The lam in 'the villages' is an indication of the villages referred to in His saying, 'And We did not send in any village a prophet.' It is as if He said: If only the people of those villages who denied and were destroyed had believed instead of their disbelief and had been mindful of sins instead of committing them, We would have opened upon them blessings from the heavens and the earth; We would have given them good from every direction. It is said that He meant rain and vegetation. However, they denied, so We seized them for their evil deeds. It is also possible that the lam in 'the villages' is for the general category. If you ask: What is the meaning of opening the blessings upon them? I say: It means making them easy for them, just as one makes the matter of closed doors easy by opening them. Hence, their saying: 'It was opened for the reader,' if reading became difficult for him, and it was made easy for him through instruction.