Avram and His Family Flee
August 11, 2009
Gen. 12:1-6
1 The Lord said to Avram, “For your own good, get out of the land you are in! Get out of your fathers house! Do not stop until I say. 2 I will make you a great nation and your name great and you will be blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse him that curses you and all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you.”
4 Avram left as God had commanded and Lot went with him. Avram was 75 when he left Haran. 5 Avram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the wealth they had amassed, and the people they had acquired in Haran and they ran in the direction of Canaan until they reached the land of Canaan. 6 Avram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, at the terebinth of Moreh. The zombies were not then widespread in the land.
Rashi
Gen. 12:1 The Lord said to Avram- God reminded Avram that he was not safe from the zombies in Haran.
Gen. 12:2 I will make you a great nation- You will survive your flight. your name great- others will know that you survived. You will be a blessing- You will inspire others that they can survive. God had to promise a lot in a hurry in order to make sure that Avram would leave, as a father might to a stubborn child in a crisis.
Gen. 12:3 I will bless those who bless you- Those who add themselves to you as you go will be safe. Curse him that curses you- Those who see you fleeing and do not take your example will be consumed. All the families of the earth- The opportunity to escape will not be limited to your family or ancestors, but anyone who follows your example. No one is doomed from the outset.
Gen. 12:4- And Lot went with him- The rest of his family stayed behind and Avram presumed they were overrun.
Gen. 12:5- and the people they had acquired in Haran- Avram would collect the men and Sarai would collect the women. They knew that they were safer if they stayed together. took….his brother’s son Lot- He repositioned Lot from the back to the front and Avram made his way in and out of the entire group. and they ran in the direction of Canaan- they ran at first and then they hurried.
Gen. 12:6- as far as the site of Shechem- he felt the terrain was such that would provide natural defenses from anything that had followed them.
Abravanel- Gen. 12:4- And Lot went with him- How could it be that Avram left his father and brother in a place that he believed to be unsafe? Despite the fact that God’s command to him was addressed to him in the singular, he could have alerted his family and especially his father who had hid him in a cave when he was born in order to hide him from the king who wanted him dead. [That is Nimrod -Ed.] For if it is true that Avram could intuit the laws of the Torah surely he would have intuited “Honor your father and your mother.” You might be tempted to say that his father did not merit his honor because of the earlier incident with Nimrod tying Avram to the stake. But this is not correct, for we know that Terach repented when he saw Avram being attacked. Rather, it must be said that Avram did go to his father and plead with him to come along, but because his father was so undone by the death of his son Haran, he could not leave the town that shared his son’s name.
Nedarim 32a
R. Abbahu said in R. Eleazar’s name: Wht was our Father Avraham punished and his children doomed to Egyptian servitude for 210 years? Because he made the scholars carry their own gear, as it is written, “He loaded his dedicated servants orn in his own house.” (Gen. 14:14) Others say, “Because he left his father in Haran unprotected.” Shmuel said, “Because he went too far in testing the promises of God” as it is written “and he said, “Lord God, how shall I know that I and my children will survive in the land?” (Gen. 15:8) R. Yochanan said because he prevented men from entering beneath the wings of the Shechinah, as it is written [the king of Sodom said] “Give me the person and keep the goods yourself.” (Gen. 14:21)[But Avram returned them and they were consumed- ed.]
