1 Now the LORD said unto Abram, “Go out from your country and from your kindred, and from your father’s house, into the land that I will show you;
2 and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you will be a blessing;
3 and I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you; and in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”
4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him; and Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the souls that they had made in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Shechem, unto the oak[a] of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.
7 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, “Unto your seed I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
8 And he went from there to the mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.
9 And Abram journeyed, traveling continuously into the south.
10 And there was a famine in the land; and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was severe.
11 And it came to pass, when he was near the land of Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Behold now, I know that you are a woman of great beauty,”
12 “and it will come to pass, when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife;’ and they will kill me, but they will keep you alive.”
13 “Please say that you are my sister, that it may go well with me for your sake, and that my soul will live because of you.”
14 And it came to pass, that, when Abram had come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.
15 And the princes of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into the house of Pharaoh.
16 And he entreated Abram well for her sake; and he had sheep, and oxen, and male donkeys; servants and handmaids, and female donkeys, and camels.
17 And the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
18 And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, “What is this that you have done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she was your wife?
19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her, and go thy way.”
20 And Pharaoh commanded his men commandment concerning Abram; then they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.
[3] GNV heading “Christ is promised.”
[6] The oak(s) there were terebinth trees.
[9] Hebrew Negeb, the southern tract of Judah. Going and traveling in intervals, staying here and there for a week or a month, towards the south of Israel (Jerusalem); thus Judah takes it’s portion from the south of Israel.
[12] The morality in Egypt was such that they would not commit adultery with a married woman, but they would kill her husband first to take her.
[17] lit. ‘according to her words’ — Sarai would say to the angel ‘strike’ and the angel would strike.
Selected commentary.
h.לך לך GET THEE OUT (literally, go for thyself) — for your own benefit, for your own good: there I will make of you a great nation whilst here you will not merit the privilege of having children (Rosh Hashanah 16b). Furthermore, I shall make known your character throughout the world (Midrash Tanchuma, Lech Lecha 3)
h.ואעשך לגוי גדול AND I WILL MAKE OF THEE A GREAT NATION — Since travelling is the cause of three things—it decreases (breaks up) family life, it reduces one’s wealth and lessens one’s renown, he therefore needed these three blessings: that God should promise him children, wealth and a great name (Genesis Rabbah 39:11).
h.ואברכך AND I WILL BLESS THEE — with wealth (Genesis Rabbah 39:11).
h.והיה ברכה AND BE THOU A BLESSING — Blessings are entrusted to you; hitherto they were in My power — I blessed Adam and Noah — but from now on you shall bless whomsoever you wish (Genesis Rabbah 39:11) Another explanation is: AND I WILL MAKE THEE A GREAT NATION, this alludes to the fact that we say in our prayer “God of Abraham”; AND I WILL BLESS THEE — that we say, “God of Isaac”; AND I WILL MAKE THY NAME GREAT — that we say, “God of Jacob”. One might think that we should conclude the benediction in which these invocations are recited by mentioning again the names of all the patriarchs — the text therefore states “Be thou a blessing” meaning, with you (i.e. with your name only) shall they conclude the benediction and not with them (their names) (Pesachim 117b).
h.מארצך FROM THY LAND — But had he not already departed from there together with his father and had reached as far as Haran (Genesis 11:31)? But thus God in effect said to him: Go still further away — leave now thy father’s house also.
h.אשר אראך WHICH I WILL SHOW THEE — He did not reveal to him at once which land it was in order that he should hold it in high esteem and in order to reward him for complying with each and every command. Similar is, (Genesis 22:2) “Take thy son — thine only son — whom thou lovest — even Isaac”; similar is (Genesis 22:2) “upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of”; similar is, (Jonah 3:2) “And make unto it the proclamation that I shall tell thee of” (Genesis Rabbah 39:9).
h.ונברכו בך AND IN THEE SHALL BE BLESSED — There are many Agadoth concerning this but the plain sense of the text is as follows: A man says to his son, “Mayest thou become as Abraham”. This, too, is the meaning wherever the phrase ונברכו בך “And in thee shall be blessed” occurs in Scripture, and the following example proves this: (Genesis 48:20) בך יברך “By thee shall Israel bless their children saying, “May God make thee as Ephraim and Manasseh”.
h.אשר עשו בחרן [THE SOULS] THAT THEY HAD GOTTEN (literally, made) IN HARAN — The souls which he had brought beneath the sheltering wings of the Shechinah. Abraham converted the men and Sarah converted the women and Scripture accounts it unto them as if they had made them (Genesis Rabbah 39:14). However, the real sense of the text is that it refers to the men-servants and to the maidservants whom they had acquired for themselves. The word “עשה” is used here as (in Genesis 31:1), “he has acquired (עשה) all this wealth”, and (Numbers 24:8), “And Israel acquires (עושה) wealth” — an expression for acquiring and amassing.
h.ויעבר אברם בארץ AND ABRAHAM PASSED THROUGH THE LAND — he entered it.
h.עד מקום שכם UNTO THE PLACE OF SHECHEM — In order to pray on behalf of Jacob’s sons, anticipating the time when they would come to fight against Shechem.
h.אלון מורה THE PLAIN OF MOREH — This is Shechem (Sotah 32a). He showed him Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal where Israel took upon themselves the oath to observe the Torah (cf. Deuteronomy 11:29 and Deuteronomy 111:30).
h.והכנעני אז בארץ AND THE CANAANITE WAS THEN IN THE LAND — They (the Canaanites) were gradually conquering the land of Israel from the descendants of Shem, for it had fallen to the share of Shem when Noah apportioned the earth amongst his sons, for it is said (Genesis 14:18) “And Melchizedek) king of Salem (Jerusalem)”. For this reason the Lord said to Abram (Genesis 12:7) “to thy seed will I give this land” — “I will in some future time return it to thy children who are descendants of Shem”.
h.ויבן שם מזבח AND HE BUILDED THERE AN ALTAR — in thanksgiving for the good tidings that he would have children, and for the good tidings that they would possess the land of Israel.
h.ויעתק משם AND HE REMOVED FROM THERE — supply the word אהלו “his tent”.
h.מקדם לבית אל means ON THE EAST OF BETHEL. Consequently Bethel lay to his west, and that is what it states בית אל מים BETHEL ON THE WEST.
h.אהלה HIS TENT — This word is written with a ה suffixed instead of the usual ו so that it may read אָהֳלָהּ “her tent” to intimate that first he pitched a tent for his wife and afterwards one for himself (Genesis Rabbah 39:15).
h.ויבן שם מזבח AND HE BUILDED THERE AN ALTAR — He perceived by the gift of prophecy that his descendants would once stumble (fall into sin) there through Achan’s transgression (see, Joshua 7): therefore he prayed there for them (Genesis Rabbah 39:15).
h.הלוך ונסוע GOING ON MORE AND MORE TOWARDS THE NEGEB — by stages: he stayed here a month or more, then travelled on and pitched his tent in another place. Yet all his journeys were towards the Negeb to proceed to the South of the land of Israel which is the direction where Jerusalem is — which is in the territory of Judah who had their portion in the South of the land of Israel — to Mount Moriah which is his (Judah’s) possession (cf. Genesis Rabbah 39:16).
h.רעב בארץ A FAMINE IN THE LAND — in that land only to test him whether he would take exception to God’s commands in that He had bidden him to go to the land of Canaan and now forced him to leave it (Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer 26).
h.הנה נא ידעתי BEHOLD NOW I KNOW — The Midrashic explanation is: Until now he had not perceived her beauty owing to the extreme modesty of both of them; now, however, through this event, he became cognisant of it (Midrash Tanchuma, Lech Lecha 5). Another explanation: Usually, because of the exertion of travelling a person becomes uncomely, but she had retained her beauty (Genesis Rabbah 40:4). Still, the real sense of the text is this: Behold, now the time has come when I am anxious because of thy beauty. I have long known that thou art fair of appearance: but now we are travelling among black and repulsive people, brethren of the Ethiopians (Kushim), who have never been accustomed to see a beautiful woman. A similar example is, (Genesis [19]:2) “Behold, now, my lords, turn aside I pray you.”).
h.למען ייטב לי בעבורך THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH ME FOR THY SAKE — they may give me presents.
h.ויהי כבא אברם מצרימה AND IT CAME TO PASS WHEN ABRAM WAS COME INTO EGYPT —It should have said, “when they were come into Egypt”; but the use of the singular teaches us that he hid her in a chest, and when they demanded the custom dues they opened it and discovered her (Genesis Rabbah 40:5).
h.ויהללו אותה אל פרעה AND THEY PRAISED HER TO PHARAOH — They praised her among themselves saying, “This woman is worthy of the king (i. e. they praised her as being suitable אל פרעה for Pharaoh).
h.ולאברם הטיב בעבורה AND TO ABRAM HE DEALT WELL — he means Pharaoh — בעבורה FOR HER SAKE.
h.'וינגע ה' וגו AND THE LORD PLAGUED PHARAOH etc. — He was smitten with the disease of Raathon which demands close continence (Genesis Rabbah 41:2).
h.ואת ביתו AND HIS HOUSE — Take it as the Targum has it: “and the people of his house”. A Midrashic explanation is: the word את is used here to imply that included in the curse were also its walls, pillars and its utensils (Midrash Tanchuma, Lech Lecha 5). The whole of this explanation of ואת ביתו is given in an old text of Rashi.
h.על דבר שרי BECAUSE OF SARAI (literally, by the word of Sarai) — at her orders: she said to the angel “Smite” and he smote (Midrash Tanchuma, Lech Lecha 5).
h.קח ולך TAKE HER AND GO AWAY — Not as Abimelech who said to him (Genesis 20:15) “Behold, my land is before thee; dwell wherever it seemeth proper to thee”: but he (Pharaoh) said to him, “Go and do not stay here,” for the Egyptians are greatly addicted to lewd-living, as it is said. (Ezekiel 23:20). “And whose issue is like the issue of horses” (Midrash Tanchuma, Lech Lecha 5). (The passage deals with the immoral practices of the Egyptians).
h.ויצו עליו AND PHARAOH GAVE COMMAND CONCERNING HIM— עליו means for his sake — to escort him and to protect him.
h.וישלחו AND THEY ACCOMPANIED HIM — as the Targum has it: they gave him an escort.