Wherever Scripture Says She Has None She Will Yet Have

Rabbi Levi said: Every place where it says "she has none" she came to have. As it is stated, "Now Sarai was barren; she had no child" yet she came to have one, "And the LORD remembered Sarah" (Genesis 21:1). "And Hannah had no children" yet she came to have them, "And she bore three sons." "Zion, she whom none seeks out" (Jeremiah 30:17) yet she will come to have one, "And a redeemer shall come to Zion" (Isaiah 59:20). From the birth of Jacob until his sons sang the song at the Sea was three hundred and forty years; from the Flood until the generation of the Dispersion was three hundred and forty years measure for measure. Because the world stood under blessing from the Flood until the Dispersion, yet out of that ease they rebelled against the Holy One, blessed be He, therefore from the birth of our father Jacob until his sons sang at the Sea they were strangers and sojourners and enslaved, and they gave thanks to the Holy One, blessed be He, out of the measure of suffering, and they sang before Him. For this He chose Jacob and his sons, who praise Him, as it is stated, "This people I formed for Myself" and the rest of the verse. Now do not all His creatures praise Him? Has it not already been said, "For from the rising of the sun to its setting" and the rest (Malachi 1:11)? From here we learn that none is sweet to Him but Israel, as it is stated, "the sweet singer of Israel," and it says, "Yet You are holy, enthroned" and the rest (Psalms 22:4), and it says, "For the LORD has chosen Jacob for Himself" and the rest (Psalms 135:4). But the nations are as nothing before Him, and it says, "Behold, the nations are as a drop from a bucket." And why are they in the world? So that the world should not lie desolate. But in the time to come, "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine" (Song of Songs 6:3), and it says, "The LORD alone shall lead him" (Deuteronomy 32:12). In that hour, "and the nations shall be utterly laid waste" (Isaiah 60:12).