The Covenant Between the Pieces and the Four Kingdoms

Rabbi says: He brought Abraham outside on the night of the festival of Passover and said to him, "So shall your seed be" (below, verse 5). Rabbi Eliezer says: The Holy One, blessed be He, showed Abraham our father at the Covenant Between the Pieces the four kingdoms ruling and perishing, as it is said, "And He said to him, Take Me a three-year-old heifer" (Genesis 15:9) - this is the kingdom of Edom, which is like a threshing heifer; "a three-year-old goat" - this is the kingdom of Greece, as it is said, "and the he-goat magnified itself exceedingly" (Daniel 8:8); "a three-year-old ram" - this is the kingdom of Media and Persia, as it is said, "The ram which you saw having two horns" (Daniel 8:20); "and a turtledove" (tor) - these are the children of Ishmael, for tor in the Aramaic tongue means an ox (shor); when a male ox is yoked together with the female, they will plow and ravage all the valleys; "and a young pigeon" - this is Israel, who is likened to a young pigeon, "My dove in the clefts of the rock," "My dove is but one" (Song 6:9). The word "three-year-old" (meshuleshet) is said only to mean mighty ones of strength, as you say, "and the threefold cord is not quickly broken" (Ecclesiastes 4:12). Rav Mesharshya said: They shall be threefold [in another sense] - three times they are destined to rule over the Land of Israel: the first time each one on its own; the second time two by two; the third time all as one to wage war against the House of David, as it is said, "The kings of the earth set themselves" (Psalms 2:2). Rabbi Joshua says: Abraham took his sword and cut each of them in two, as it is said, "And he took all these and divided them in the midst" (Genesis 15:10); had he not divided them, the world could not have endured, but since he divided them, their strength was weakened, and so forth. "But the bird he did not divide" (below, verse 10), and so forth - there was nothing there but a young pigeon. "And the bird of prey came down upon the carcasses" - this is David son of Jesse, who is likened to a bird of prey, "My heritage is to Me as a speckled bird of prey" (Jeremiah 12:9). As the sun went forth from the east, Abraham sat waving over them with his cloak so that the bird of prey would not have dominion over them, until the evening came. Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah says: From here you learn that the rule of these four kingdoms is but a single day out of the day of the Holy One, blessed be He. Rabbi Elazar ben Arakh said to him: It is as you say, as it is said, "He has made me desolate and faint all the day" (Lamentations 1:13) - except for two parts of an hour. You may know that this is so: come and see, when the sun is about to set in the west, for two parts of an hour its light grows faint and it has no brightness; and so, before evening comes, the light of Israel shall sprout, as it is said, "And it shall come to pass that at evening time there shall be light" (Zechariah 14:7). Abraham stood and was praying before the Holy One, blessed be He, that his children should not be enslaved by the four kingdoms, and a deep sleep fell upon him and he slept. Now, is there a person who can lie down asleep and yet pray? Rather, this teaches you that Abraham was asleep from the power of the prayer, so that his children should not be enslaved. "Terror" - this is the fourth kingdom, as it is said, "dreadful and terrible" (Daniel 7:7). "Darkness" - this is the kingdom of Greece, which darkened the eyes of Israel. "Great" - this is the kingdom of Media, which grew great to sell Israel for nothing. "Falling" - this is the kingdom of Babylon, as it is said, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon" (Isaiah 21:9). "Upon him" - these are the children of Ishmael, over whom the son of David shall sprout, as it is said, "His enemies I will clothe with shame, but upon him his crown shall shine" (Psalms 132:18). Rabbi Ze'ira said: These were created only as wood for Gehinnom, as it is said, "and behold a smoking furnace," and a furnace means nothing but Gehinnom, as it is said, "says the LORD, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem" (Isaiah 31:9).