[Abrahamic faith — what is it exactly? Three of the world’s monotheistic religions trace their roots to Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam . . . and obviously that is about all they share, their roots. How could these world religions differ so much in belief, practice and most importantly, their GOD, was Abraham a religious schizophrenic or do men, as men are wont to do, women too, make up their religion as they go along?
“The foundational pillar of ABRAHAMIC FAITH is to know the Creator.” — a quote from our series of posts based on our MUST READ/MUST OWN book James D. Tabor: Restoring Abrahamic Faith. There is a whole series on this but here are the first three posts if you care to review them:
This chapter begins the Abraham narratives. Reading through this chapter alone, some questions come to mind: why leave Ur when the whole world was idolatrous anyway? Everywhere Abraham went, everyone else had their pantheon of gods or natural religion. Did Abraham ever ‘convert’ anybody? Well, read through the narratives and find out for yourself!
Commentary is from Pentateuch and Haftorah’s, ed. Dr. J.H. Hertz; translation is Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.—Admin1.]
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Genesis/Bereshith 12
HISTORY OF THE PATRIARCHS
THE CALL OF ABRAHAM
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out of thy country. ‘In this land of idol worship thou art not worthy to rear sons to the service of God’ (Rashi)—the evil surroundings would contaminate them. The Midrash explains that the command was issued for the benefit of his fellowmen. ‘When a flask of balsam is sealed and stored away, its fragrance is not perceptible; but, opened and moved about, its sweet odour is widely diffused.’
thy country . . . thy kindred . . . thy father’s house. These are the main influences which mould a person’s thoughts and actions. The words also indicate the severity of the trial which was being imposed upon him. He was to cut himself completely adrift from all associations that could possibly hinder his mission. A similar ‘call’ comes to Abraham’s descendants in every age and clime, to separate themselves from all associations and influences that are inimical to their Faith and Destiny.
thy country. Babylonia, which was then the most powerful empire in the world, with a highly developed city-civilization, commercial society, and literary culture.
land that I will show thee. The destination of the journey is not specified, to increase the test of Abram’s faith in the Divine call. He was to follow whithersoever the will of God would direct him.
I will bless thee. With all good.
make thy name great. Although at first he would be unknown, a stranger in a strange land.
be thou a blessing. These words contain the ideal which Abram was to set himself, to become a blessing to humanity by the beneficent influence of his godly life and by turning others to a knowledge of God. With the change of one vowel, says the Midrash, the Hebrew word for ‘blessing’ means ‘spring of water’. Even as a spring purifies the defiled, so do thou attract those who are far from the knowledge of God and purify them for their Heavenly Father. And such has indeed been the role played by the children of Abraham on the stage of human history. ‘The Jew is that sacred being,’ says Tolstoy, ‘who has brought down from heaven the everlasting fire, and has ilumined with it the entire world. He is the religious source, spring, and fountain out of which all the rest of the peoples have drawn their beliefs and their religions.
I will bless. They who follow Abram’s teachings will, like him, enjoy God’s favour.
him that curseth thee. ‘The story of European history during the past centuries teaches one uniform lesson. That the nations which have received in any way dealt fairly and mercifully with the Jew have prospered–and that the nations that have tortured and oppressed him have written out their own curse’ (Olive Schreiner).
all the families of the earth be blessed. Israel shall be ‘a light of the nations’ (Isa. XLII,6). Through him, all men were to be taught the existence of the Most High God, and the love of righteousness, thereby opening for themselves the same treasury of blessings which he enjoyed. ‘The germ of the idea underlying the fuller conception of a Messianic Age was in existence from the time of the founders of the race o Israel. In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed, was the promise that reached far beyond the lifetime of each, farther than the limits of the temporal kingdom their descendants founded; that has obtained but partial fulfilment up to our time, and looks for fullest realization to that future towards which each of us in his measure my contribute his share’ (S. Singer).
as the LORD has spoken. In obedience to the Heavenly voice, he leaves the land of his birth and all the glamour and worldly prosperity of his native place; he becomes a pilgrim for life, enduring trials, famines, privations; wandering into Canaan as a sojourner into Egypt as a refugee, and back again into Canaan—all for the sake of humanity, that it might share the blessing of his knowledge of God and Righteousness.
Lot went with him. Lot was a mere follower, and does not seem to have been inspired with the same ideals as prompted Abram’s departure.
their substance. Their worldly goods, moveable property.
the souls. i.e. their slaves and dependents. The Rabbis take the word ‘souls’ to mean the proselytes whom Abram made among the men, and Sarai among the women. These converts became subservient to God’s law and followed their master in his spiritual adventure.
gotten. lit. ‘made’; for, declare the Rabbis, he who wins over an idolater to the service of God is as though he had created him anew.
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Schechem. The modern Nablus, 30 miles N. of Jerusalem. It is one of the oldest cities of Palestine.
terebinth of Moreh. Some translate, ‘the directing terebinth,’ i.e. the oracular tree held sacred by the tree-worshipping Canaanites. Such trees were attended by priests, who interpreted the answers of the oracle to those who came to consult it. The terebinth (or turpentine-tree) grows to a height of from 20 to 40 feet, and may therefore well have served as a landmark.
the Canaanite was then in the land. i.e. was already in the land. ‘Before the age of Abraham, the Canaanites had already settled in the lowlands of Palestine–Canaan, be it noted, signified Lowlands’ (Sayce). The interpretation of this verse as meaning that the Canaanites were at that time in the land, but were no longer so at the time when Genesis was written (an interpretation which misled even Ibn Ezra), is quite impossible. The Canaanites formed part of the population down to the days of the later Kings.
unto thy seed. In spite of its possession by the warlike and radically alien Canaanite (X,6).
Beth-el. In Central Palestine, the modern Beitin, 10 miles N. of Jerusalem. The place is here called by the name given to it by Jacob, XXVIII,19.
Ai. Probably the modern Haiyan, about two miles E. of Bethel.
called upon the name of the LORD. The Targum renders, ‘and prayed in the name of the LORD.’ He proclaimed the knowledge of the true God (Talmud). He had the moral courage to preach his conception of God and duty in the very face of the soul-degrading ideas of divine worship and human duty held by the peoples then inhabiting Canaan.
9. ‘Abram journeyed on, still going toward the south. There he built a slaughter-site to YHWH and called out the name of YHWH.going on still. The Hebrew indicates travelling by stages, after the manner of nomads.
the South. Or, ‘the Negeb,’ the name by which the Southern district of Judah is known. The Midrash explains that Abram was being drawn towards the city of Jerusalem, which is in the south of Palestine.
10-20. ABRAM IN EGYPT
a famine in the land. Owing to the scarcity of rivers and lack of irrigation, the country was subject to famine if the rainy seasons failed. Palestine nomads would then seek safety in Egypt. A famine drove Abram to Egypt, and the same cause was again to bring his descendants to that land. As the Rabbis say, ‘The lives of the Patriarchs foreshadow the story of their descendants.’
to sojourn there. For a temporary stay only.
they will kill me. To kill the husband in order to possess himself of his wife seems to have been a common royal custom in those days. A papyrus tells of a Pharaoh who, acting on the advice of one of his princes, sent armed men to fetch a beautiful woman and make away with her husband. Another Pharaoh is promised by his priest on his tombstone that even after death he will kill Palestinian sheiks and include their wives in his harem.
Once or twice Abram falls a prey to fear and plays with the truth in order to preserve his life. Though merely an episode with him, natural enough in an ordinary man, it is quite unworthy of his majestic soul. It is the glory of the Bible that it shows no partiality towards its heroes; they are not superhuman, sinless beings. And when they err—for ‘there is no man on earth who doeth good always and sinneth never’–Scripture does not gloss over their faults. The great Jewish commentator Nachmanides refers to Abram’s action as ‘a great sin’.
my sister. The statement was partly true; see XX,12.
that it may be well with me. He would escape death. The same though is repeated in the following clause.
my soul may live. The Heb. idiomatic way of saying, ‘I may live.’
very fair. Sarai was then in middle age, and apparently had retained her youthful beauty.;
Pharaoh. The Heb. transcription of Pr-‘0, the Egyptian title of the king of the country. It signifies ‘Great House’. The statement of some writers that the title did not come into use till much later is innacurate. In the days of the 19th Dynasty, the age of Moses, the word is the usual reverential designation of the King.
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plagued. A mysterious sickness fell upon Pharaoh and his house, which aroused suspicion and led to enquiries that resulted in the discovery of the truth (Driver). According tot he Rabbis,t he nature of the plague was such as to constitute a safeguard to Sarai’s honour.
and his house. i.e. his household.
what is this that thou hast done unto me? ‘Pharaoh, justly incensed with Abram, sternly reproves him and dismisses him with abruptness.’ This is the usual non-Jewish comment on this verse. Yet Pharaoh, in whose land the husband of a beautiful wife might be taken into the royal harem, was hardly justified in his moral indignation towards Abraham. Pharaoh’s was largely the blame for the shortcoming on the part of the patriarch.