וְשַׂמְתִּ֥י אֶֽת־זַרְעֲךָ֖ כַּעֲפַ֣ר הָאָ֑רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֣ר ׀ אִם־יוּכַ֣ל אִ֗ישׁ לִמְנוֹת֙ אֶת־עֲפַ֣ר הָאָ֔רֶץ גַּֽם־זַרְעֲךָ֖ יִמָּנֶֽה׃
I will make your seed like the dust of the earth; so that if anyone can count the dust of the earth, then your seed will also be counted.
RSRH suggests that the analogy of Avraham’s descendants to the dust of the earth is not about Israel’s numbers. (see commentary for an explanation) Rather he suggests the following:
The word used here for “counting” is מונה. It’s true meaning is apportioning, restricting, limiting (see commentary for the word’s etymology). The Torah is saying: The dust is the basic material of the whole physical world. No human being can reckon how much of this material should be allotted to the earth in a general or particular manner. Only God, Creator and Master of the world knows this. Similarly, no worldly power will be able to master the descendants of Avraham or to limit their quantitative existence. Just as in all of dust’s transformations, not a single atom of its power and not a single grain of its material are lost, so too is true of the seed of Avraham!
Beraishis 13:16
pages 321-322
