THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM: A COMMENTARY

PROLOGUE

Judaic tradition tells us that the conduct of our biblical ancestors and the events described in the Hebrew Bible are guideposts for our own conduct and portents of the Future. Accordingly, we are permitted to critically analyze our biblical ancestors' actions -- both the praiseworthy and the blameworthy -- in order that we may know, in our own Day, which paths to choose and which to avoid. However, when we undertake this task we must be careful to submit to the requirement of the Torah that: "You shall not hate your brother in your heart; you shall reprove your fellow and do not bear a sin because of him." (Lev. 19:17). In other words, any such criticism must be proffered with love and for constructive purposes.

Of Noah the Torah says: "These are the offspring of Noah -- Noah was a righteous man, perfect in his generations; Noah walked with God." (Gen. 6:9). But, of Abraham the Torah says: "When Abram was 99 years old, HaShem appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be perfect.'" (Gen. 17:1).

Noah, a part of the antediluvian gentile world from his birth until its demise, was required only to confront his world spiritually. He was able to successfully accomplish this task by doing God's Bidding -- the incremental construction of an Ark -- in an open and public manner for a 120 year period, during which God afforded to Noah's fellow human beings an ample opportunity to repent of their Evil and to ponder the consequences of their continued rebellion against His Moral Code (-- "My Spirit shall not contend evermore concerning Man since he is but Flesh; his days shall be 120 years." (Gen. 6:3) -- ).

At the end of this long grace period, God vindicated the faith and obedience of righteous Noah by executing His prophesied Judgment upon the unrepentant world, thereby destroying all (non-aquatic) Life therefrom, except for that which had entered the Ark. This was for the benefit of Posterity, as the Hebrew Bible declares: "The righteous man shall rejoice when he sees Vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the Wicked. And Mankind shall say, 'Truly there is a reward for the Righteous. Truly there is a God Who judges on Earth.'" (Psalms 58:11-12)

In contrast, Abraham, while born into the postdiluvian gentile world, was separated from it and ceased to be a gentile thereafter. This separation was both spiritual and physical. As the Torah relates: "HaShem said to Abram, 'Go for yourself from your land, from your relatives, and from your father's house to the Land that I will show you.'" (Gen. 12:1). He was therefore identified as the "Ivri" (the "Hebrew"), not only because he was the sixth generation descendant of Ever (Eber), but also because God intended that he confront the gentile world both physically and spiritually. A hint of this can be found in the Hebrew-language name Ever which means "the other side" (from which is derived the Hebrew-language designation Ivri which means "he who is of the other side"), portending that the whole world would stand on one side of the great Divide while Abraham the Hebrew and his Jewish progeny would stand on the other side thereof. This dual separation of the Jewish people from the gentile nations would later be praised by the gentile prophet Balaam: "'For, from its origins, I see it rock-like, and from hills do I see it; behold! -- it is a people that [physically] shall dwell in solitude, and [spiritually] not be reckoned among the nations.'" (Num. 23:9). And God even chooses to describe Himself to the Jewish people by reference thereto: "'So I said to you, "You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to inherit it, a land flowing with milk and honey" -- I am HaShem, your God, Who has [physically] separated you from the peoples.'" (Lev. 20:24); and "'You shall be holy for Me; for, I, HaShem, am Holy -- and I have [spiritually] separated you from the peoples to be Mine.'" (Lev. 20:26).

Clearly, Abraham's task, which included the necessity of physical confrontation as well as its attendant risks, was, by its very nature, more difficult than Noah's task; for, if Noah's faith in God turned out to be misplaced, Noah and his family risked only scorn and derision, while, if Abraham's faith in God turned out to be misplaced, Abraham and his family risked death.

The potential consequences of misplaced faith thereby weighed heavily upon Abraham. And despite the fact that God directly revealed Himself to Abraham and promised Divine Protection to him in all that he would do -- saying: " 'And I will make of you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you, I will curse; and all the families of the Earth shall bless themselves by you.' " (Gen. 12:2-3) -- he still harbored residual doubts over God's Power and Promises which caused him, except in situations where no pragmatic or diplomatic alternatives were available, to act in ways which demonstrated his fear of the very gentile world from which, at God's Behest, he had separated.

However, the fact that Abraham often failed to fulfill God's Expectations of him in no way detracts from his lofty stature as the righteous progenitor of the Jewish people. As is conceded in the Hebrew Bible, "For, there is no man so wholly righteous on Earth that he will [always] do Good and will never sin." (Ecc. 7:20).

Yet, by means of the many trials that God would set before him, Abraham ultimately acquired that complete faith in God's Power and Promises for which he is held in so high an esteem to this very Day.

THE ASCENT INTO THE LAND OF ISRAEL

The Torah relates:

"And these are the generations of Terah: Terah sired Abram, Nahor and Haran; and Haran sired Lot. Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in his native land -- in Ur Kasdim. And Abram and Nahor took for themselves wives: the name of Abram's wife [was] Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife [was] Milcah [who was] the daughter of Haran [who was] the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah. And Sarai was barren; she had no child. And Terah took his son Abram and Lot -- the son of Haran -- his grandson and his daughter-in-law Sarai -- the wife of Abram his son; and they departed with them from Ur Kasdim to go to the Land of Canaan; they arrived at Charan and they settled there. The days of Terah were 205 years; and Terah died in Charan. HaShem said to Abram, 'Go for yourself from your land, from your relatives, and from your father's house to the Land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you, I will curse; and all the families of the Earth shall bless themselves by you.' So Abram went as HaShem had spoken to him, and Lot went with him; Abram was 75 years old when he left Charan. And Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot and all their wealth that they had accumulated and the souls that they had converted in Charan; and they left to go to the Land of Canaan; and they arrived at the Land of Canaan. And Abram passed into the Land as far as the site of Shechem, until the Plain of Moreh; and the Canaanite was then in the Land. And HaShem appeared to Abram and said, 'To your offspring I will give this Land.' So he built an altar there to HaShem Who appeared to him. From there 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 HaShem, and he called upon the Name of Hashem." (Gen. 11:27 -12:8).

"Terah sired Abram, Nahor and Haran; and Haran sired Lot. ... And Abram and Nahor took for themselves wives: the name of Abram's wife [was] Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife [was] Milcah [who was] the daughter of Haran [who was] the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah." Abraham (originally called by the name Abram) and Haran were half-brothers, as they had different mothers. Moreover, Haran sired three children: Lot, Milcah and Iscah. Milcah married her uncle Nahor, while Iscah married her uncle Abraham. Yet, the text states that Abraham's wife was Sarah (originally called by the name Sarai) rather than Iscah. This is because Iscah was an alternative name by which Sarah was known. The proof that Abraham and Haran were half-brothers and that Iscah was really Sarah can be discerned from Abraham's subsequent explanation to Abimelech, monarch of the Philistines, that Sarah was actually his half-sister ( -- "Moreover, she is indeed my sister, my father's daughter, though not my mother's daughter; and she became my wife." (Gen. 20:12) --). Yet, it is clear from the text's recitation of genealogy that Iscah-Sarah was Abraham's niece rather than his sister. Although, by virtue of biology, she was indeed his niece, by virtue of culture, she was also deemed to be his sister, as it was culturally normative in those times to treat one's grandchild (child's child) as one's own biological child and one's niece or nephew (sibling's child) as one's own biological sibling. Due to unique circumstances, the juridical implementation of this cultural concept would later be explicitly declared by Abraham's descendant, Jacob, to his son, Joseph, concerning his grandchildren, Menasseh and Ephraim: "And now your two sons -- who were born to you in Egypt before my coming to you in Egypt -- shall be mine; Ephraim and Menasseh -- like Reuben and Simeon -- shall be mine." (Gen. 48:5). In other words, Jacob declared that his grandchildren, Ephraim and Menasseh, would henceforth be deemed, not only culturally equivalent, but legally equivalent to his own sons; and, indeed, thereafter Ephraim and Mensasseh each became the founder and eponym of a tribe of Israel.

"And Terah took his son Abram and Lot -- the son of Haran -- his grandson and his daughter-in-law Sarai -- the wife of Abram his son; and they departed with them from Ur Kasdim to go to the Land of Canaan; they arrived at Charan and they settled there." Since Abraham and the other members of Terah's family were already on their way to the Land of Israel, why was it necessary for God to thereafter instruct Abraham to go there? The answer lies in the difference between volition and obligation. When it suited them, Terah and his family chose to relocate from Ur Kasdim (Ur of Chaldea) to the Land of Israel. When it no longer suited them, they changed their minds and chose to live in Charan. Even had they gone directly from Ur Kasdim to the Land of Israel, their journey would have been the product of whim rather than of obedience to the Will and Command of God. By instructing Abraham to continue on to the Land of Israel, God thereby converted volition into obligation -- whim into obedience. Accordingly, when Abraham initially departed from Ur Kasdim in order to go to the Land of Israel, no Kiddush HaShem (sanctification of God's Name) was thereby created, but when Abraham resumed the journey, he thereby effected a great Kiddush HaShem. This is a clear proof that the Jew's involuntary performance of God's Commandments is superior to the Jew's voluntary performance thereof. This is because a Jew's voluntary performance of the Commandments merely elevates his own ego, while a Jew's involuntary performance thereof subordinates his will to the Divine Will -- thereby demonstrating his Yirat Elokim (fear of Heaven) and, consequently, effecting a Kiddush HaShem.

" 'Go for yourself ...' " God instructed Abraham to embark upon a journey which would remove him from the lands and families of the gentile world. For Abraham, this journey was as much a spiritual ascent as it was a physical trek.

" ' ... to the Land that I will show you.' " Nevertheless, the journey's declared purpose was Abraham's physical relocation to the Land of Israel. The spiritual aspects of the journey, while crucial to God's Plan for Abraham and his covenantal descendants -- the Jewish people -- could not be fulfilled unless and until Abraham practiced his Judaism inside the Land of Israel. This simple message has been largely ignored by the religious leadership of the Jewish Diaspora who persist in living among the lands and families of the gentile world at a time when ascension to the Land of Israel is feasible. These lovers of the Exile point to the spiritual dimensions of Abraham's journey and conclude that because the purpose of the journey was spiritual elevation and enlightenment, and because such spiritual growth can now be fostered by and among the great Judaic institutions of the Diaspora, nowadays -- in this pre-Messianic era -- God does not really care where a Jew practices his Judaism. This view ignores the fact that, if He had so desired, God could have spiritually elevated Abraham in the midst of the gentile nations -- such as in Ur Kasdim or in Charan -- outside the Land of Israel. However, God knew that Abraham's spiritual growth was dependent upon his physical presence in the Land of Israel. In praise of this special Land, the Hebrew Bible would later say: "HaShem said, '… a good and spacious Land … a Land flowing with milk and honey …'" (Ex. 3:8); and: "For HaShem, your God, is bringing you to a good Land: a Land with streams of water, of springs and underground water coming forth in valley and mountain; a Land of wheat, barley, grape, fig, and pomegranate; a Land of oil -- olives and date-honey; a Land where you will eat bread without poverty -- you will lack nothing there; a Land whose stones are iron and from whose mountains you will mine copper. You will eat and you will be satisfied and bless HaShem, your God, for the good Land that He gave you." (Deut. 8:7-10); and: "But the Land, to which you cross over to inherit, is a Land of hills and valleys; from the rain of Heaven shall you drink water; a Land that HaShem, your God, seeks out; the Eyes of HaShem, your God, are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year." (Deut. 11:11-12); and: "The commander of HaShem's legion said to Joshua, 'Remove your shoe from upon your foot; for, the place upon which you stand is holy.' And Joshua did so." (Josh. 5:15).

" 'And I will make of you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you, I will curse; and all the families of the Earth shall bless themselves by you.' " This Declaration, made in connection with Abraham's imminent entry into the Land of Israel, represented God's first Promise to Abraham -- the Promise of Divine Protection. This Promise was made, not only to Abraham as an individual, but, as well, to Abraham as the progenitor and representative of the Jewish people -- his covenantal descendants who, nearly four millennia later, would be repatriated to the Land of Israel and thereafter constitute the citizenry of a resurrected nation-state of Israel. As such, this Declaration contains two important messages for modern-day Israel and its leadership.

" 'I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you, I will curse ...' " Firstly, this Declaration teaches us that God not only praises and causes benefit to the Righteous, but that He also condemns and causes harm to the Wicked. Who are the Righteous? -- Those who bless the Jewish people; for, God will bless none but the Righteous. Who are the Wicked? -- Those who curse the Jewish people; for, God will curse none but the Wicked. That this Declaration does, indeed, refer to the future Jewish people would later be confirmed through the public declamation of the gentile prophet Balaam who explicitly declared, in God's Name, concerning the Jewish people: "... Those who bless you are blessed, and those who curse you are cursed." (Num. 24:9). Just as the God of Israel, on High, condemns and causes harm to the nation that curses the Jewish people, so must the leadership of Israel, as God's Instrument on Earth, do the same. For, in destroying such an evil nation and thereby preventing it from further rebelling against God, Israel will have bestowed a great benefit, not only upon the Jewish people, but also upon that nation's inhabitants; as its dead will sin no more and its surviving remnant will repent and praise Israel. This is precisely the reason why God later demands of the nations: "O nations: Sing the praises of His People, for He will avenge the blood of His Servants; He will bring retribution upon His adversaries, and He will appease His Land [and] His People." (Deut. 32:43). This is in accord with the teaching of our Sages that when the Jewish people, acting through its leadership, kills an Evildoer it is doing a double kindness: "The death of the Evildoers is beneficial to them and beneficial to the World. The death of the Righteous is bad for them and bad for the World." (Sanhedrin 71b). It is understandable why it is good for the World to rid itself of an Evildoer who oppresses the Innocent, but why is this also good for the Evildoer? The answer is that by dispatching the Evildoer from this World, we are actually doing him a kindness because we are preventing him from committing further Evil, and we are thereby mercifully saving his soul from further descending into Depravity. This is precisely the reason why God had earlier removed Abraham's 13th generation ancestor, Enoch, from the antediluvian World. As the Torah relates: "And Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, for God had taken him." (Gen. 5:24). Our Sages explain that: "Enoch was a hypocrite -- sometimes Righteous and sometimes Evil. God said, 'Let Me remove him while he is still Righteous.'" (Bereshit Rabbah 25:1). At the End of Days -- in the aftermath of the messianic War of Gog and Magog -- the surviving remnants of the gentile nations will finally understand, and be grateful for the beneficence of, this principle (-- "' ... and all the families of the Earth shall bless themselves by you.'" --). That the gentile nations will be grateful to the Jewish people for the punishment inflicted upon them at the End of Days is presaged by the reaction of the citizenry of Exodus-era Egypt who -- after suffering God's horrific tenth and final Plague, in which He annihilated all of the first-born sons of Egypt -- voluntarily showered their former Jewish slaves with gifts. As the Torah relates: "It was at midnight that HaShem smote every first-born in the Land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh sitting on his throne to the first-born of the captive who was in the dungeon, and every first-born animal. Pharaoh rose up at midnight -- he and all his servants and all Egypt -- and there was a great outcry in Egypt; for, there was not a house in which there was no corpse. He called to Moses and to Aaron at night and said, 'Rise up, go out from among my people -- even you -- even the Children of Israel; go and serve HaShem as you have spoken! Take even your sheep and even your cattle, as you have spoken, and go; and bless me, as well.' Egypt imposed itself strongly upon the people to hasten [in order] to send them out of the land; for, they said, 'We are all dying!' The people picked up its dough before it could become leavened, their leftovers bound up in their garments upon their shoulders. The Children of Israel carried out the word of Moses; they requested from the Egyptians silver vessels, gold vessels and garments. HaShem gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, and they granted their request -- so they emptied Egypt [of its wealth]." (Ex. 12:29-36).

" ' ... and him who curses you ...' " Secondly, by making this Declaration, God is giving notice to the Jewish people that, in the Future, He will test their faith in His Promise of Divine Protection by raising up formidable enemies -- those who will curse the Jewish people -- which will cause Israel to fear for its very existence. Since these enemies and their world-wide supporters will be superior to Israel in both number and temporal power, Israel will naturally be tempted towards appeasement and, ultimately, capitulation, in exchange for promises of brief respite and, thus, temporary safety. Only in this manner will Israel's collective faith in God be tested; for God does not test Israel with either weak or cowardly adversaries -- such a "test" would be no test at all. However, by making this Declaration, God is also informing the Jewish people of the method by which they may pass such a future test, namely, that if the Jewish leadership will exhibit, in both word and deed, true faith in God's Power to fulfill His Promise of Divine Protection, then the enemies of Israel as well as their supporters -- all of those nations who seek to instill fear among the Jewish people -- will, mida k'neged mida (measure for measure), instead, fear for their own existences, because those nations will then tremble before the Power of Israel's Protector -- the Living God -- Who will then, without any delay, curse them (-- "' ... and him who curses you, I will curse ... '" --).

"And Abram passed into the Land as far as the site of Shechem, until the Plain of Moreh; and the Canaanite was then in the Land. And HaShem appeared to Abram and said, 'To your offspring I will give this Land.' " Despite the fact that the Land of Israel was then fully settled by the Canaanite nations, the God of Israel nonetheless issued to the newly-arrived Abraham an astounding Declaration: " 'To your offspring I will give this Land.' " This Declaration represents the intertwined Promises of Progeny and of the Land which has served, until this very Day, as the foundation stone for both the existence of the Jewish people and their right to the Land of Israel. In order to demonstrate his complete faith in the Promise of Progeny, Abraham was required, at the most basic level, to wholeheartedly believe that, come what may, he would not die before siring children. Similarly, in order to demonstrate his complete faith in the Promise of the Land, Abraham was required, at the most basic level, to wholeheartedly believe that, come what may, he would not be expelled -- by Man or Nature -- from the Land. What rights were conveyed by God to Abraham and his covenantal descendants by virtue of His Gift of the Land of Israel? There are two basic rights that exist with respect to land, namely, title and possession. An owner of land may retain for himself both the title thereto and the possession thereof; or he may transfer to another, as tenant, the possession thereof, while retaining for himself, as landlord, the title thereto. God's Gift of the Land of Israel to the Jewish people was one of possession only. For, the entire Universe was created by God alone; and, consequently, it belongs to Him alone. Accordingly, God divided among the nations, including the Jewish people, not title to, but only possession of, the lands of the Earth. As God would later declare to the Jewish people concerning their right to the Land of Israel: "'The Land shall not be sold in perpetuity, because the Land is Mine; for, you are [to be in possession of the Land merely as] sojourners and residents with Me." (Lev. 25:23); and: "'You shall possess the Land, and you shall settle in it; for, to you have I given the Land to possess it.'" (Num. 33:53).

"From there 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 HaShme, and he called upon the Name of HaShem." Abraham called upon God's Name as an expression of thanksgiving for His Promises and as a declaration of faith in His Power to fulfill those Promises. However, a theoretical belief in God's Power to fulfill His Promises is not equivalent to a pragmatic acceptance thereof. For, while the former entails only benign declarations of faith in God's Power, the latter entails conduct which would be foolhardy but for the sure knowledge that God's Power is real. Accordingly, complete faith in God's Power requires the marriage of pragmatic conduct to theoretical faith, the offspring of which is pragmatic faith. Anything less will not suffice for a leader of the Jewish people.

THE DESCENT INTO EGYPT

As the Torah continues:

"Then Abram journeyed on, journeying steadily towards the South. There was a famine in the Land, and Abram descended to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the Land. And it occurred, as he was about to enter Egypt, that he said to his wife Sarai, 'See, now, I have known that you are a woman of beautiful appearance. And it shall occur, when the Egyptians will see you, they will say, "This is his wife!" Then they will kill me, but you they will let live. Please say that you are my sister, that it may go well with me for your sake, and that I may live on account of you.' But it occurred, with Abram's coming to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. When the officials of Pharaoh saw her, they lauded her for Pharaoh, and the woman was taken to Pharaoh's house. And he treated Abram well for her sake, and he acquired sheep and cattle, and male donkeys, and male servants and female servants, and female donkeys and camels. But HaShem afflicted Pharaoh along with his household with severe plagues because of the matter of Sarai, wife of Abram. Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, 'What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she is your wife? Why did you say, "She is my sister", so that I would take her as my wife. Now, here is your wife; take her and go!' So Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they escorted him and his wife and all that was his." (Gen. 12:9-20).

"Then Abram journeyed on, journeying steadily towards the South." Why did Abraham travel without deviation towards the southern extremity of the Land of Israel -- and, consequently, towards Egypt -- well-prior to his decision to enter Egypt? Abraham's itinerary was influenced by God. For, He wanted to bring Abraham close to Egypt, so that he would he would experience the full allure of that wealthy land from just across its border at the very time that the Land of Israel was being wracked by a harsh famine.

"There was a famine in the Land ..." Why did God reward Abraham with the Gift of the Land of Israel and then, almost immediately thereafter, punish him with an unforgiving famine? It was precisely in order to test whether or not Abraham's theoretical faith in God's Power and Promises constituted, as well, a pragmatic faith therein -- in other words, to test whether or not Abraham was willing to marry future conduct to his present declarations of faith. Unfortunately, once confronted with the triggering crisis of the famine, Abraham thereupon revealed his lack of pragmatic faith in God's Power and Promises in two separate ways which both stemmed from the root fear that God, despite His Promise of Divine Protection, would not -- or, worse, could not -- safeguard his life.

" There was a famine in the Land, and Abram descended to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the Land." Firstly, Abraham, lacking pragmatic faith that God had the Power to sustain his life in the face of the famine, abandoned the Land of Israel to the Canaanite nations and thereby re-entered the accursed Exile, consequently lowering himself spiritually; as the Torah relates: "... Abram descended to Egypt ...". Accordingly, as demonstrated by his flight from the famine, Abraham's lack of pragmatic faith in God's Promise of Divine Protection had the infectious consequence of inducing Abraham to also doubt God's Promise of the Land, which, at its most basic level, constituted a Promise that, come what may, Abraham would not be expelled -- by Man or Nature -- from the Land.

"And it occurred, as he was about to enter Egypt, that he said to his wife Sarai, 'See, now, I have known that you are a woman of beautiful appearance. And it shall occur, when the Egyptians will see you, they will say, "This is his wife!" Then they will kill me, but you they will let live. Please say that you are my sister, that it may go well with me for your sake, and that I may live on account of you.' But it occurred, with Abram's coming to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. When the officials of Pharaoh saw her, they lauded her for Pharaoh, and the woman was taken to Pharaoh's house." Secondly, upon Egypt's threshold, Abraham, lacking pragmatic faith that God had the Power to protect him against the Egyptians, again feared for his life. Consequently, just as Abraham had abandoned the Land of Israel to the Canaanite nations in order to save his life from the famine, he was now willing to abandon his wife Sarah to Pharaoh in order to save his life from the Egyptians. That the term "abandon" accurately describes Abraham's actions with respect to Sarah is demonstrated by the fact that, immediately after Abraham proposed his deception to Sarah, Scripture ceases to refer to her as Abraham's "wife" and, instead, thereafter refers to her merely as "the woman"; for Abraham, by his shameful conduct, had ceased to treat her as his "wife". Accordingly, as demonstrated by his deception of Pharaoh, Abraham's lack of pragmatic faith in God's Promise of Divine Protection had the infectious consequence of inducing Abraham to also doubt God's Promise of Progeny, which at its most basic level, constituted a Promise that, come what may, Abraham would not die before siring children. Since the essence of Abraham was kindness and mercy, it might be argued that his deception of Pharaoh was induced by his natural aversion to conflict rather than by raw fear resulting from a lack of pragmatic faith in the God of Israel. Yet, Scripture itself refutes this view by revealing that Abraham said to Sarah concerning the Egyptians: "... Then they will kill me ...".

"And he treated Abram well for her sake, and he acquired sheep and cattle, and male donkeys, and male servants and female servants, and female donkeys and camels. But HaShem afflicted Pharaoh along with his household with severe plagues because of the matter of Sarai, wife of Abram." Abraham's reprehensible conduct required God's direct Intervention to save, not Abraham, who was made wealthy from the transaction, but rather Sarah, who was given over to an evildoer. It is noteworthy that only after God's redemptive Intervention does Scripture resume referring to Sarah as Abraham's "wife".

"Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, 'What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she is your wife? Why did you say, "She is my sister", so that I would take her as my wife. Now, here is your wife; take her and go!' So Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they escorted him and his wife and all that was his." Abraham's fear of Pharaoh -- which fear represents, more broadly, Yirat HaGoyim (fear of the nations) -- not only reflected his lack of complete faith in God's Power and Promises -- which complete faith is the embodiment of Yirat Elokim (fear of Heaven) -- but it also caused a Chillul HaShem (desecration of God's Name), because the Egyptians saw Abraham's lack of pragmatic faith in his Divine Protector; and this permitted evil Pharaoh to portray himself as the injured and, consequently, innocent party, and to publicly and contemptuously rebuke righteous Abraham -- the earthly representative of the God of Israel and the progenitor of the Jewish people -- for his faithless deception. It would have been otherwise if Abraham had fearlessly proclaimed to all that Sarah was his wife, thereby creating a Kiddush HaShem (sanctification of God's Name). For, although God's Intervention might still have been necessary to save Sarah, evil Pharaoh would not have been able to shame righteous Abraham in the Presence of God with words of hypocritical rebuke. Instead, just as Abraham, through his deception, had openly exhibited contempt for God's Promises -- mida k'neged mida (measure for measure) -- God permitted Pharaoh to openly exhibit contempt for God's earthly representative, Abraham.

Final confirmation that Abraham's departure from the Land of Israel was a breach of faith comes from God's later admonition to Abraham's son, Isaac, during a subsequent famine in the Land, as a result of which Isaac traveled to the south thereof with the intention of entering Egypt, as his father had done before him. As the Torah relates: "HaShem appeared to him and said, 'Do not descend to Egypt; dwell in the Land that I shall indicate to you. Sojourn in this Land, and I will be with you and bless you; for, to you and your offspring will I give all these lands, and establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father: "I will increase your offspring like the stars of the Heavens; and will give to your offspring all these lands; and all the nations of the Earth shall bless themselves by your offspring"'". (Gen. 26:2-4). God thereby restrained Isaac from repeating his father's mistake.

Yet, one lingering issue remains. Why did righteous Sarah conspire with Abraham in lying to Pharaoh? Moreover, why did Sarah leave the Land of Israel? There are two possibilities: Either Sarah shared Abraham's doubts about God's Promises to him of Progeny and of the Land, or Sarah did not know about these Promises. It is my opinion (based upon the evidence of Abraham's nondisclosure analyzed in this Commentary) that Abraham, lacking pragmatic faith in these Promises, decided not to inform his wife of their Existence. It follows that Sarah, being ignorant of these Promises, had no choice but to honor that which appeared to be Abraham's justified fears -- namely, those of starvation in the Land of Israel and of murder in the Land of Egypt. Accordingly, she agreed to leave the Land of Israel and to participate in her husband's deception of Pharaoh in the Land of Egypt.

THE DIVISION OF THE LAND BETWEEN ABRAHAM AND LOT

After Abraham and his nephew Lot returned to the Land of Israel from Egypt, their respective herdsmen began to fight over access to the Land’s resources. Abraham, fearful of being drawn into an internecine conflict under the gaze of the Canaanite nations, proposed to divide the Land between himself and Lot.

As the Torah relates:

"So Abram ascended from Egypt, he with his wife, and all that was his, and Lot with him, to the south [of the Land of Canaan]. And Abram was very laden with livestock, silver and gold. He went on his journeys from the south and until Beth-El, until the place where his tent had been in the beginning, between Beth-El and Ai, to the site of the altar which he had made there at the outset; and there Abram called upon the Name of HaShem. And also Lot, who went with Abram, had sheep, cattle, and tents. And the Land could not support them dwelling together, for [the requirements of maintaining] their possessions were great, and they were unable to dwell together. And there was quarreling between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock; and the Canaanite and the Perizzite were then dwelling in the Land. So Abram said to Lot, 'Please let there be no strife between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. Is not all the Land before you? Please separate from me: If you go left then I will go right, and if you go right, then I will go left.' So Lot raised his eyes and saw the entire plain of the Jordan [River] that it was well watered everywhere -- before HaShem destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah -- like the garden of HaShem, like the Land of Egypt, going toward Zoar. So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan [River], and Lot journeyed from the east; and they separated themselves, one from another. Abram dwelled in the Land of Canaan while Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain; and he [Lot] relocated tents as far as Sodom. Now the people of Sodom were wicked and sinful toward HaShem, exceedingly. HaShem said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, 'Raise now your eyes and look out from where you are: northward, southward, eastward and westward. For, all the Land that you see, to you will I give it, and to your descendants forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring, too, can be counted. Arise, walk about the Land through its length and breadth; for, to you will I give it!' And Abram relocated his tent, and he came and dwelled in the plains of Mamre which are in Hebron; and he built there an altar to HaShem." (Gen. 13:1-18).

"So Abram said to Lot, 'Please let there be no strife between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. Is not all the Land before you? Please separate from me: If you go left then I will go right, and if you go right, then I will go left.' " This solution -- land for peace -- was misguided, for Abraham had no right to relinquish portions of the Land of Israel -- even for the sake of peace and even to his close relation -- because possession of the Land was promised, not to Abraham alone, but to the entire Jewish people, although as yet unborn, in perpetuity.

"So Lot raised his eyes and saw the entire plain of the Jordan [River] that it was well watered everywhere -- before HaShem destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah -- like the garden of HaShem, like the Land of Egypt, going toward Zoar. So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan [River], and Lot journeyed from the east; and they separated themselves, one from another. Abram dwelled in the Land of Canaan while Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain; and he [Lot] relocated tents as far as Sodom. Now the people of Sodom were wicked and sinful toward HaShem, exceedingly." Why does the Torah bother to reveal the thought processes and motivations of Lot in choosing a dwelling place for himself and his family? And, moreover, why does the Torah also bother, at this precise point in its narration, to describe the moral character of the cities of the Jordan River plain? It is to demonstrate that the life decisions of Lot, nephew and ward of righteous Abraham, were based, not upon creating a Kiddush HaShem (sanctification of God's Name), but rather upon the acquisition of material wealth, even if that required him and his family to dwell among evildoers and thereby cause a Chillul HaShem (desecration of God's Name). But why does the Torah care to teach us this? It is to emphasize that righteous Abraham was wrong, not only for contemplating, generally, the relinquishment of a portion of the Land of Israel, but moreover, for contemplating, specifically, such relinquishment to one who was so unworthy to receive it. The Torah is here teaching to us a profound lesson concerning kindness and mercy, on the one hand, and entitlement to the Land of Israel, on the other hand: The fact that Abraham loved Lot as if he were his son, the fact that Abraham would even risk his own life to save Lot from harm, and the fact that their entire interpersonal relationship was predicated upon Abraham treating Lot with kindness and mercy caused Abraham to erroneously believe that it was permissible for him to bestow upon Lot a portion of the Land of Israel. This was so because righteous Abraham, whose very essence was kindness and mercy, did not yet understand the Divine Principle that there are times when the exhibition and application of kindness and mercy are misguided and wrongful and, consequently, a cause, not of Kiddush HaShem, but rather, of Chillul HaShem.

"HaShem said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, 'Raise now your eyes and look out from where you are: northward, southward, eastward and westward. For, all the Land that you see, to you will I give it, and to your descendants forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring, too, can be counted.' " Since God had already declared to Abraham His intertwined Promises of Progeny and of the Land, saying "' ... To your offspring I will give this Land ... '" (Gen. 12:7), why did God find it necessary, at this time, to repeat these Promises? It was precisely in order to correct Abraham's misplaced kindness and mercy to Lot and his descendants, the exhibition and application of which would have resulted in cruelty and depredation to Abraham's covenantal descendants, that God now appeared to Abraham and repeated His Promises. God thereby reminded Abraham that, although he had sought to divide the Land with Lot, he had neither legal authority (-- the Land was not Abraham's alone --) nor moral justification (--Lot was unworthy--) to do so.

" 'Arise, walk about the Land through its length and breadth; for, to you will I give it!' " To you and your covenantal descendants (the Jewish people) -- not to Lot and his descendants!

THE WAR AGAINST THE FOUR KINGS AND THE GIFT OF THE LAND

While Lot was residing in Sodom, the four dominant kings of the time defeated a rebellion staged by five vassal kings, including the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. In doing so, the dominant kings sacked these cities.

As the Torah relates:

"And it happened in the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goiim, that these [kings] made war on Bera, king of Sodom, Birsha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Admah, Shemeber, king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar. All of these had joined at the Valley of Siddim, which is [by] the Dead Sea. Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and [then] they rebelled [against him for] thirteen years. In the fourteenth year [after the commencement of the rebellion], Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and struck the Rephaim at Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim at Shaveh-kiriathaim, and the Horites in their mountains of Seir, as far as the Plain of Paran which is by the desert. Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat, which is Kadesh, and they struck all the territory of the Amalakites and also [all the territory of] the Amorites who dwell in Hazazon-tamar. And the king of Sodom went forth with the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar, and they engaged them in battle in the Valley of Siddim. [They engaged] Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, Tidal, king of Goiim, Amraphel, king of Shinar, and Arioch, king of Ellasar -- four kings against five. The Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen wells. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell into them, while the rest fled to a mountain. They seized all of the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah and all of their food; and they departed. And they captured Lot and his possessions -- Abram's nephew -- and they left; for he was residing in Sodom. Then there came the fugitive and told Abram, the Hebrew, who dwelled in the plains of Mamre, the Amorite, the brother of Eschol and the brother of Aner, these being Abram's allies. And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his disciples who had been born in his house -- 318 -- and he pursued them as far as Dan. And he with his servants deployed against them at night and struck them; he pursued them as far as Chobah which is to the north of Damascus. He brought back all the possessions; he also brought back his brother, Lot, with his possessions, as well as the women and the people." (Gen. 14:1-16).

Although Lot was not a righteous person, he nevertheless enjoyed the protection of his uncle and mentor -- Abraham. Accordingly, this physical aggression against the nephew and ward of Abraham constituted a direct affront to the God of Abraham; for, by this brazen act, the four kings openly demonstrated their disregard for God's Existence and Power, thereby creating a massive Chillul HaShem (desecration of God's Name). Once Lot was taken captive, all diplomatic avenues to saving him were closed to Abraham -- master and of kindness and mercy -- and he, consequently, had no choice but to put aside his natural aversion to conflict and, instead, to immediately go to war against these kings for the sake of Kiddush HaShem (sanctification of God's Name). He did this despite the obvious danger to his own life and the lives of his disciples, and despite the adverse consequences that such belligerent conduct might have upon his present and future relationships with these and other nations; and God consequently rewarded him with a miraculous victory over a vastly superior military force. Thus did the nations see the fearlessness and faith of a Jewish leader backed by the demonstrated Power of the God of Israel! From this episode each and every future Jewish leader is meant to learn that eradicating Chillul HaShem requires action without delay, despite the fact that the superior forces of the gentile nations are arrayed against him and despite the fact that Jewish life will thereby be put at risk. As God would later instruct Moses concerning the conquest of the Land of Israel: "When you go out to the battle against your enemy, and you see horse and chariot -- a people more numerous than you -- you shall not fear them, for HaShem, your God, is with you, who brought you up from the Land of Egypt. It shall be that when you draw near to the war, the Kohen shall approach and speak to the people. He shall say to them, 'Hear, O Israel, you are coming near to the battle against your enemies; let your heart not be faint; do not be afraid, do not panic, and do not be broken before them. For HaShem, your God, is the One who goes with you, to fight for you with your enemies, to save you.'" (Deut. 20:1-4).

It is instructive to note that, in describing the details concerning Lot's capture, the Torah refers to Lot as Abraham's "nephew", yet in describing Abraham's reaction to Lot's capture, the Torah twice refers to Lot as Abraham's "brother". Although it was indeed culturally normative for Abraham to have treated his brother's child as if he were his own biological brother, nonetheless from the text's repeated emphasis upon this latter designation we are able to gain further insight into the Commandment that: "'... You shall not stand aside while your fellow's blood is shed -- I am HaShem. ... You shall love your fellow as yourself -- I am HaShem.'" (Lev. 19:16-18). Scripture is teaching and warning each and every future Jewish leader that, when he rules in the nation-state of Israel, he must regard the lowliest Jew as his brother and must, consequently, always act, without delay, to safeguard or avenge his life to the same extent that he would so act (or have others so act) to safeguard or avenge his own life, regardless of the consequences that such forthright conduct might have upon relations between Israel and the gentile nations. It is only in this way that the gentile nations will come to acknowledge and fear the God of Israel, as the one and only Sovereign of the Universe -- a revelation which creates the ultimate Kiddush HaShem. On the other hand, a Jewish leader's failure to so act demonstrates to the gentile nations his abject fear of them, stemming from his lack of faith in the God of Israel -- a revelation which creates the ultimate Chillul HaShem. Due to the fact that the crisis caused by Lot's capture forced Abraham to risk, not only his own life, but, as well, by implication, the future existence of the entire Jewish people -- thereby blatantly implicating issues of Kiddush HaShem and Chillul HaShem -- Scripture chooses, precisely here, to refer to Abraham, for the very first time, as“HaIvri" ("the Hebrew") for it is here that Abraham was blatantly tested, in a manner requiring that he openly demonstrate his complete faith in the Existence and Power of God, as to whether or not he really stood on "the other side" (-- being the meaning of the Hebrew-language name "Ever", from which is derived the Hebrew-language designation "Ivri", which means "he who is of the other side" --) of the great Divide from the gentile nations.

There is yet another lesson to be gleaned from this episode, namely, the limits of the doctrine of Pikuach Nefesh (avoidance of danger to life). Abraham's war against the four kings teaches us that the doctrine dissipates upon the shoals of those national obligations in which danger inheres. The doctrine of Pikuach Nefesh posits that the performance of a Jew's individual obligation to his fellow Jew or even to God Himself will be excused if such performance would endanger the obligor's life. The basis for the doctrine is that preserving one's own life in order to perform many individual Mitzvot (Commandments) in the Future is of a higher value to God than is sacrificing one's own life in order to perform a single individual Mitzvah (Commandment) in the Present, especially since the performance of the individual Mitzvot, such as keeping Shabbat (Sabbath) and observing kashrut (kosher laws), are not meant to be dangerous to one's life. A typical example of the application of the doctrine of Pikuach Nefesh involves the ill Jew who must determine whether or not the doctrine excuses him from fasting on Yom Kippur, as a result of which he defers to the recommendation of an expert, namely, his physician. Relying upon the Yom Kippur paradigm, most contemporary rabbis have also applied the doctrine of Pikuach Nefesh to the permissibility of ceding portions of the Land of Israel to gentile sovereignty in an effort to appease modern Israel's enemies and thereby possibly avoid such warfare as will inevitably lead to Jewish casualties, all based upon the prevailing recommendations of the relevant experts, namely, Israel's military leaders. Of course, since Israel's numerous military leaders merely opine as to this issue in conformance with their respective preexisting political views, there are resultant rabbinical rulings -- predictably also mirroring the respective preexisting political views of their rabbinical authors -- which absurdly permit, as well as prohibit, ceding portions of the Land, all based upon the doctrine of Pikuach Nefesh. Yet, as Abraham's war against the four kings demonstrates, the doctrine was never meant to absolve the Jewish people from collectively fulfilling those national obligations which are inherently dangerous. Otherwise, all dangerous national Torah Mitzvot -- such as conquering the Land of Israel and maintaining possession thereof by force of arms -- would be rendered a nullity, never to be performed even once (unlike those benign individual Torah Mitzvot which, once the abnormal danger had passed, would again be capable of being performed with regularity). It bears repeating that when Abraham -- the very vessel from which the Jewish people were created -- went to war against the four kings, he endangered, not only his own life, but, as well, the very existence of the Jewish people. If the doctrine of Pikuach Nefesh had been properly applicable to determining the permissibility of freeing Lot from captivity, then Abraham would surely have been absolved of that dangerous national obligation. However, Abraham's prosecution of the war, despite its grave risks, establishes that the doctrine of Pikuach Nefesh is not applicable to the performance of those national obligations in which danger inheres. In fact, the inapplicability of the doctrine of Pikuach Nefesh to the dangerous national obligation of forcibly freeing Jewish captives would subsequently be affirmed by God Himself when Israel went to war against the king of Arad, thereby risking the lives of many Jews, over the matter of a single captive. As the Torah relates: "The Canaanite king of Arad, [who] dwelled in the South, heard that Israel had come by the route of the spies, and he fought against Israel and took a captive from it. Israel [thereupon] made a vow to HaShem and said, 'If He will deliver this people into my hand, [then] I will consecrate their cities.' HaShem heard the voice of Israel, and He delivered the Canaanite, and it [Israel] consecrated them and their cities. It [Israel] named the place Chormah." (Num. 21:1-3). Likewise, the inapplicability of the doctrine of Pikuach Nefesh to the dangerous national obligation of forcibly possessing the Land of Israel would -- decades prior to the incident with the king of Arad -- be affirmed by God Himself when Moses sent 12 tribal leaders from among the Jewish people to spy out the Land in preparation for their invasion and conquest thereof. Ten of the spies urgently recommended to Moses against the invasion. As the Torah relates: "They reported to him and said, 'We arrived at the Land to which you sent us, and indeed it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people which dwells in the Land is powerful; the cities are very greatly fortified; and also the offspring of the giant we saw there. Amalek dwells in the area of the South; the Hittite, the Jebusite and the Amorite dwell on the mountain; and the Canaanite dwells by the Sea and on the bank of the Jordan [River].' Caleb silenced the people towards Moses and said, 'We shall surely ascend and conquer it, for we can surely do it.' But the men who had ascended with him said, 'We cannot ascend to that people, for it is too strong for us.' They brought forth to the Children of Israel an evil report on the Land which they had spied out, saying, 'The Land through which we have passed, to spy it out, is a Land that devours its inhabitants. All the people that we saw in it were huge. There we saw the Nephilim, the sons of the giant from the among the Nephilim; we were like grasshoppers in our eyes, and so we were in their eyes.' The entire assembly raised up and issued its voice; the people wept that night. All the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, and the entire assembly said to them, 'If only we had died in the Land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this Wilderness! Why is HaShem bringing us to this Land [of Israel] to die by the sword? -- Our wives and young children will be taken captive! -- Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?' So they said to one another, 'Let us appoint a leader and let us return to Egypt!'" (Num. 13:27 - 14:4). The basis for their impassioned recommendation against the invasion was the doctrine of Pikuach Nefesh! They argued that the Jewish people were entitled to be excused from performing the national Torah Mitzvah of forcibly possessing the Land of Israel because this Mitzvah was extremely dangerous; and they logically reasoned that Jewish lives would be more endangered by performing this Mitzvah than by desisting therefrom. Yet, God Himself rejected this assertion. Seeing that His Gift of the Land of Israel to the Jewish people was despised, God adjudged that generation, except for Caleb and Joshua, unworthy to leave the Exile, and He thereupon pronounced sentence upon it, declaring: "'And your young children of whom you said they will become a prey [for the Canaanite nations], I shall bring them; they shall know the Land [of Israel] which you have rejected. But your carcasses shall drop in this Wilderness. And your children will roam in the Wilderness for 40 years and bear [culpability for] your strayings, until the consumption of [the last of] your carcasses in the Wilderness. Like the number of the days that you spied out the Land, 40 days, a day for a year, a day for a year, shall you bear your iniquities -- 40 years -- and you shall comprehend straying from Me. I, HaShem, have spoken -- [I am not HaShem] if I shall not do this unto this entire evil assembly that gathers against Me; in this Wilderness shall they be consumed, and there shall they die.'" (Num. 14:31-35). Clearly, the doctrine of Pikuach Nefesh is not applicable to the inviolability of the Land of Israel. Consequently, the doctrine can never be utilized to permit a Jewish leader to cede to gentile sovereignty any portion of the Land, even if maintaining possession thereof results in great danger to Jewish lives.

As the Torah continues:

"The king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, to the Valley of Shaveh, which is the king's valley. And Malchizedek, king of Salem [Jerusalem], brought out bread and wine; he was a priest of God, the Most High. He [Malchizedek] blessed him [Abraham], saying, 'Blessed is Abram of God, the Most High, Maker of Heaven and Earth; and blessed be God, the Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand'; and he [Abraham] gave him [Malchizedek] a tenth of everything. The king of Sodom said to Abram, 'Give me the people, and take the possessions for yourself.' Abram said to the king of Sodom, 'I lift up my hand to HaShem -- God, the Most High, Maker of Heaven and Earth -- if [I have taken] so much as a thread to a shoe strap; or if I shall take from anything of yours! So you shall not say, "It is I who made Abram rich." Only what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who accompanied me: Aner, Eschol and Mamre -- they will take their portion.'" (Gen. 14:17-24).

After Abraham's return from battle, he simultaneously encountered both Good and Evil. Malchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God, gave exclusive credit to the God of Israel for Abraham's victory, while Bera, the humiliated king of Sodom, deviously attempted to share in the credit for Abraham's victory by offering to "permit" Abraham to retain the city's looted possessions which Bera and his army had absolutely no part in recovering. Righteous Abraham publicly rewarded Malchizedek with a tithe of his own possessions, while he publicly rebuked Bera by openly crediting his victory to God and refusing Bera's "offer". Here is presented a profound lesson to every person who would become a leader of the Jewish people, namely, that a Jewish leader must always -- and without reservation -- publicly praise and embrace those who are Good, and publicly rebuke and confront those who are Evil. As the Prophet Amos would later declare: "Seek Good and not Evil ... Hate the Evil and love the Good" (Amos 5:14-15). Yet, while this proposition might seem self-evident in theory, it is extremely difficult to implement in practice. For, many well-meaning people delight in embracing the Good, as this entails pursuing a course of only benign conduct, but they recoil from confronting the Evil, as this entails pursuing a course of potentially dangerous conduct. Accordingly, by publicly rebuking the evil king of Sodom, Abraham thereby enhanced the Kiddush HaShem produced by his military victory over the four kings. Clearly, had Abraham decided to keep any of the recovered possessions of Sodom, not only might the king of Sodom have been able to claim that his generosity made Abraham wealthy, but others might have also inferred that Abraham went to war for material gain rather than to rescue his captive nephew -- all being false imputations which would, nevertheless, have converted Kiddush HaShem into Chillul HaShem. Conversely, by not retaining any of these possessions, Abraham sought to avoid any diminishment of the great Kiddush HaShem that he had wrought.

However, that being said, the great Kiddush HaShem created by Abraham's self-sacrificing conduct, consequent military victory and public acknowledgment of God's Providence was, nevertheless, diminished by two circumstances:

Firstly, that Abraham allied himself with a family of Amorites -- Mamre, Eschol and Aner; for, it is possible that some nonbelievers might have attributed Abraham's victory, not to the God of Israel, but to the assistance of the Amorites.

Secondly, that Abraham agreed to repatriate the newly-liberated people to Sodom; for, he thereby made it considerably more difficult for these morally-deficient people to overcome the temptations of their immoral surroundings.

Yet, Abraham's otherwise exemplary behavior in this episode provides us with a profound lesson for future Jewish leadership: True faith in the God of Israel -- which derives from Yirat Elokim (fear of Heaven) -- demands, not only that we publicly reward righteous leaders and publicly associate ourselves with them, but also that we publicly rebuke evil leaders and publicly disassociate ourselves from them -- without fear of the military or diplomatic repercussions of such action. Consequently, modern Israel's leadership should understand that, when powerful nations demand that Israel negotiate with those who seek to destroy the Jewish State and the Jewish people, God is testing that leadership in order to determine whether or not it has true faith in Him -- meaning Yirat Elokim rather than Yirat HaGoyim (fear of the nations). It goes without saying that Jewish leadership which lacks Yirat Elokim will always fail such a test.

Then the Torah continues:

"After these events, the Word of HaShem came to Abram in a vision saying, 'Fear not, Abram, I am a shield for you; your reward is very great.' And Abraham said, 'My Lord, HaShem-Elohim: What can You give me seeing that I go childless, and the steward of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?' Then Abraham said, 'See, to me You have given no offspring; and see, my steward inherits from me.' Suddenly, the Word of HaShem came to him, saying, 'That one will not inherit from you. Only him that shall come forth from within you shall inherit from 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 to him, 'So shall your offspring be!' And he trusted in Hashem, and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. Then He said to him, 'I am HaShem Who brought you out of Ur Kasdim to give you this Land to inherit it.' And he said, 'My Lord, HaShem-Elohim: Whereby shall I know that I am to inherit it?' " (Gen. 15:1-8).

"After these events, the Word of HaShem came to Abram in a vision saying, 'Fear not, Abram, I am a shield for you; your reward is very great.' " Despite Abraham's diminishment of the Kiddush HaShem which he had wrought, God was well-pleased with Abraham's exhibition of pragmatic faith in the matter of the four kings; and He thereby reassured a doubt-prone Abraham that just as His Promise of Divine Protection had been fulfilled (in the matters of Pharaoh and of the four kings), so would His Promises of Progeny and of the Land also be fulfilled in their respective times.

"And Abraham said, 'My Lord, HaShem-Elohim: What can You give me seeing that I go childless, and the steward of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?' Then Abraham said, 'See, to me You have given no offspring; and see, my steward inherits from me.' " Unfortunately, despite God's reassurance, Abraham's old doubts over these Promises, fed by his impatience, had already begun to resurface.

"Suddenly, the Word of HaShem came to him, saying, 'That one will not inherit from you. Only him that shall come forth from within you shall inherit from you.' " God, consequently, found it necessary to brusquely interrupt Abraham's complaints and -- in the several declarations that immediately follow -- to reaffirm to him, yet a third time, His Promises of Progeny and of the Land.

"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 to him, 'So shall your offspring be!' And he trusted in Hashem, and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. Then He said to him, 'I am HaShem Who brought you out of Ur Kasdim to give you this Land to inherit it.' And he said, 'My Lord, HaShem-Elohim: Whereby shall I know that I am to inherit it?' " This is a perplexing thing because after putting his doubts to rest and completely trusting in God's Promises, Abraham inexplicably asked a question which betrayed his lack of trust in those very Promises. A close reading of the text, however, appears to solve this puzzle, as it reveals that Abraham completely trusted in God's reaffirmed Promise of Progeny but not in His reaffirmed Promise of the Land! Perhaps that is because, from Abraham's vantage point, God's Promise of Progeny seemed more plausible than God's Promise of the Land. After all, in Abraham's eyes, fulfillment of the former was, logically, less dependent upon a Divine miracle than was fulfillment of the latter; and even if a miracle were to be required to effect conception, such a miracle, involving only two human beings, seemed to be considerably less complex, and, consequently, more capable of fulfillment, than the miracle required to effect the dispossession of entire peoples from the Land.

As the Torah continues:

"And He said to him, 'Take to Me three heifers, three goats, three rams, a turtledove, and a young dove. He took all these to Him: he cut them in the center, and placed each piece opposite its counterpart. The birds, however, he did not cut up. Birds of prey descended upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. And it happened, as the Sun was about to set, that a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold -- a dread! Great darkness fell upon him. And He said to Abram, 'Know with certainty that your offspring [the Jewish people] shall be aliens in a land not their own; they [the Jewish people] will serve them, and they will oppress them [the Jewish people] for 400 years. But also the nation that they shall serve, I shall judge, and afterwards they [the Jewish people] shall leave with great wealth. As for you: You shall come 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.'" (Gen. 15:9-16).

There were two alternative temporal means by which Abraham's covenantal progeny -- the Children of Israel -- could inherit the Land of Israel: The first way was without any suffering, in haste, through Abraham's (or the future Jewish people's own) righteousness. The second way was against the collective will of the Jewish people and after much suffering, in its natural time, when the sinfulness of the indigenous peoples would become so great as to cause God to dispossess them in favor of the Jewish people, but only in order to sanctify His Holy Name. After assessing Abraham's lingering doubts as to the Promise of the Land, God determined that the Jewish people would not merit the first path, but would, instead, be forced to endure the second path. And this second way would forever remain the path chosen by the faithless Jewish people throughout their long history.

As Moses would later explain to the Children of Israel concerning their return to, and conquest of, the Land of Israel under the leadership of Joshua: "Do not say in your heart, when HaShem pushes them [the Canaanite nations] away from before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness does HaShem bring me to possess this Land’; for, because of the wickedness of these nations does HaShem drive them away from before you. Not because of your righteousness and the uprightness of your heart are you coming to possess their Land, but because of the wickedness of these nations does HaShem, your God, drive them away from before you, and in order to establish the Word that HaShem swore to your forefathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And you should know that not because of your righteousness does HaShem, your God, give you this good Land to possess it; for, you are a stiff-necked people." (Deut. 9:4-6).

And as God Himself, speaking through the Prophet Ezekiel, would thereafter declare concerning the pre-messianic ingathering of the Jewish people to a resurrected nation-state of Israel in our own Day: "I scattered them among the nations and they were dispersed among the lands; according to their way and according to their acts did I judge them. They came among the nations where they came, and they desecrated My Holy Name when it was said of them, ‘These are the people of HaShem, but they departed His Land.’ I took pity on my Holy Name which the House of Israel had desecrated among the nations where they came. Therefore, say to the House of Israel: Thus said the Lord HaShem-Elohim: It is not for your sake that I act, O House of Israel, but for My Holy Name that you have desecrated among the nations where you came. I will sanctify My Great Name that is desecrated among the nations, that you have desecrated among them; then the nations will know that I am HaShem -- the Word of the Lord HaShem-Elohim -- when I become sanctified through you before their eyes. I will take you from [among] the nations and gather you from all the lands, and I will bring you to your own soil … Not for your sake do I act -- the Word of the Lord HaShem-Elohim -- let this be known to you! Be embarrassed and ashamed of your ways, O House of Israel!" (Ezek. 36:19-32).

A further understanding of the relationship between God's Redemption of the Jewish people "in its natural time" (due to their lack of sufficient merit to justify a hastened redemption) and God's Redemption of the Jewish people "in order to sanctify His Holy Name" can be gleaned through the words of the Prophet Isaiah concerning the End of Days: "Thus Justice has been withdrawn and Righteousness stands at a distance; because Truth has stumbled in the street, and Integrity cannot enter. Truth became lacking, and refraining from Evil was considered to be foolish. HaShem saw all this, and it was Evil in His Eyes that there is no Justice. But He saw that there was no [worthy] man, and He was astounded that there was no one to intervene [in order to restore Justice to the World and thereby sanctify His Holy Name]; so His [own] Arm wrought Salvation for Him, and it was His [own] Righteousness that was His Support. He donned Righteousness like armor and a helmet of Salvation on His Head; and He donned garments of Vengeance as His Attire and clothed Himself in Zealousness like a coat. Just as there were [previous] Retributions [against His enemies], so shall He [now] repay Wrath to His enemies, Retribution to His adversaries; He will pay Retribution [even] to the distant lands. From the West they will fear the Name of HaShem, and from the rising of the Sun [they will fear] His Glory; for [their] travail will come like a river; the Spirit of HaShem will gnaw at them. 'A Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those of Jacob who repent from willful sin' -- the Word of HaShem. 'And as for Me, this is My Covenant with them', said HaShem: 'My Spirit which is upon you and My Words that I have placed in your mouth will not be withdrawn from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring's offspring', said HaShem, 'from this moment and forever.' Arise! Shine! -- for your Light has arrived, and the Glory of HaShem shines upon you. For, behold, Darkness may cover the Earth and a thick Cloud [may cover] the peoples [of the Earth], but upon you HaShem will shine, and His Glory will be seen upon you. Nations will walk by your light and kings [will walk] by the brilliance of your radiance. Lift up your eyes all around and see; they are all assembling and coming to you; your sons will arrive from afar and your daughters will be raised at [their] side. Then you will see and be radiant, and your heart will be startled and broadened, for the affluence of the West will be turned over to you, and the wealth of the nations will come to you. ... Then the sons of foreigners will build your walls and their kings will serve you. Although I struck you in My Indignation, I have been merciful to you in My Grace. Your gates will be open continuously -- day and night they will not be closed -- in order to bring to you the wealth of nations and their kings under escort. For the nation and kingdom that does not serve you will perish, and those nations will be utterly destroyed. ... The sons of your oppressors will go to you submissively, and all who scorned you will prostrate themselves at the soles of your feet; they will call you 'City of HaShem, Zion of the Holy One of Israel'. Instead of you being forsaken and despised, without any tourist passing through, I will make you into an eternal pride, a joy for generation after generation. You will nurse from the milk of the nations, and from the breast of kings will you nurse; then you will realize that I, HaShem, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. ... No longer will Violence be known in your Land, nor Plunder and Calamity within your borders. You will call [God's] Salvation your protective walls, and [His] Praise [you will call] your gateways. The Sun will no longer be for you the light of day and brightness; and the moon will not illuminate for you. HaShem will be an eternal Light for you, and your God will be your Splendor. Never again will your Sun set, and your moon will not be withdrawn; for HaShem will be unto you an eternal Light, and the days of your mourning will be ended. Your people will all be righteous; they will inherit the Land forever -- a shoot of My Planting, the work of My Hands in which I will glory. The smallest will increase a thousand-fold, and the least [will become] a mighty nation. I am HaShem: in its time I will hasten it." (Isaiah 59:14 - 60:22). Since the redemption of the Jewish people has not arrived in haste, but rather will arrive in its natural time, it is difficult to understand why God then declares that He will "hasten" the Redemption "in its time" -- a formulation that appears to contradict itself. The explanation is that, although the Jewish people lack sufficient merit to warrant their redemption in haste, God's imperative need to sanctify His Holy Name -- not only among the arrogant gentile nations but, as well, among the faithless Jewish people -- nevertheless causes Him to redeem the Jewish people well-before the final Day upon which their redemption will naturally occur.

"And it happened, as the Sun was about to set, that a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold -- a dread! Great darkness fell upon him." God prepared Abraham for His solemn Response to Abraham's request for proof that he and his progeny would indeed inherit the Land by causing a dread and a great darkness to envelop Abraham although the Sun had not yet set -- this in order to impress upon Abraham the great disappointment God felt that, on account of Abraham's lack of complete faith in His Promise of the Land, Abraham's covenantal progeny would acquire the Land, not without suffering and in haste -- through Abraham's (or their own) merit -- but rather against the collective will of the Jewish people, after much suffering and in its natural time -- through the iniquity of the Canaanite nations.

"And He said to Abram, 'Know with certainty that your offspring [the Jewish people] shall be aliens in a land not their own; they [the Jewish people] will serve them, and they will oppress them [the Jewish people] for 400 years. But also the nation that they shall serve, I shall judge, and afterwards they [the Jewish people] shall leave with great wealth.' " As punishment for Abraham's sin, God decreed that the Jewish people, in a future generation, would be removed from the Land and become slaves to an evil empire, thereby initiating an era which would become known as the Egyptian Exile.

Yet God's Words are more than merely a declaration of delayed punishment. For, He is also teaching to the gentile nations and to the Jewish people a profound lesson: If, in the Future, an evil nation should dare to say that, since its persecution of the Jewish people was foreordained by God, its Evildoing was actually Righteousness, then that nation should know that, although its Evildoing may have served God's Greater Purpose, it is not thereby absolved from suffering God's Judgment; for, that arrogant nation will surely be punished for having committed Evil against God's People (-- "But also the nation that they shall serve, I shall judge, and afterwards they [the Jewish people] shall leave with great wealth." --). And, consequently, the Jewish people will receive just compensation for their ordeal and they, in turn, will exult over their tormentor's just punishment. As the Hebrew Bible explains: "The righteous man shall rejoice when he sees Vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the Wicked. And Mankind shall say, 'Truly there is a reward for the Righteous. Truly there is a God Who judges on Earth.'" (Psalms 58:11-12).

With respect to the foreordained Egyptian Exile, although Exodus-era Egypt is merely fulfilling a role assigned to it by the God of Israel, He will purposefully stiffen the resolve of its Pharaoh only so that He may exercise a horrific Vengeance against it as punishment for its evil enslavement of the Jewish people. As the Torah relates: "HaShem said to Moses, 'When you go to return to Egypt, see all the Wonders that I have put in your hand, and perform them before Pharaoh; but I shall strengthen his heart, and he will not send out the people. You shall say to Pharaoh, "So said HaShem, 'My First-born Son is Israel. So I have said to you: Send out My Son that he may serve Me, but you have refused to send him out; behold! -- I shall kill your first-born son.'"'" (Ex. 4:21-23).

But how can a gentile nation's persecution of the Jewish people truly be Evil if it has been foreordained by the God of Israel as a necessary chastisement for His People? The answer lies in the Truth that the very same event may constitute the simultaneous fulfillment of that nation’s evil intentions and God's Benevolent Purpose. As Abraham's great grandson, Joseph, would explain to his brothers concerning their earlier cruel sale of him to slave traders: "'Although you meant [to inflict] Evil upon me, God meant it for Good, in order to accomplish -- it is as [clear as] this day -- that a vast people be kept alive.'" (Gen. 50:20).

And yet, regardless of how Evil a gentile nation’s persecution of the Jewish people may actually be, why doesn’t God’s Foreordination of such persecution nonetheless exonerate that nation from moral responsibility therefor and, consequently, excuse that nation from suffering punishment on account thereof? The answer lies in the interplay between Predestination and Free Will. The leadership of such a nation will always possess the power to choose between Good and Evil (which is the essence of Free Will), while God -- possessing the Power to see all that was, is and will ever be -- will always know, ab initio, the results and consequences of those future choices (which is the essence of Predestination). Accordingly, it is not that such a nation’s course of action is fixed because God has foreordained it; rather, it is that such a nation’s course of action is fixed because its leadership has chosen it. An example of the interplay between Predestination and Free Will is Egypt’s harsh enslavement of the Jewish people and the horrific punishment it suffered on account thereof, all in conformity with the Words of God to Abraham. By informing Abraham about his progeny’s future travails and triumphs, God is declaring that which is predestined to occur owing to the myriad choices which will be made by Jews and Gentiles over the succeeding centuries. Yet, although God will strengthen Pharoah’s heart by placing before him a great temptation -- namely, a huge pool of potential slave laborers to be drawn from a segregated minority population which was already being viewed by the majority population with a combination of disdain (see Gen. 46:31-34) and envy (see Gen. 45:4-11; 45:16-23; 47:5-6; and 47:11-12) -- God will not command the leader of Egypt to persecute the Jewish people. Rather, Pharoah -- after considering the fecundity and growing wealth of the Jews in Egypt and the pecuniary advantages to himself of demonizing and exploiting this foreign population -- will choose to do so. As the Torah relates: "Thus Israel settled in the Land of Egypt in the region of Goshen; they acquired property in it and they were fruitful and multiplied greatly" (Gen. 47:27); and later continues: "The Children of Israel were fruitful, teemed, increased, and became strong -- very, very much so; and the land became filled with them. A new king arose over Egypt, who did not know of Joseph. He said to his people, 'Behold! The people -- the Children of Israel -- are more numerous and stronger than us. Come, let us outsmart it, lest it become numerous; and it may be that if a war will occur, it too may join our enemies, and wage war against us and go up from the Land.' So they appointed taskmasters over it in order to afflict it with their burdens; and it built storage cities for Pharaoh -- Pithom and Raamses." (Ex. 1:7-11).

" 'As for you: You shall come to your ancestors in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.' " If only Abraham had not tested God with his query over inheriting the Land, then perhaps the Jewish people, in Abraham's merit, would have been able to acquire the Land through the first path, namely, without suffering and in haste. However, none of this deprives Abraham of his greatness and exalted stature as our first forefather. For, although Abraham was not sufficiently righteous to merit for his covenantal progeny the first path to the Land of Israel, he was sufficiently righteous to merit for himself the love and respect of God and the promise of a peaceful death at a ripe age in the Land of Israel.

Yet, it seems incongruous that, in response to Abraham's sin, God would both punish Abraham's convenantal descendants with exile and slavery and reward Abraham with a long life and a peaceful death. Rather, it seems that God's evident love and respect for Abraham refutes the notion that Abraham had sinned through his lack of complete faith in God's Power and Promises! In this regard, let us consider the case of Abraham's righteous descendant, Hezekiah, monarch of the southern kingdom of Judah. Hezekiah was beloved of God on account of the fact that he had eradicated idolatry from Judah and had restored Yirat Elokim (fear of Heaven) among the Jewish people. Unfortunately, righteous Hezekiah, earthly representative of the God of Israel and leader of the Jewish people in his Day -- in a moment of weakness -- humbled himself before evil Babylonia, thereby exhibiting Yirat HaGoyim (fear of the nations) and, consequently, causing a great Chillul HaShem (see II Kings 18:1 - 20:21 and II Chronicles 29:1 - 32:33). Due to King Hezekiah's sin, God decreed that the Jewish people would be removed from the Land and become slaves to this same evil empire, thereby initiating an era which would become known as the Babylonian Exile. Yet, despite Hezekiah's sin, God punished neither Hezekiah nor the Jewish people in his Day. Rather, as was the case with Abraham's sin, God delayed the punishment of Hezekiah's sin until a future generation, thereby prompting Hezekiah to exult to himself: " ...'Is it not true that there will be peace and truth in my days!'" (II Kings 20:19). For, despite his momentary lack of complete Yirat Elokim, righteous Hezekiah -- like his ancestor Abraham -- merited God's love and respect as well as a peaceful death. As is recounted in the Hebrew Bible: "The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and all his might, and how he made the pool and the channel, bringing the water source into the city [of Jerusalem] -- behold, they are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. Hezekiah lay with his forefathers, and his son, Manasseh, reigned in his place." (II Kings 20:20-21); and: "The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and his kindnesses -- behold, they are recorded in the Visions of the Prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, and in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. Hezekiah passed away and was buried in the choicest section of the tombs of the children of [King] David. All of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem paid tribute to him when he died. His son, Manasseh, reigned in his place." (II Chronicles 32:32-33).

" 'And the fourth generation shall return here; for, the iniquity of the Amorite shall not yet be full until then.' " In specifically referring to the Amorites, as a symbol of the evil Canaanite nations, God was criticizing Abraham for having made an alliance with a clan of Amorites in the matter of the four kings. For, that alliance had diminished the Kiddush HaShem resulting from Abraham's miraculous victory by God's Hand.

However, in addition to presenting to Abraham this specific criticism, God is also teaching to the Jewish people a profound lesson for the Future: Abraham " ... dwelled in the plains of Mamre, the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and the brother of Aner, these being Abram's allies." (Gen. 14:13). Righteous Abraham did not associate himself with Evildoers. Accordingly, we can assume that Abraham's Amorite allies -- Mamre, Eshcol and Aner -- were also righteous! Yet, in God's Response to Abraham's questioning of the Promise of the Land, He specifically refers to the "iniquity of the Amorite". Furthermore, as God later warns Moses concerning the Canaanite nations, including the Amorite people, then occupying the Land: "'Beware of what I command you Today: Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivvite, and the Jebusite. Be vigilant not to seal a covenant with the inhabitants of the Land to which you are coming, since they will be a fatal trap for you.'" (Ex. 34:11-12); and: "'You shall devour all the peoples that HaShem, your God, will deliver to you; your eye shall not pity them; you shall not worship their gods, for it is a snare for you.'" (Deut. 7:16); and: "'But from the cities of these peoples that HaShem, your God, gives you as an inheritance, you shall not allow any person to live. Rather you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivvite, and the Jebusite, as HaShem, your God, has commanded you, so that they will not teach you to act according to all their abominations that they performed for their deities, so that you will sin to HaShem, your God.'" (Deut. 20:16-18). And Abarbanel (Don Yitzchak Abarbanel, 1437 - 1507), commenting on Exodus 34:11-12, declares: "Verses 11-12 inform us that since God is driving out the Amorites and the other nations, it is improper for Israel to forge a covenant with them. If a nobleman helps someone by fighting his battles and banishing his enemies, it is morally inappropriate for that person to make peace with them without that nobleman's permission. So, too, with God driving out Israel's enemies, it is inappropriate for Israel to forge a covenant with them, for that would profane God's Glory. This is especially so considering that this friendship and this covenant will not succeed. With Israel having taken their land, there is no doubt that they will constantly seek Israel's downfall. This is why it said, '...[the Land] to which you are coming...' Since Israel came to that Land and took it from its inhabitants, and they feel that it has been stolen from them, how will they make a covenant of friendship with you? Rather the opposite will occur: '...they will be a fatal trap for you.' When war strikes you, they will join your enemies and fight you."

How, then, do we reconcile the seeming contradiction between the righteousness of Abraham's Amorite allies and the iniquity of the Amorite people? And, moreover, how do we reconcile the seeming injustice of repaying Abraham's Amorite allies for risking their lives in aid of Abraham with the expulsion and destruction of their descendants by Abraham's descendants? The general principle to be learned is that while, individually, gentiles may indeed be righteous, collectively, they are not. That is precisely why Abraham's friends were righteous, but the nation to which they belonged was evil!

And should we have any doubts as to whether the specific reference to the "iniquity of the Amorite" in God's Response to Abraham constitutes a sufficient basis upon which to infer, by inductive logic, the general principal so stated, it is pointed out that the case of Mamre and his brothers represents but one example of righteous gentiles who were members of an evil nation against which the Jewish people were commanded to wage war without mercy. For instance, despite the fact that Malchizedek, king of the City of Salem, was a priest of God who merited to receive a tithe from Abraham (see Gen. 14:18-20), the inhabitants of Salem, nonetheless, remained subject to God's Decrees of Expulsion and Destruction. Furthermore, despite the fact that Jethro (also known in the Torah sometimes as Reuel, Jether and Hobab), priest of the nation of Midian, granted to Moses (after the latter's slaying of an Egyptian taskmaster) open asylum from vengeful Pharaoh and became the fugitive's father-in-law (see Ex. 2:11-21), and publicly declared the primacy of the God of Israel (see Ex. 18:9-12), and subsequently merited a personal invitation from Moses to join the newly-liberated Jewish people (see Num.10:29-32), God later instructs the Jewish people, under the leadership of Moses, to annihilate Midian as punishment for its collective iniquity (see Num. 25:16-18 and 31:1-20). Moreover, despite the fact that Rahab, a prominent inhabitant of the City of Jericho, risked her own life to hide two Jewish spies from City authorities, thereby preserving the secrecy of the impending Jewish invasion and conquest of the Land of Israel (see Josh. 2:1-23), the God of Israel thereafter instructs the Jewish people, under the leadership of Joshua, to lay waste to the entire city in order to terrorize the Canaanite nations then occupying the Land (see Josh. 6:1-27). In other words, the individual righteousness of Mamre and Machizedek and Rahab did not confer upon their respective peoples either any right to the Land of Israel or any reprieve from God's Decrees of Expulsion and Destruction.

Accordingly, the corollary principle to be learned is that a leader of the Jewish people is not permitted either to relinquish ownership over any portions of the Land of Israel to the amoral gentile nations or to tolerate any vestiges of their avodah zara (idolatry and other deviant worship) -- including those inherent in Christianity and Islam -- inside any portions of the Land, even if individual members of those nations are themselves righteous and even if such individuals have risked their lives and their property to aid the Jewish people. As to this last point, the God of Israel strictly adjures the Jewish people: "These are the decrees and the ordinances that you shall observe to perform in the Land that HaShem, the God of your forefathers, has given to you, to possess it, all of the days that you live in the Land. You shall utterly destroy all of the places where the nations that you are driving away worshipped their gods -- on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every leafy tree. You shall break apart their altars; you shall smash their pillars; and their sacred trees shall you burn in the fire; their carved images shall you cut down; and you shall obliterate their names from that place." (Deut. 12:1-3).

Furthermore, since -- with limited exceptions -- even those righteous gentiles (who reside either in a gentile country outside of the Land or in a gentile-dominated area inside of the Land) will, nevertheless, continue to participate in, and provide support for, their respective amoral societies, they and their descendants (-- as well as those "stiff-necked" Jews who insist on remaining in the Exile even during a time when the gates of the resurrected nation-state of Israel are wide open to receive them --) will ultimately share in the collective punishment that the God of Israel will mete out to the gentile nations during the future messianic War of Gog and Magog (see Deut. 32:43; Isaiah 45:14-23; Ezek. 38:1 - 39:8; and Zech. 14:1-21). That this will be the destiny of righteous gentiles who choose to remain among their respective amoral peoples during the End of Days is portended by the presumed fate of righteous Jethro. For, although Moses persistently invited Jethro the Midianite to join the Jewish people as they journeyed to the Land of Israel, Jethro firmly declined the offer. As the Torah relates: "He [Jethro] said to him [Moses], 'I shall not go; only to my land and to my clan shall I go.'" (Num. 10:30). Since the Jewish people later destroyed all of the Midianites (except for prepubescent females), it may be presumed that Jethro -- who insisted on living among them -- (but not his descendants, the Kenites, who became a separate nation) also perished at that time (see Num. 31:7-8 and 31:17-18). The fate of righteous Rahab, however, was quite different. For, by agreeing to separate herself from immoral Jericho and to instead live among the Jewish people, Rahab was spared the destruction meted out to her people. As the Hebrew Bible relates: "They burned the City in fire, and everything that was in it; only the silver and the gold and the vessels of copper and iron they gave to the treasury of the House of HaShem. But Rahab the innkeeper and her father's household and all that was hers, Joshua allowed to live; and she dwelled in the midst of Israel until this day, because she hid the messengers that Joshua had sent to spy out Jericho." (Josh. 6:24-25).

However, with respect to God's Commandments to expel and to annihilate the Canaanite nations from the Land of Israel, it must be noted that, at the time of the returning Hebrews' conquest of the Land under the leadership of Joshua, there were certain clans of Hivvites residing in the district of Gibeon which -- through an adroit combination of deceit as to their real identity and of complete prostration before Joshua and the Hebrew tribes -- convinced the Jewish people to conclude an alliance with them (in violation of God's Prohibition against such treaties), on account of which they were exempted from God's Decrees of Expulsion and Destruction (see Joshua 9:1-27). This incident raises another issue, namely, what would have happened if all of the Canaanite peoples, including the Amorites, had been as peaceful and as submissive towards the Hebrews as the Gibeonites? Putting aside the fact that the Hebrews were tricked into making their treaty with the Gibeonites, isn't it likely that the Hebrews -- as the covenantal descendants of the kind and merciful Abraham -- when faced with a peaceful and submissive native population, would have, in any case, found it morally difficult to treat this population as harshly as God had so commanded -- namely, not to make any alliances with them, but rather, without pity, to expel and to annihilate them from the Land? Despite the fact that God's Commandments were not made conditional upon the military posture of the Canaanite peoples towards the returning Hebrews, the answer to this question is in the affirmative. As is revealed in the Hebrew Bible: "Joshua waged war with all these [Canaanite] kings for a long time. There was not a city that made peace with the Children of Israel except for the Hivvite inhabitants of Gibeon; they [the Hebrews] took everything in battle. For it was from HaShem, to harden their [the Canaanite nations'] hearts towards battle against Israel, in order to destroy them [the Canaanite nations] -- that they not find favor [with the Hebrews] -- so that they would be extirpated [by the Hebrews], as HaShem had commanded Moses." (Joshua 11:18-20). This provides yet another lesson for the leadership of the modern nation-state of Israel. For, unquestionably, God has stiffened the resolve of our enemies -- even against a militarily formidable Israel -- and He has permitted them to perpetrate the most heinous atrocities against the Jewish people only so that when the Messiah -- as a component part of the War of Gog and Magog -- finally comes to expel and to destroy them, (most of) Israel will have, at that time, no moral qualms whatsoever about complying with God's Commandments which, at this time, so shock the mores and sensibilities of modern Jewish civilization.

After God had finished responding to Abraham's query seeking proof that his descendants would indeed inherit the Land, God once more repeated the Promise of the Land.

As the Torah continues:

"So it happened: The Sun set, and it was very dark; and behold -- there was a smoky furnace and a torch of fire which passed between these pieces. On that day HaShem made 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 [habitations of the] Kennite, the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite; the Hittite, the Perizzite, and the Rephaim; the Emorite, the Canaanite, the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.'" (Gen. 15:17-21).

This Covenant, known as the Covenant Between The Pieces, represented the fourth time (see Gen. 12:7; Gen. 13:14-17; Gen. 15:7; and Gen. 15:18-21) that God had declared to Abraham His Promise of the Land. Perhaps God decided -- mida k'neged mida (measure for measure) -- that just as Abraham, through lack of complete faith, had required Him to promise the Land four times, He would delay His fulfillment of this Promise, combined with much suffering, until the fourth generation of exiled progeny (-- " 'And the fourth generation shall return here; for, the iniquity of the Amorite shall not yet be full until then.' " --).

This is similar to the tragedy caused by the lack of complete faith of Abraham's descendant, Jehoash, monarch of the northern kingdom of Israel, in the deathbed prophecy of the Prophet Elisha concerning Israel's prospective victory over the mini-empire of Aram. As the Hebrew Bible relates: "Elisha said to him, 'Get a bow and arrows', so he took for himself a bow and arrows. He then said to the king of Israel, 'Position your hand upon the bow', and he positioned his hand. Elisha placed his hand upon the hands of the king. He then said, 'Open the window towards the East', and he opened [it]. Elisha said, 'Shoot!', and he shot; and then he said, '[It is] an arrow of salvation unto HaShem, and an arrow of salvation against Aram; you shall strike Aram at Aphek to utter destruction!' Then he said, 'Take the arrows', and he took [them]. He said to the king of Israel, 'Strike [them] to the ground!', and he struck [them] three times and stopped. The man of God became angry with him and said, '[Were you] to strike five or six times, you would have smitten Aram to utter destruction!' But now you will strike at Aram [only] three times.' Then Elisha died and they buried him." (II Kings 13:15-20).

Scripture clearly teaches and warns the Jewish people that their leaders' lack of complete faith in God has dire consequences, not only for them in their Day, but, as well, for their descendants in future days.

THE GIFT OF OFFSPRING

After having seen, with his own eyes, God's Punishment of Pharaoh on account of his wife, Sarah, in order to restore her to him, and after having heard, with his own ears, God's oft-repeated Promise of Progeny, Abraham could not have believed that his promised offspring would come through a woman other than Sarah, meaning that Abraham must have always understood God's Promise of Progeny to be a promise made to him and Sarah jointly.

This being the case, it is puzzling that righteous Sarah, who had been saved from evil Pharaoh by the Hand of Omnipotent God, would now doubt God's Promise to her. For she knew that Omniscient God would not make such a Promise to her, only to later retract it. She understood -- as the gentile prophet Balaam would later declare to Balak, king of Moab: "‘God is not a man that He should be deceitful, nor a son of man that He should relent. Would He say and not do, or speak and not confirm? ’" (Num. 23:19), and as the Prophet Samuel would thereafter remind Saul, first king of united Israel: "‘Moreover, the Eternal One of Israel does not lie and does not relent, for He is not a human that He should relent ’" (I Samuel 15:29) -- that once God promised, He would fulfill.

However, as the Torah relates:

"Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had born to him no children. She had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, 'See, now, HaShem has restrained me from bearing; consort, now, with my maidservant; perhaps I will be built up through her.' And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. So, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her maidservant -- after 10 years of Abram's dwelling in the Land of Canaan -- and gave her to Abram her husband, to him as a [secondary] wife. He consorted with Hagar and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was lowered in her esteem. So Sarai said to Abram, 'The outrage against me is due to you! It was I who gave my maidservant into your bosom, and now that she sees that she has conceived, I became lowered in her esteem. Let HaShem judge between me and you.' Abram said to Sarai, 'Behold! -- your maidservant is in your hand; do to her as you see fit.' And Sarai dealt harshly with her, so she fled from her. An Angel of HaShem found her by the spring of water in the desert, at the spring on the road to Shur. And he said, 'Hagar, maidservant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?' And she said, "I am running away from Sarai my mistress.' And an Angel of HaShem said to her, 'Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her domination.' And an Angel of HaShem said to her, 'I will greatly increase your offspring, and they will not be counted for abundance.' And an Angel of HaShem said to her, 'Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son; and you shall name him Ishmael; for, HaShem has heard your prayer. And he shall be a barbarian of a man -- his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him; and over all of his brothers shall he dwell.' And she called the Name of HaShem Who spoke to her: "You are a God of Seeing"; for, she said, 'Have I even seen [Him] here after my seeing [Him]?' Therefore, the well was called: "Be’er Lachai Ro’i" [meaning: "Well of the Living One of Seeing"]. It was between Kadesh and Bered. Hagar bore to Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son that Hagar bore to him Ishmael. And Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram." (Gen. 16:1-16).

"Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had born to him no children. She had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, 'See, now, HaShem has restrained me from bearing; consort, now, with my maidservant; perhaps I will be built up through her.' " Please notice by her words that Sarah -- unlike Abraham -- never doubted God's Power to cause her to conceive. On the contrary, she explicitly attributed her failure to conceive to God's Power, the necessary corollary of which is that God also possessed the Power to cause her to conceive. But, if Sarah had pragmatic faith in God's Power to cause her to conceive, and if she was also aware of God's Promise that He would, in fact, eventually cause her to conceive, then how can it be that she lacked the patience to wait for the certain fulfillment of that Promise? The answer is that Sarah lacked, not the patience for the fulfillment, but rather only the knowledge of the making of, God's Promise of joint Progeny. For, Abraham -- lacking pragmatic faith in the efficacy of this Promise -- had not conveyed it to Sarah. This would serve to explain why Sarah, rather than patiently wait for conception, instead persuaded Abraham to take Hagar as a secondary wife. For, if Sarah had known that God had promised a child to her, then never would she have erroneously assumed that her present barrenness was due to God's Decision that she not ever conceive.

"And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. So, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her maidservant -- after 10 years of Abram's dwelling in the Land of Canaan -- and gave her to Abram her husband, to him as a [secondary] wife." However, since it is known to us that God intended to -- and, in fact, would -- eventually fulfill His Promise of joint Progeny, what, then, might have been God's purpose in temporarily preventing Sarah from conceiving even after 10 years in the Land? It seems that God was using Sarah's decade-long barrenness as another test of Abraham's faith. When Sarah urged Abraham to accept Hagar as his concubine so that he might have children, he should have immediately disclosed to her God's Promise of joint Progeny. Had he done so, there is no doubt that she would have, in turn, immediately withdrawn her offer of Hagar in order to thereby demonstrate her fidelity to God's Promise. However, by his accep