205) “And Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation.” What is the reason for this blessing here? It is to tell us that even when the Creator sentences the world, He does not change, for He sits in judgment on one and in mercy on the other. And it is all at the same time and same moment, for He was in judgment for Sodom, and at the same time He was in mercy for Abraham and He blessed him.
206) It is written, “My prayer is to You, O Lord, at an acceptable time.” This means that sometimes it is an acceptable time and sometimes it is not an acceptable time. At times He hears the prayer, and at times He does not hear the prayer. At times He is found, and at times He is not found, as it is written, “Seek the Lord while He may be found.”
207) Here to an individual and here to a collective. For an individual, there are different times. For a collective, it is always in mercy, even when He sits in judgment. Here for one place, there are different times, and here for the whole world it is always in mercy, and He does not change.
This is why He blessed Abraham while He was in judgment over Sodom, since he is equal to the whole world, as it is written, “These are the generations of the heaven and the earth when they were created,” and “When they were created” has the letters of “in Abraham” [in Hebrew it’s an anagram], thanks to whom the world was created. Thus, he is equal to the whole world.
208) “Will be” is thirty in Gematria. The Creator summoned thirty righteous into the world, to be in each generation, just as He summoned Abraham. It is written, “When they were created,” with the letters of “in Abraham,” thanks to whom the world was created. In each generation, there are thirty righteous ones thanks to whom the world was created, as it was created for Abraham.
209) “He was more honored than the thirty, and he did not come to the three.” These are the thirty righteous whom the Creator summoned to the world, who will never be absent from the world in every generation. Benayahu Ben Yehoyada was one of them.
210) There are three others that the world stands on, and it is not equal to them, as it is written, “And he did not come to the three,” to be counted as one of them. He was rewarded being counted as one of the thirty, he did not come to the three, meaning he was not rewarded with bonding with them and being as one part with them. “Will be” is thirty in Gematria, and for this reason the Creator blessed him with being equal to those thirty righteous.