Abraham was a trailblazer. He promoted new ideas to the world about monotheism, which in turn led to the creation of the Jewish people and a new religion Judaism. In view of the originality of his ideas, it is not surprising that there are other monotheistic religions, namely Islam and Christianity, that also regard Abraham as a founding father of their faith.  

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As in the Noah story, there are two sub-plots winding their way through the Abraham narrative — one about Abraham’s relationship with YHWH and the other about his interactions with Elohim. The Abraham stories are configured in this way because they have both tribal and universal implications.

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Seven blessings were bestowed upon Abraham and they offer considerable insights into the relationship between God and Abraham.1 This is particularly the case for two blessings in the form of covenants. One of these, the Covenant between the Pieces, was transmitted by YHWH, while the other, the Covenant of Circumcision, was given by Elohim. The ideas and literary expressions within these covenants will be repeated to the forefather Jacob, and will also be revealed to Moses in the early part of the Book of Exodus. Because of their importance to the Abraham story as well as the continuing narrative, these two covenants will be discussed in detail in this chapter.

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It is worth emphasizing as we begin the Abraham stories that the Torah is a prophetic book. Moreover, not only is Abraham a primary recipient of these prophecies, but the events associated with his life, and this is also the case for his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob, can be regarded as models for later Jewish history.2

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All the prophecies in these chapters have been fulfilled, and this constitutes strong evidence for the God-given nature of the Torah. The Covenant between the Pieces prophesied a long period of exile in Egypt, oppression during an Egyptian exile, and finally redemption during an Exodus to the Promised Land. The Covenant of Circumcision prophesied the fertility of the Jewish people and their eternal role. All this came to pass some 3,500 years ago. The current redemption of the Jewish people after an exile of two-thousand-years also follows the main points of these prophecies — exile, oppression, a long period of waiting, and finally redemption.

 

We will start with the first of the blessings given to Abraham. This will lead us to two important questions

– why specifically was Abraham chosen and for what purpose?

 

God’s first blessing to Abraham ­— bringing material benefit to the world

 

The first communication and directive Abraham received from God not only changes the direction of civilization but also the tone of the Bible. The world “blessing” occurs in this passage five times. The word “curse” occurs five times in the previous eleven chapters of Genesis.3 From this point on, the Bible becomes more upbeat, since what was previously an aimless world will now have direction through the example of Abraham and his descendants.

 

This first blessing reads as follows:

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YHWH said to Abram, “Go yourself from your land, from your birthplace and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

And continues:

#1. I will make of you a great nation,

#2. I will bless you, 

#3. I will make your name great; 

#4. and you shall be a blessing.

#5. I will bless those who bless you, 

#6. and him who curses you I will curse; 

#7. and all the families of the earth shall be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:1-3).

 

Within its two sentences, are contained seven promises, which I have labelled for convenience #1 to #7. Each sentence contains three or four promises describing what God will do and this is followed by the consequences of these promises. Hence, the consequence of the blessings in the first sentence is - and you shall be a blessing. In the second sentence it is – “and all the families of the earth shall be blessed through you.”  Which is to say that the spiritual insights discovered by Abraham will bring benefit to the entire world.4 The word “blessing” in the Torah means material benefits. The promotion of abstinence from the benefits of this world and poverty were never part of Abraham’s mission.

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The importance of these ideas is apparent from the fact that they are repeated in the Torah several times. Six chapters later we learn: “And Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him” (Genesis 18:18). His son Isaac is told by God that “all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your offspring” (ibid 26:4), and Isaac’s son Jacob is told that “all the families of the earth shall be blessed through you” (ibid 28:14). Finally, in the seventh blessing given to Abraham (ibid 22:15-18), blessing to all humanity will be forthcoming not just through Abraham but also through his descendants, namely the Jewish people.

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How will this blessing come about? Is it similar to the touch of Midas that no more than social contact brings about? Possibly – but unlikely. A more rational explanation is that those who bless Abraham are the ones who support his moral values. Their actions will in turn bring them blessing. 

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In accord with this interpretation, in items #5 and #6 in the second sentence, God promises Abraham that the success of others will depend on how they relate to him and whether they bless or curse him. Those who appreciate what he stands for and bless him will be rewarded with material success. Those who denigrate Abraham’s/God’s message will be cursed.

 

Why did God choose Abraham?

Before going further, a fundamental question needs to be asked.  Why did God choose to engage with Abraham? The Torah does not address this question directly, but answers pertinent to this issue can be gleaned from the Abraham stories.

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Many commentators see Abraham’s greatness in his appreciation of God as the Creator of the universe. Hence, Maimonides, the influential Jewish thinker and legal authority, wrote in his monumental legal work the Mishneh Torah:

 

He [Abraham] grasped the way of the truth and understood the just cause by his true perception. And he knew there is only one God who rules the world and He created all, and there is no other God except for Him. And he knew that the entire world erred and what caused them to err was that they worshiped the stars and other forms until they totally forgot the truth.5

 

Knowledge of God was known to Noah and his son Shem — “And he [Noah] said: ‘Blessed is YHWH, the God of Shem. . . . “ (ibid 9:26). However, with the passing of the generations, this knowledge was lost among the Semites, and they, like Terah Abraham’s father, were idol worshippers. The book of Joshua emphasizes that Abram’s family was pagan and that Abraham broke away from a pagan environment :

 

On the other side of the river, your father dwelt of old, Terach, father of Abraham and father of Nachor, and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the river and led him throughout the whole land of Canaan. . . (Joshua 24:2-3).

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But was Abraham’s rediscovery of monotheism really such an earth shattering accomplishment that it merited God appearing to him in visions and offering to create from his seed a new nation? The Torah itself reveals that Abram was not the only monotheist in his time. Following Abraham’s victory over the forces of King Chedorlaomer and his Mesopotamian coalition and his rescuing his nephew Lot, Abraham is greeted by Malchizedek, king of Salem, who “was a priest of El Elyon (God, the Most High)” (ibid 14:18). Says Malchizedek: “…  Blessed is Abram of El Elyon (God the Most High), Creator of heaven and earth . . . . “ (ibid 14:19). 

 

It seems likely from these verses that Malchizedek’s conception of God was of Elohim, the transcendent God who created the universe. However, it was YHWH, the God of individual providence, who called upon Abraham to leave his birthplace and family and to embark on a new and, at this stage, unrevealed mission. I am suggesting, therefore, that it was Abraham’s discovery and promulgation of the attributes of YHWH, and not only those of Elohim, that warranted his selection by God. 

 

Abraham appreciated that not only is Elohim the Sovereign Ruler of the universe, but there is another aspect of God, YHWH, Who is a God of relationships and Who wishes to form relationships with mankind. This is why Abraham was the first person in the world to call God “Adonai (my Master) (ibid 15:2).”6 The title Adonai (“my Master”) can be considered an active embodiment of the human response to knowledge of the individual providence of YHWH. As a Master, YHWH abets the lives of those who are attuned to His presence. Abraham also appreciated that a relationship with God can only be maintained by practicing moral behavior based on the way that God Himself acts in the world, what will be subsequently called “the way of YHWH” (ibid 18:19). This topic will be developed more in the next chapter.

 

Another vital aspect of Abraham was his activity in promoting knowledge of Elohim and YHWH. He would arrive outside a city, offer a sacrifice and encourage the people of the city to join him in learning about God. This is termed in the Torah “to call on the name of YHWH.”

 

Hence, soon after arriving in Canaan:

 

From there [near Shechem] he relocated to the mountain east of Beth-el and pitched his tent, with Beth-el on the west and Ai on the east; and he built there an altar to YHWH and called on the name of YHWH (vayikra beshem YHWH) (ibid 12:9).

 

The simplest explanation of this is that he proclaimed the existence of a single God and the desire of this God for moral behavior.

 

Furthermore, since Abraham recognized that he and God were in a relationship, it must be that everything God intended for him would be to his benefit. Like a devoted spouse, Abraham had absolute trust that God had nothing but his welfare in mind. This awareness came to him while he was still in his hometown in Mesopotamia.

 

It was as if YHWH said to Abraham: “I know that you have trust in Me. Now demonstrate this trust and begin this journey even though you do not know exactly to where I am leading you, and even its purpose. Nevertheless, be assured that this journey will be entirely to your benefit.” 

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Jewish commentators question the significance of the phrase “Go to you (lech lecho) (לֶךְ-לְךָ) from your land…….” in the opening of this passage (Genesis 12:1), when it could equally well have said the single word “Go! (lech) ...” 

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Rashi translates these two words as “go for yourself” and links them to the subsequent blessings. Hence, “go for your pleasure and for your benefit.”8  

 

Cassuto points out, however, that there are other instances in the Bible where this phrase cannot have this meaning and he suggests it means — go alone, or at least with those close to you, and make a clean break from your present situation.9 

 

It may be no coincidence that the opening of this sentence closely resembles the opening from another episode in Abraham’s life when he demonstrates a similar trust in God and also formulates a major innovation in religious ideas. In the Binding of Isaac story, Abraham is also told: 

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“Please take your son …. and go to you (velech lecho) (לְךָ-וְלֶךְ) to the land of Moriah, and bring him up there as an offering upon one of the mountains which I shall tell you.” (Genesis 22:2)  

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In this instance, also, Abraham is asked to make a radical break in the direction of his life by sabotaging his succession and to go together with his son to another unknown destination that he will be shown. In this instance, too, his trust in God results in a multiplication of the beneficence that God granted him up to now (ibid 22:15-18).

 

Abraham’s trust in God is also emphasized in other places in Genesis. At the Covenant between the Pieces, YHWH promises Abraham that he will have a biological child and his offspring will be as numerous as the stars of the heavens (ibid 15:5). Until this time, Abraham and Sarah’s married life had been marked by infertility. The Bible continues: “And he trusted in YHWH, and He/he reckoned it to him as righteousness” (ibid 15:6). It is unclear from this passage who regarded whom as being righteous, and the text could be read either way with either Abraham being regarded as righteous by God or God being regarded righteous by Abraham. Nevertheless, the Bible is again emphasizing that a foundational aspect of Abraham’s relationship with God was his trust in Him. From this point on, trust in God will be a foundational aspect of the lives of the Biblical forefathers, and in turn for the Jewish people.

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On the other hand, there is a midrashic tradition that Abraham’s greatness was not only his awareness of a Single God but to his willingness to go through trials to demonstrate his allegiance to Him. One of these trials was his confronting the Mesopotamian ruler Nimrod and being thrown into a burning furnace when his father delivered him to the king for smashing the idols in his idol store.9 

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However, there is no mention in the Bible of such a trial. Nor is there mention of Abraham engaging in similar destructive activities against pagan worship while in Canaan. Such actions would have been a contradiction to his entire modus operandi. Abraham promoted his goals in Canaan by befriending the pagans around him and not by confronting them as an iconoclast. 

 

Abraham’s destination

An essential point. Both YHWH and Elohim promised Abraham that his progeny will inherit the territory we now call the Land of Israel, but both refer to it by different names. YHWH uses the Hebrew word “ha’aretz” with the definite article, which means “the land,” whereas Elohim calls it the “land of Canaan.”

 

Thus, in the Covenant between the Pieces, which is a blessing given by YHWH, the term “ha’aretz (the land)” is used to describe what we now call the Land of Israel, whereas in the Covenant of Circumcision, a blessing given by Elohim, the expression “the land of Canaan” is used. This differentiation is maintained throughout the Abraham story and later in the Torah when referring to these covenants.

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The land of Canaan is a geographical designation first defined early in Genesis and it constitutes the territory where the Canaanites then lived:

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And the Canaanite border extended from Zidon going towards Gerar as far as Gaza, going towards Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha (Genesis 10:15-19).

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The Canaanites lived in the coastal plain, the lowlands (Shf’ela) of Canaan and its valleys, and on the western side of the Jordan River, and this is the territory in which Canaan, the grandson of Noah, and his descendants dwelt. Zidon was to the north of the modern State of Israel and encompassed a large area in Lebanon, while Gerar was the southern border of the land of Canaan. This city was further inland and somewhat to the south of Gaza. Other tribes inhabited the central mountain range, including the Hittite, Hivites, Perizites and Jebusites, and they are sometimes collectively called Emorites in the Torah. In sum, the “land of Canaan” is the land whose perimeter is inhabited by Canaanites and whose central mountain range is occupied by these other tribes. Hence Numbers tells us:

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The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negev, and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites dwell in the mountain; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and by the side of the Jordan (Numbers 134:29).

 

This “land of Canaan" will become the core possession of the Jewish people. This is where the forefathers walked, set up religious monuments, and prayed to God, and this is the territory that will define the Jewish nation among the nations of the world, just as the seventy nations of the world are defined by where they live. These are also the borders that like a magnet will pull the Jewish people when they are in exile.

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The borders of “the land (ha’aretz),” on the other hand, are more extensive than this and this land should be regarded as territory that is potentially available to the Israelites. Israel can expand beyond its core territory when there is national consensus. God through His aspect of YHWH will help them achieve this.

 

Details about these borders are provided in Numbers chapter 34, and more extensive borders are mentioned again in Exodus 23:29-31 and in the book of Deuteronomy (7:22, 11:22-24, 19:8-9).  

In actuality, the Israelites began establishing these enlarged borders early in their history at the time of Moses by capturing the east bank of the Jordan River. A considerable expansion of territory was also achieved in the time of King David.

 

The biblical leader Joshua was well aware of these two promises. He entered Canaan with the explicit purpose of conquering the “land of Canaan” and distributing it to the twelve tribes. However, this did not limit the possibilities. As the YHWH aspect of God says to Joshua:

Now arise. Cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I give them, to the Children of Israel. Every place upon which the sole of your foot will march I have given to you, as I have spoken to Moses. From the desert and this Lebanon to the great river, the Euphrates River, all the land of the Hittites to the Mediterranean Sea westward will be your boundary. No man will challenge you all the days of your life. . . (Joshua 1:2-5)  

It is of interest that both YHWH and Elohim designate this territory by different terms. The territory allotted by YHWH is called an “inheritance” or “nahala (נחלה).” By contrast, the territory allotted by Elohim is termed a “possession” or “achuza (אחוזה),” coming from the verb la’achoz, meaning to hold or to grasp.

 

Hence, in this first blessing, Abraham is told by YHWH to leave “your land” and to go to “the land” which he will be shown (#2). However, we are also informed in a prior passage regarding the generations of Terah that the family were already on their way to the “land of Canaan”(#1) This is how the narrative reads, with all the verses quoted being consecutive:

 

#1.  Now these are the generations of Terah (Genesis 11:27) . . . . Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot the son of Haran [a son of Terah who died in Ur Kasdim] , and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan; they arrived at Haran and they settled there. The days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran (Genesis 11:31-32).

 

#2.  YHWH said to Abram, “Go yourself from your land, from your birthplace and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation. . .  And Abram went as YHWH had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran (Genesis 12:1-4).

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#3.  Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the wealth they had amassed, and the persons that they had made in Haran; and they left to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:5).

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#4.  Abram passed into the land as far as the site of Shechem, until the terebinth of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land. YHWH appeared to Abram and said: “To your offspring I will give this land (ha’aretz hazot): And he built an altar there to YHWH who had appeared to him (Genesis 12:6-7).

 

Although written consecutively, these four sections are not necessarily in chronological order. Hence, Terha died when Abraham had already left Haran. It would seem that the family with Terah as its head left Ur of the Chaldees with the intent of reaching the land of Canaan, but he reached no further than Haran in Turkey and this is where he died.10 To confuse matters, the Covenant between the Pieces tells us that the first blessing that Abraham received, and which a reader may have assumed from #3 was transmitted in Haran, was in fact given to Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees:

 

And He said to him [Abram]. I am YHWH who brought you out of Ur Kasdim, to give you this land (ha’aretz hazot) to inherit it ((ibid 15:7).

 

How can one put all this together? It should be stated at the outset that it is a puzzle. It would seem that there were two reasons for Abraham migrating to the land of Canaan, one inspired by YHWH and the other planned by his father.

 

Terah and his family had already decided to migrate from Ur of the Chaldees to Canaan. There could have been a number of reasons for this. They may have heard there was better herding in Canaan, in that Canaan was a fertile land with much land for grazing. There may have been better trading opportunities in Canaan because of its location and the convergences of its highways. He may have felt uncomfortable as a Semite in Ur. He may also have been inspired by Abraham’s desire to move to Canaan for religious reasons. However, he reached only as far as Haran, settled there and died there.

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Abraham would seem to have received his first blessing and summons in Ur of the Chaldees and moved with his father to Haran, which was on the way. When he reached Haran, he must have stayed there awhile, since he accumulated possessions and slaves. When he eventually left Haran, he did so possibly for two reasons. One was to fulfill YHWH’s request and the other was to complete the journey of his father. The latter can be derived from passage #3 and its reference to the “land of Canaan”. It was only when he reached “the land” (#4), that his thoughts were entirely on his religious mission. This is when Abraham reached “the terebinth of Moreh” by Shechem and YHWH announced to him that he had reached the intended destination and was now in “the land.” The bottom line is that Abraham and his immediate family had two reasons to go to Canaan, one under the influence of YHWH and another reason which is unclear to us, but which is expressed in a way more indicative of being influenced by Elohim. This therefore provides the YHWH and Elohim passages in the Abraham narrative with a definite (if not somewhat confusing) beginning.

 

Nachmanides, on the other hand, suggests that Abraham wandered from place to place to find the land chosen for him.11 This is a difficult explanation and it seems more plausible that Abraham knew the direction in which he was going from the time he left Ur.

 

The Fourth Blessing — the Covenant between the Pieces - a prophecy about exile and oppression

The Covenant between the Pieces is one of the momentous events for Judaism in that it summarizes the totality of future Jewish history. It also confirms the role of YHWH as the personal God of Abraham and God’s future role in guiding and protecting the Jewish people. Not surprisingly, therefore, parts of this covenant will appear in the Torah in relation to the other forefathers, and also in a speech made by God to Moses. These will be examined in due course.

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The Covenant between the Pieces shown below seems to be in two parts, and there is debate among Jewish commentators and academics as to whether this is indeed the case, or whether it should be considered a single unit. However, both sections are structured around the word inherit. Its opening section is about who will give rise to his progeny and the second part discusses when and how his inheritance will be obtained:

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After these events the word of God (YKVK) came to Abram in a vision, saying: 'Fear not, Abram, I am your shield, your reward is exceedingly great.' And Abram said: 'O Lord, God (YKVK), what can You give me, seeing that I go childless, and the steward of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?'  And Abram said: 'See, to me you have given no seed, and, see, my steward inherits me.' And, suddenly, the word of God (YKVK) came to him, saying: That one will not inherit you; only one that shall come forth from within you shall inherit you.' And He took him outside, and said: 'Gaze now, towards the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them'; and He said unto him: 'So shall your offspring be!' And he trusted in God (YKVK); and He reckoned it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:1-6).

 

And He said to him: 'I am God (YHVH) Who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.' And he said: My master God (YHVH), whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?' And He said unto him: 'Bring Me three heifers, three she-goats, and three rams, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.' And he brought all these to Him, and he cut them in the center, and placed each piece against its counterpart; but the birds he did not cut up. The bird of prey descended upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. And it happened, as the sun was about to set, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, behold, a dread, a great darkness fell upon him. And He said unto Abram: 'Know with certainty that your offspring shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and they will serve them; and they will oppress them four hundred years; but also the nation that they shall serve, I shall judge; and afterwards they will leave with great possessions. But as for you, you shall go to your ancestors in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And the fourth generation shall return here; for the iniquity of the Amorite shall not yet be full until then.' And it came to pass, the sun set, and it was very dark. Behold there was a smoky furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces. On that day God (YHVH) cut a covenant with Abram, saying: To your descendants have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River; the Kennites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashite, and the Jebusites” (Genesis 15:7-21).

 

The circumstances of this covenant are that following God’s directive to Abraham to walk through the land, he moved south to Hebron to the groves of Mamre. He is now informed that Mesopotamian kings have attacked a Canaanite coalition that rebelled against them and they have captured his nephew Lot from Sodom during this attack. Accompanied by a small war party, Abraham struck the unsuspecting kings at night while they were returning to their country, rescued Lot, took captives and booty, and pursued the fleeing Mesopotamian army to as far as Syria. On his return, he returned to the king of Sodom everything that belonged to his city and provided a share of the booty to colleagues who joined him in the attack; otherwise, he kept nothing for himself. 

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After defeating the Mesopotamian kings, Abraham could well have been fearful that the Mesopotamian kings would avenge his attack.12 Hence, the first part of this passage opens by God telling Abraham that there is nothing for him to fear and that He will be his “shield.” Another of Abram’s concerns was that his servant Eliezer “will inherit” him. Abraham and Sarah have no children. Abraham had previously assumed that his legacy would be perpetuated through Lot. However, Lot has chosen another direction in life by moving to Sodom and Abraham’s next-in-line heir is Eliezer.13 However, God interrupts Abraham and tells him that Eliezer “will not inherit” him but only a true biological descendant. 

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The main aspect of this vision begins when Abraham asks God in the second section: “My Master YHWH, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?” This could imply that Abraham had doubts about God’s promise. Yet only two sentences previously the Torah had said: “And he trusted in YHWH; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.” Abraham clearly believed God’s promise about his future progeny. Thus, it is conceivable, Rashi suggests, that Abraham was requesting a sign.14 It is also possible that the Hebrew word “bamah” (literally: in what) should be understood as “how”, in the sense of “how will this come about that I will inherit; or alternatively, how will I know when the time has come for me to inherit?”15 Until now, Abraham had received only generalized statements by God about his inheriting the land. He now wants the fine print details. How will this happen? 

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God’s answer to Abraham’s question are linked by the verb to “know.” After his question “whereby (bamah) shall I know (eida) that I shall inherit it?” God answers: “You shall certainly know (yodo’a teida) (literally: it will be known you will know) that your offspring shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs.”

 

God’s answer was doubtless very different from Abraham’s expectations. Until now, he had probably guessed that his offspring would inherit the land within one or two generations. He is now informed that his descendants will have a waiting period of hundreds of years before they will be redeemed. In the meantime, they will suffer persecution and suffering. In effect, this vision encapsulates much of Jewish history — exile from the land, unwelcome guests in the lands of others, hatred of Jews, and finally redemption after a never-ending period of waiting.

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This promise of suffering is now sealed in the form of a contract. This was performed in the way contracts were commonly formalized in those days. Abraham is to “cut“ up heifers, goats and rams and God “passed between these pieces.” In fact, the usual Hebrew verb for making a contract is to “cut” a contract. Other than cutting up the animals, Abraham remained passive in this ceremony, while God was the active participant in this contract.

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The contract is called in the text “a covenant.” The difference between a covenant and a promise is that a covenant (called a bris in Hebrew) is more formal and is often accompanied by a sign, or in this case a ceremony, so that it will be easily recalled.

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Its proceedings were highly symbolic, particularly in relation to the numbers three and four. The animals that are cut up were “meshulash.” The precise translation of this word is unclear but could be three animals, three-year-old animals, or a third birth. The number three likely represents the three generations that will be enslaved.  Only “the fourth generation” will return to the land after 400 years have passed.16 The intact “turtle dove” and “young pigeon” are not cut up and could represent the younger fourth generation that will leave Egypt.17 

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“The bird of prey descended upon the carcasses” may represent external forces attempting to destroy the actualization of the covenant between God and the Jewish people, or even trying to destroy the Jewish people. Bird of prey is in the singular and it is driven away by Abraham. Of interest is that the falcon was highly symbolic in ancient Egypt and was closely associated with several deities, particularly Horus and Ra. Pharaoh was considered the earthly embodiment of Horus, and the falcon imagery was often used in royal iconography.

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As the sun is about to set, Abraham feels viscerally the full impact of the Egyptian exile as “a dread, a great darkness fell upon him” (Genesis 15:12).

 

R’ Joseph Soloveitchik explains: 

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The bondage of Israel in Egypt was not only predicted but also illustrated and visualized. Abram came in contact with the future sorrows and miseries of his children. He was overwhelmed by a vivid, sensuous awareness, which reached the intensity of real pain and suffering; a horror or great darkness fell upon him. The woes and agony of many years were condensed into a single moment. . . . Sympathetic coexistence with countless future generations, confederacy with the unborn and anticipation of the wholeness of historical realization are the basic traits of the charismatic historical personality.18

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God’s commitment to this covenant is presented in two ways. First, He passes between the animal pieces as “a smoky furnace and flaming torch.” He then makes a verbal commitment -  “To your descendants have I given this land (ha’aretz hazos). . . “ (ibid 15:18). 

 

R’ Joseph Soloveitchik points out the significance of this covenant/prophecy not only with respect to the redemption from Egypt but also for future redemptions, particularly the current one. The Jewish people have spent two thousand years in exile during which they have suffered numerous oppressions. Only now are they in the process of redemption:

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There were many, and there are still birds of prey that swoop down on us [the Jewish people]. And it is not only the concrete Abraham who lived thousands of years ago who chased them away. It is also Abraham the symbol. It is the Abraham who could wait and patiently expect a son at the age of one hundred. Here, he received a prophecy, a message of suffering, of martyrdom and frustration, and of endless waiting, four hundred years to redemption from slavery and oppression. The Covenant Between the Pieces conveys a message not so much of redemption as of spiritual survival, of being able to wait endlessly until the final day arrives.18

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YHWH is now not only the God of individual providence, but He has w entered history as the God of Jewish national history and specifically as the tribal god of the Jewish people.

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After all this deep material, there is a question, though, that could well be asked, Why do the Jewish people warrant enslavement and oppression? 

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One answer must surely be that exile is God’s immutable decree, and He decreed that it be accompanied by servitude and persecution. Abraham was not privy to the details of God’s justice, so there was nothing for him to discuss, just as there is nothing for us to discuss. God also provided no opening for Abraham to negotiate about the justice of His decree as He would later do for the city of Sodom. 

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God controls history. History is neither a series of random events, nor the result of dialectic processes such as that proposed by Karl Marx. History is what God decrees it to be. And the progress of history determined by YHWH required a preparatory period of four hundred years before the Israelites would leave Egypt.

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Which is not to say that the Egyptian exile is completely unfathomable. It may be that the Jewish people had to experience the emptiness of servitude to Pharaoh to be ready to bind themselves to a new Master. They had to experience being treated harshly as strangers in a foreign land to appreciate how strangers should be treated in their own land (Exodus 22:20).19 They would likely have rapidly assimilated into Egyptian culture in the absence of discrimination and enforced servitude. The exile also had to last for hundreds of years since the morality of the Canaanites did not yet justify their expulsion - for “the iniquity of the Amorite shall not yet be full until then” (Genesis 15:16). 

 

In the final analysis, Abraham could have opted out. He felt “the dread, a great darkness” even before the covenant was sealed. He could have told God that he had had second thoughts about this entire venture. But he did not do so. Nor did the majority of Jews throughout thousands of years of exile. This was because they, like Abraham, trusted in a future redemption even if they themselves would not witness it. They had also bound themselves to God, just as God had bound Himself to the Jewish people. How this is so is detailed in the next blessing. 

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But what about the present day? Why did the Jewish people have to endure 2,000 years of exile before being redeemed?  There is obviously no ready answer to this question, especially as the Jewish people are still in the middle of this process. It could be that there is something about this era that made it most appropriate for redemption in relation to the non-Jewish world. It may be linked, for example, to developments within Islam, in particular its gravitation to Radical Islam and Jew-hatred. This is not only an attack against the Jewish people, but against God Himself. This will be covered in a future chapter on the topic of Amalek. It may be a time in which Israelis can have the most impact on the welfare of the world in terms of ethics, medicine, technology and social engineering. It may also be a time most appropriate for witnessing the hand of God in His furthering the Land of Israel. Moreover, a Jewish appreciation of the Land of Israel can only be achieved by a prolonged period of absence. Many Israelis feels a sense of purpose in living in Israel, which is probably not the case for nationals living in other countries.

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References:

1. The seven blessings are found in the following places in Genesis: Genesis 12:1-3, 12:7, 13:14-17, 15:1-20, 17:1-14, 17:15-22, and 22:15-18. The text from Genesis 17:1-22 does seem like one long blessing, but there is a paragraph space in the middle, effectively making it two blessings.

 

2. Some of the prophesies in the Torah are overt, such as the blessings given to Abraham that are currently being discussed. The Torah also contains blessings and curses related to the Jewish people’s adherence or lack of adherence to the covenant established at Mount Sinai and they are frightful in their predictions (Leviticus 26:3-46 and Deuteronomy 28:1-69). The Torah also describes real or metaphysical struggles against adversarial nations seeking to destroy the Jewish people “from generation to generation” such as Amalek (Exodus 17:14-16). Many of the stories in Genesis are more indirect in their prophetic messages, in that they can be considered as indicators of the direction of Jewish history. Nachmanides terms this “the deeds of the forefathers are a sign to their children” (ma’ashe avot siman lebonim (Commentary of Nachmanides to ibid 12:6). Hence, when Jacob wrestles with an angel not only is Jacob wrestling with God and overcoming, but the Jewish people will also wrestle against adversarial forces and overcome (Genesis 32:33). In this way, much of Jewish history is “played out” through the stories of Genesis.

 

3. The word curse, either arur or lekalel, is found in five places in the proceeding chapters of Genesis – with respect to the soil (ibid 5:24 and 8:21), the serpent (ibid 3:14 and 4:11), and the person Canaan (ibid 9:25).

 

4. There are other explanations by Jewish commentators as to the meaning in this sentence of “and you shall be a blessing” besides the one I have provided. It could be a directive (Radak) or even a summary of the blessings preceding it. Nachmanides suggests that Abraham will become the standard by which blessings are bestowed upon others. People who wish to bless their son will say: “God make you like Abraham!” because of the “great” “name” he has acquired. Rashi, following a midrash, suggests that Abraham will have the power of blessing in his hands. Alternatively, blessing will come to all who come in contact with him. Midrash Raba 39:11 gives two examples. A person who wants to buy a cow from Abraham will be blessed even before the value of the cow had been assessed. Abraham would pray for a barren woman and the woman would conceive.  My explanation for “all the families of the earth will be blessed through you” also follows that of R’ Samson Raphael Hirsch who writes: ”But God asserts that finally all the peoples of the world will participate in this blessing inasmuch as they will also found their lives on the same foundation on which you are to found yours’ (Commentary to ibid 12:3).

 

5. Mishneh Torah, Laws of Idol Worship 1:3.

 

6. BT Berachos 7b.  

 

7. Rashi to Genesis 12:1. Not everything pleasurable is beneficial and not everything beneficial is pleasurable. Your journey will be both. Comment of the Amar N’kei quoted by Artscroll Series.The Sapirstein Edition. Rashi/ Commentary on the Torah. Vol 1 – Bereishis/ Genesis. Mesorah Publications Ltd.

 

8. First Paragraph. The Lord’s Command and Promises, Chapter XII in Commentary on the Book of Genesis, Part Two, from Noah to Abraham by Umberto Cassuto, p310. The Magnes Press, Jerusalem, 1977. Examples given by Cassuto include: “Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went his way (vayelech lo) to his own country (Exodus 18:27). When Joshua instructs the tribes whose home is in Transjordan to take leave of the other tribes and return to their tribal possession he says: “and now turn and go on your way (lechu lachem) in the land where your possession lies” (Joshua 22:4). R’ Hirsch and R’ Joseph Solveitchik have similar explanations to those of Cassuto. (Chumash with commentary based on the teachings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Sefer Bereishis, p72, OU Press). The Ramban, on the other hand, assigns no particular significance to this form of the verb and assumes it to be common idiomatic Hebrew usage.

 

9. Bereishis Rabbah 38:13. Also, Rashi to Genesis 11:28 who suggests that Ur of the Chaldeans means “fire of Chaldea.”

 

10. Where was Abraham born?  The Bible is very clear on the matter: “Haran died in the presence of Terah his father, in his native land, in Ur Kasdim” (Genesis 11:28). From archeological work carried out from the 1800’s and onwards, we know that the ancient city of Ur was located in southern Mesopotamia at the convergence of the Euphrates and Tigris. At one time, it was the largest city in the ancient world. It also was on the coast and a port. However, the coastline has since moved further into the ocean and the ruins of Ur are now inland. The “Chaldeans” of “Ur of the Chaldeans” are a Semitic tribe who invaded Ur at the end of the 7th century BCE. A century later, Ur was ruled by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon, and by about 500 BCE the city had become uninhabited. The Chaldean occupation of Ur was therefore of fairly limited duration. If we take the date of the Exodus as 1400 BCE or thereabouts and the Covenant of the Pieces 430 years earlier, then Abraham lived in about the 1800s BCE, i.e., in the Middle Bronze Age II period. In other words, there is a discrepancy of about 1,200 years between the Biblical and historical Ur. How then is it possible for Abraham to have left a Chaldean Ur?  Three possibilities have been suggested by scholars.  One is that the Bible was a redaction of the Pentateuch at a later period of history and the name “Ur of the Chaldeans” is an anachronism. If there was such a redaction, this would also date this to sometime from the 7th century BCE onwards. Against this it could be argued that these presumed redactors of the Bible would have known that the Chaldeans were in Ur for only a limited period and they were introducing a very obvious anachronism into the Biblical text with no good reason for doing so. Alternatively, the name Chaldeans could have been a later addition to the written text, although again it is unclear what this addition was adding since it is likely that Ur was sufficiently well known that it did not require this type of identification. A third possibility, and this is the suggestion favored by this author, is that the Bible was written shortly after the Exodus, just as the Bible relates, and Ur Kasdim is not the ancient southern Mesopotamian city of Ur. This is, in fact, the position of many Jewish commentators. The Talmud, Maimonides, Josephus and the Book of Jubilees, for example, all describe locations in Assyria and south-east Anatolia for Ur of the Chaldeans. The Book of Jubilees writes that: “Ur son of Keśed built the city of Ara of the Chaldees, and called its name after his own name and the name of his father" (Jubilees 11:3). These sources are of interest not necessarily because of their accuracy, but because they all indicate that they were prepared to consider other locations for Ur besides southern Mesopotamia. On the other hand, these commentaries were all written when the Ur of southern Mesopotamia was no longer inhabited and it is possible that they were unaware of its existence. There are, however, other reasons to consider a southern Mesopotamian Ur of the Chaldees as being unlikely. Southern Mesopotamia is the habitation of the descendants of Ham, whereas the descendants of Shem lived in present-day Turkey, Iran, and Northern Iraq.  According to Genesis 10:22-31, the five sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram. Abraham was one of the descendants of Arphaxad (Genesis 11:12-25). Josephus suggests that these five sons gave rise to the nations of Elam, Assyria, Chaldea, Lydia and Levantine. An Ur of the Chaldeans in southern Mesopotamia also leads to a very obvious contradiction in the Biblical text. While in Haran, Abraham is told to leave “your birthplace” (moladtecho). Also, when requesting his servant Eliezer to take a wife for his son Isaac, Abraham tells him to go to Haran “to my land and my birthplace (moladeti) shall you go and take a wife for my son, for Isaac” (Genesis 24:4). Also, in the Covenant between the Pieces, God takes responsibility for taking Abraham from Ur Kasdim: “And he said: I am YHWH Who brought you out of Ur Kasdim to give you this land to inherit.” (Genesis 15:7). So where was Abraham’s birthplace — Haran or Ur of the Chaldeans? Cassuto suggests that the word “moledet” means not birthplace, as commonly translated, but kindred or family circle, and he brings other examples of its use in this way in the Bible. (Tenth paragraph, the history of Terah in a Commentary on the Book of Genesis, Part Two, from Noah to Abraham, p273). Both places are the land of his kindred and the contradiction disappears. Another possibility is that there was more than one Ur, and Haran and Ur of the Chaldeans were both in the same geographical area — in Aram.

 

11. Nachmanides commentary to the Torah on Genesis 12:1. Nachmanides suggests that Abraham wandered from country to country and only when God told him that this was the land intended did he stop his journey. 

 

12. The explanation I provide here is one of several interpretations of this phrase and is the most literal with respect to the text. Midrashic explanations, on the other hand, and this is the direction followed by Rashi, suggest that he was concerned that he might already have received all the reward due to him for his righteousness (Bereishit Rabba 44:4). He might even have anticipated punishment for the lives he had taken (Rashi). The Ramban suggests he feared he might die without children.

 

13. The ancient Mesopotamian Nuzi tablets explain that if a man dies without offspring, his servant is considered his heir.

 

14. Rashi to Genesis 15:6.

 

15. There is a view in the Talmud (TB Nedarim 32a) that Abraham’s question was improper and it is because of this that the Egyptian servitude ensued. Others suggest that Abraham was asking “through what merit will I inherit the land?” Rashi suggests that Abraham was asking by what merit would his offspring be able to sustain themselves in the land, and he was answered through the merit of the sacrificial offerings (Rashi to Genesis 15:6). The Talmud suggests that even if the Jewish people no longer have a Temple, the act of reading the scriptural sections in the Torah about the sacrifices provides repentance (TB Megilla 31b).

 

16. Do “400 years” and “three generations” correspond, since a period of three generations is considerably less than 400 years? Moreover, there is no indication from the Torah that the Israelites were in slavery the entire time they were in Egypt. One way of looking at this sentence is to consider part of it as being in brackets (Nachmanides to Genesis 15:13). 'Know with certainty that your offspring shall be aliens in a land that is not theirs, (and they will serve them; and they will oppress them) four hundred years (Genesis 15:13). In other words, the Israelites will be aliens for 400 years but not in servitude all this time. Rashi to Genesis 15:13, based on the midrashic work Seder Olam, suggests that the four hundred years starts from the birth of Abraham’s biological son Isaac, and not from the time of entry of Jacob’s family to Egypt. Isaac was also an alien in a land not his. Hence, the comment “And the fourth generation shall return here” means that only three generations will actually live in Egypt. Thus, following Seder Olam, Rashi’s chronology is that Isaac was 60 years old when Jacob was born (Genesis 25:26), and Jacob was 130 years old when he went down to Egypt (Genesis 47:9). The Israelites were therefore in Egypt for only 210 years. Against this, the Bible itself states that the Israelites were in Egypt for 430 years (Exodus 12:40). I am unable to explain these discrepancies. 

 

17. The Covenant between the Pieces (7-21) in Abram to Abraham. A Literary Analysis of the Abraham Narrative by Jonathan Grossman, p180, Peter Lang AG, Bern Switzerland.

 

18. Chumash with commentary based on the teachings of Rabbi Joseph B. Solovitchick, p184. OU Press, New York NY. First edition 2013.

 

19. “You shall not taunt or oppress a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 22:20). Also, Exodus 23:9

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