Rabbi Don Yitzchak Abarbanel: Avraham Avinu feared that the Jews might leave exile early

Avraham foresaw the length of this exile and the great misfortunes it brought, and he feared that his descendants would rise up to leave the exile before the time set by Hashem, just as the children of Ephraim left the Egyptian exile before the time, whereupon Hashem became angry at them and killed thousands of their best. So Avraham, knowing the time of the End, chased away the birds (Bereishis 15:11) – the son of David (i.e. moshiach) – preventing them from coming down on the carcasses – the nations – until evening, i.e. the time of redemption and the end of exile, as it says, ‘And at the time of evening there will be light.’

And there is no doubt that it was in reference to this that Shlomo said (Shir Hashirim 2:7), ‘I have adjured you, daughters of Jerusalem, with the deer and the hinds of the field, that you not awaken nor arouse the love before it desires.’ And in Kesubos 111a, ‘Rabbi Yossi bar Chanina said: To what to these three oaths refer? One, that Israel should not go up as a wall. One, that the Holy One, blessed is He, adjured Israel not to rebel against the nations of the world. One, that the Holy One, blessed is He, adjured the nations not to subjugate Israel too much.’ The prohibition on ‘rebelling against the nations’ means that we must bear the yoke of the exile and live under them until the time of the End, when they will pass on. And this is what the prophet Tzefaniah meant when he said (3:8), ‘Therefore wait for Me, said Hashem, for the day when I arise,’ i.e. He commands them to wait until the time of the End, and not rebel and leave the exile before the time set by Him.” (Yeshuos Meshicho v. 1, p. 11b)