:2). And all this why? In order to sanctify His great name, as it is said, "For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us" (Isaiah 33:22), and it says, "And you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied" (Joel 2:26). And "satisfied" is nothing other than Torah, as it is said, "The righteous eats to the satisfying of his soul" (Proverbs 13:25); therefore it is said, "And you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied." What is written after it? "And you shall praise the name of the LORD your God who has dealt wondrously with you, and My people shall never be ashamed." What is "who has dealt wondrously"? It is the distinction between the deeds of the righteous and the deeds of the wicked in Gehinnom. What is "and My people shall never be ashamed"? Because each one comes into the world by the reward of another. The Holy One, blessed be He, did not arrange to bring Abraham into the world except by the reward of Shem, who prophesied four hundred years over all the lands in the world and they did not accept it from him. And the Holy One, blessed be He, did not arrange and bring the kingdom of Greece into the world except by the reward of Japheth, who covered the nakedness of his father. And the Holy One, blessed be He, did not arrange and bring the kingdom of Edom into the world, who destroyed the Temple and exiled Israel from their land, except by the reward of Esau, who wept and sighed when Isaac blessed Jacob our father. And the Holy One, blessed be He, did not arrange and bring Sennacherib into the world except by the reward of Asshur, who was a worthy man and in whom was the counsel of Abraham our father. And the Holy One, blessed be He, did not arrange and bring Nebuchadnezzar into the world except by the reward of Evil-Merodach his son, because he showed honor to his Father in heaven. And the Holy One, blessed be He, did not arrange and bring Persia and Media into the world except by the reward of Cyrus, who wept and sighed when the idolaters destroyed the Temple. And the Holy One, blessed be He, did not arrange and bring Haman into the world except by the reward of Agag, who wept and sighed when he was imprisoned in the prison house and said, Woe is me, lest my offspring be lost forever from the world. Therefore it is said, "And My people shall never be ashamed." Another interpretation of "And My people shall never be ashamed": our Father in heaven, may His great name be blessed forever and ever, whose name rests pleasantly in our tent and our name in His tent, even though everything is His and everything is the work of His hands. And may You have relief of spirit from Israel Your servants in all the places of their dwelling. For had You not written for us thirty sayings of counsel and knowledge, they would have made me, God forbid, like a cruel man whose every word is in cruelty; but what did You do for us in Your wisdom and Your understanding? You wrote for us thirty sayings of counsel and knowledge, as it is said, "Have I not written for you thirty sayings of counsel and knowledge?" (Proverbs 22:20). And You made known to us: such a generation did good and Torah, therefore You decreed good upon it; and such a person did Your Torah and did good, and You decreed good upon him; and such a generation did evil, and so You decreed death upon it. Therefore it is said, "And My people shall never be ashamed."