פירוש על בראשית 12:4

וילך אברם, Abram went, etc. In view of verse 5 which describes Abraham's journey in detail, this entire verse seems superfluous.

וילך אברם, he came as far as Charan where he left his father behind, and proceeded to the land of Canaan.

ואברם בן חמש שנים ושבעים שנה בצאתו מחרן, “Avraham was 75 years of age when he emigrated from Charan.” The reason why the Torah recorded Avraham’s age at this stage was to show that he left his father in order to obey G’d’s instructions. According to the ancient historical text known as סדר עולם, Avraham undertook two emigrations, this being his second. He had gone to the land of Canaan the first time at the age of 70 where G’d had made the promises to him that are recorded in chapter 15. This is based on the Torah saying in Exodus 12,40 that the total period the Israelites spent in Egypt amounted to 430 years. Seeing that in chapter 15 G’d spoke about a period of 400 years during which his descendants were to be either strangers or strangers and slaves in a foreign country, it follows that until the birth of Yitzchok when Avraham was 100 years of age the fulfillment of that prophecy could not have commenced. Seeing that Avraham was in the land of Canaan for a brief period at that time, the countdown for the realization of this prophecy could begin from that time on. Furthermore, at the time when Avraham defeated the kings who had taken Lot prisoner he was 74 years of age. This is arrived at by the fact that he was 48 years old at the time when these city-kingdoms were founded and populated. For 12 years the political situation had remained stable with the kings of these cities paying annual taxes to Kedorleomer. Thus Avraham was 60 years old at the time when the city-kingdoms rebelled and refused to continue paying their taxes. 14 years later the four kings, including Kedorleomer, mounted the punitive expedition as a result of which Lot was taken prisoner. This means that Avraham was 74 years at the time. As the Torah reports him as 75 years of age at the time of his emigration in our chapter, he must have been in the land of Canaan previously, a time when G’d made the covenant between the pieces with him, as described in detail in chapter 15. In other words, Avraham departed from Charan twice. The difficulty with all this is that we read in the same סדר עולם that during the 5 years preceding his emigration from Charan Avraham had been in Charan. If so, he had been in Charan at the time when the war broke out, not as described in 14,13 in Eloney Mamre (Kiryat Arba nowadays). One can possibly answer this apparent contradiction by justifying the text in סדר עולם that Avraham spent those five years in Charan, and that the words והוא שוכן באלוני ממרא האמורי “he was living at Eloney Mamre,” in 14,13 refer to the פליט, the escapee who had brought him the news that his nephew had been taken prisoner. In order to make this plausible, consider why the Torah bothered to add that in Eloney Mamre there were in addition to Mamre also his brother Aner and Eshkol, all of whom had a mutual defense treaty with Avraham. Surely, the reason is to explain why the escapee brought the news to the three brothers in Eloney Mamre of whom he knew that they were allies of Avraham. These brothers in turn would relay to Avraham what they had heard about the fate of his nephew. In fact, the escapee may have chosen refuge in Eloney Mamre believing that Kedorleomer would not dare harm allies of Avraham. The weakness with this supposed scenario is that the author of סדר עולם lists as the year when Avraham left Charan permanently the same year in which these wars had been fought. If that were so, what difference would it make if Avraham was 70 years of age the first time he left Charan or not. Who needs to know? [furthermore, a more serious flaw in the sequence listed in סדר עולם is the question of when Lot took up residence in Sodom, and when did the falling out with Avraham which led to his being taken captive? Ed.] If, as stipulated, Avraham was only 70 years old at the covenant between the pieces which was reported in chapter 15, there is no alternative but to conclude that the Torah’s reports are not chronologically sequential. Another difficulty is found in the opening words of chapter 15: אחר הדברים האלה, “after these events.” If the events in this chapter occurred prior to the events related in either chapter 12 or chapter 14 what do these opening words mean? G’d reassures Avraham, (if we assume that the events of chapter 15 occurred subsequent to the events related in chapter 14) that in spite of his victory over the four kings, a victory due to G’d’s manifest assistance, his merits had not been used up so that he had reason to worry about G’d protecting him in the future.) We would have to say that the wordsאחר הדברים ,האלה, refer to the entire sequence previously related and that only the short paragraph concluding withוהאמין בה' ויחשביה לו צדקה (15,6) are related out of chronological order. That particular conversation between G’d and Avraham had taken place prior to the conquest of Sodom by the four kings.

Es heißt hier wohl nicht ohne Grund דִבֶר und nicht אמר .אמר würde sich auf die ganze gnadenreiche Verheißung beziehen, mit welcher Gott den Befehl לך לך begleitet hatte, und die wohl geeignet gewesen sein dürfte, für diese Anforderung Abrahams Gemüt willfährig zu öffnen. Abraham folgte aber nicht der Verheißung, sondern dem Ausspruche Gottes; er ging, weil Gott es gesprochen. — Abraham war 75 Jahre alt, als Gott ihn erwählte. Auch Mosche und Aharon hatten bereits ein ganzes Leben zurückgelegt, als Gott sie zu seinen Werkzeugen erkor. —

ואברם בן חמש שנים ושבעים שנה בצאתו מחרן “and Avram was seventy five years old when he left Charan.” At first glance this statement is puzzling as the covenant of the pieces is reported as if it had occurred later than Avram’s departure from Charan (chapter 15). According to our tradition it took place 30 years before the birth of Yitzchok, and this is what the statement that the Israelites spent 430 years in Egypt, reported in Exodus 12,40 is based on. We know as a fact from the Torah that Avraham was one hundred years old when Yitzchok was born. According to Rashi, thirty years elapsed between the covenant of the pieces and the birth of Yitzchok. If so, Avraham could not have been more than 70 years old at that event. Lot joined him and was taken captive after having separated from Avraham during that same year still, and Avraham defeated the armies which had taken him captive, after which event G–d appeared to him as reported in chapter 15. He returned to Charan once more, and when he was 75 years old, G–d commanded him to move to the land of Canaan, i.e. “the land which I will show you.” (12,1) I have found confirmation of these dates in the book called Seder Olam, an ancient historical record, considered reliable by our sages. I am quoting verbatim from that text: “Avraham was 48 years old when G–d confused the languages of the people and they moved apart from one another. When G–d spoke to him at the covenant of the pieces, he was 70 years old. (this was while he was on the soil of the land of Canaan). He returned to Charan where he stayed for another five years. It follows that 27 years elapsed between the destruction of the Tower and Avraham’s departure from Charan a second time” Our verse refers to the second departure.

וילך אתו לוט, “Lot (his nephew) went with him.” Seeing that the death of Lot’s father Haran was indirectly due to Avraham who had been saved from Nimrod’s furnace a deed Haran emulated, but only after having seen Avraham being saved Avraham did not feel he could reject him at this stage. He adopted him as if he had been his own son.

'כאשר דבר אליו ה, he did not ask G’d for further instructions thereby “testing” G’d, but continued on his journey because he believed that G’d would keep His promise as He had said.

The Torah wants to show Abraham's love for G'd. He set out immediately without waiting for G'd to elaborate on His original instructions. The letter כ at the beginning of the word כאשר, describes the time, i.e. how Abraham acted immediately G'd finished speaking to him, how he left his father and his birthplace without further ado. The Torah adds that though Lot was so closely attached to Abraham that he insisted on accompanying Abraham, he did not do so for the same reason, i.e. a divine command. Abraham had tried to leave Lot behind in an elegant way but had not succeeded. [Had Lot joined Abraham as a religious gesture, the Torah would have described this by writing עמו instead of אתו. Ed.]

ואברם בן חמש ושבעים שנה, “and Avram was 75 years old;” the Torah told us how old Avram was at the time in order to show that he followed G-d’s instructions and abandoned the house of his father, an aged man still alive.

בצאתו מחרן, perhaps, prior to leaving his father behind, he had spent a few days trying to convince him to come along with him. At the time he left Charan he was 75 years old. [it is hard to see why he would have tried to persuade his father to come along, as he then would not have complied with the commandment to leave his father’s house. Ed.]

The Torah writes the verse for yet another reason. Inasmuch as G'd had promised Abraham a number of rewards if he would fulfil His command, the average reader might assume that Abraham was primarily motivated by the promises G'd had made to him. The Torah wants us to know that the reason Abraham left his home and his father was because G'd had said so to him, not because of any secondary considerations such as the promise of becoming a man of great prominence. The Torah chose the words כאשר דבר, as G'd had told him firmly, not כאשר אמר, which would have corresponded to the opening statement of our פרשה where it said: ויאמר השם. When G'd uses the word דבר, this always implies that it is not easy to comply with G'd's command; when G'd uses the word אמר the implication is that it is relatively easy to comply.

בצאתו מחרן, “when he left Charan.” The Torah repeats this, as already pointed out in Seder Olam, an ancient historical text deemed reliable by the sages. According to that text, Avram had first returned to Charan and five years later departed from there once more.

Another message we are to derive from this verse is that though Abraham did not yet know which country G'd wanted him to go to, he had already set out without using the excuse of waiting for further instructions before leaving his home. In verse 5 the Torah lists all those who accompanied Abraham to show that the test did not consist of who went with him but it consisted of Abraham not knowing where he was supposed to head for.