Midras Kejadian 12:12: Sefer HaYashar (midrash) & Bereshit Rabbah

And when the princes of Pharaoh saw Sarai they were greatly surprised at her beauty, and all ‎the princes assembled and hastened unto Pharaoh and informed him concerning what hath ‎happened, and they praised Sarai's beauty unto the king. And the king ordered his servants to ‎bring Sarai before his presence. And Pharaoh saw Sarai, and he was greatly pleased with her, ‎and the king was greatly astonished at her beauty. And the king rejoiced greatly at Sarai’s ‎presence and he gave gifts to all those that brought him the news concerning her. And the ‎woman was taken forthwith into the house of Pharaoh. * And Abram was greatly grieved ‎about his wife, and he prayed fervently unto the Lord to deliver Sarai from the hands of ‎Pharaoh. And Sarai likewise prayed unto the Lord, saying: Oh God, my Lord, thou hast said ‎unto my lord Abram to go forth from his land and from his kinsmen unto the land of Canaan, ‎and thou hast given him the assurance to do well with him if he obey and do as thou hast ‎spoken. And now, oh Lord, behold we have done as thou hast commanded unto us, and we ‎have left our country and our family and we went forth unto a foreign land among people ‎whom we have not known, neither yesterday nor day before yesterday. And now after we ‎have come into this country to save our household from famine this unfortunate event hath ‎befallen me. And therefore oh Lord my God, save and deliver me from the hands of this ‎oppressor, and show kindness unto me for the sake of thy mercy. And the Lord hearkened ‎unto the voice of Sarai and the Lord sent an angel to deliver her from the hands of Pharaoh. ‎And Pharaoh came and seated himself in the presence of Sarai, and the angel of the Lord ‎stood by her side, visible only unto her, and the angel said unto Sarai: Fear not, for the Lord ‎hath heard thy prayer. And the king approached Sarai and said unto her: Who is the man that ‎brought thee hither? And she said: He is my brother. And the king continued: It is my desire to ‎make him great and exalted, and to do unto him all kindness which thou mayest ask ‎concerning him. And the king forwarded at the same time unto Abram silver and gold and ‎pearls and precious stones in great abundance, and sheep and cattle and man-servants and ‎maid servants. And the king gave orders and they brought Abram to dwell in the court of the ‎royal palace, and the king made Abram very great even in that night. And the king came near ‎to Sarai and he stretched out his hand to touch her, when the angel of the Lord dealt him a ‎severe blow, and the king was scared and he abstained from trying to touch her once more. ‎But the king came near Sarai once more when the angel felled him to the ground, and the ‎angel continued thus through the whole night and the king was greatly terrified. And the ‎servants of the king likewise, as also all the people of his household were stricken by the angel ‎with a grievous plague on account of Sarai, and there was a great crying and weeping in the ‎household of Pharaoh that night. And Pharaoh seeing the great evil which hath befallen him ‎said: Verily for the sake of this woman all this is done unto us; and Pharaoh kept away at a ‎distance from her, and he spoke unto her very kind words. And the king said: Do give me the ‎true information concerning the man thou camest with? And Sarai replied: Know then that this ‎man I came with is my husband, yet I said he is my brother for fear lest ye might kill him in your ‎wickedness. And the king decided to release Sarai, and the plagues at once ceased, wherewith ‎the angel of the Lord had smitten him and his people, and Pharaoh was convinced that on ‎account of Sarai he hath suffered all that great evil, and the king wondered greatly.‎

“I will make you a great nation, I will bless you [vaavarekhekha], I will render your name great, and you shall be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2).
“I will make you a great nation” – he said to Him: ‘Did you not [already] produce seventy nations from Noah?’ He said to him: ‘That nation in whose regard it is written: “For who is a great nation [to whom God is so close]?” (Deuteronomy 4:7), I will produce from you.’
Rabbi Berekhya said: “I will give you” and “I will place you” are not written here, but rather, “I will make you [ve’e’eshkha]” – from when I make you into a new creation,²¹This could be referring to circumcision, or to the change of Abram’s name to Abraham. you will procreate.
Rabbi Levi bar Ḥavyat and Rabbi Abba son of Rabbi Ḥiyya said: Three “greatnesses”²²“I will make you a great nation” counts as two “greatnesses,” as “I will make you” is considered an expression of greatness (see I Samuel 12:6) and the third is “I will render your name great.” and four “blessings” are written here.²³Two in 12:2 and two in 12:3. He apprised him that there would be three patriarchs and four matriarchs.
Rabbi Ḥiyya said: Because travel causes three results: it minimizes procreation, minimizes resources for expenditures, and minimizes one’s reputation.²⁴God told Abraham that He would see to it that he would not suffer these three deprivations. It minimizes procreation – “I will make you a great nation,” minimizes resources for expenditures – “I will bless you,” minimizes one’s reputation – “I will render your name great.” As people say: From house to house – a robe; from place to place – a soul.²⁵When one moves from one house to another in the same neighborhood, one will always find something, such as a robe, missing. When moving to a different place, one loses part of one’s very soul. However, you will lose neither soul nor property.
Rabbi Berekhya said in the name of Rabbi Ḥelbo: It²⁶“I will make you a great nation.” means a coin with his image went out into the world.
There are four people whose images appeared on coins that circulated in the world. Abraham – “I will make you a great nation” – his image circulated on coins. What was the image on his coins? It was an elderly man and an elderly woman on one side,²⁷Representing Abraham and Sarah. and a young man and a maiden on the other side.²⁸Representing the fact that Abraham and Sarah became rejuvenated when they bore Isaac. Joshua – “The Lord was with Joshua; his fame was throughout the land” (Joshua 6:27) – his image circulated on coins in the world. What was it? It was a bull on one side and an aurochs on the other side, after: “A firstborn bull is his majesty, and his horns are the horns of an aurochs” (Deuteronomy 33:17).²⁹Joshua was from the tribe of Ephraim, and this verse was stated regarding Ephraim. David – “David’s renown circulated in all lands” (I Chronicles 14:17) – his image circulated on coins in the world. What was the image on his coin? It was a [shepherd’s] staff and satchel on one side, and a tower on the other side, after: “Your neck is like the tower of David” (Song of Songs 4:4). Mordekhai – “For Mordekhai was great in the king’s palace, and his renown spread in all the provinces” (Esther 9:4) – his image circulated on coins. What was the image on his coin? It was sackcloth and ashes on one side, and a golden crown on the other side.
Rabbi Yudan said: [God said to Abraham:] ‘I will institute a blessing for you in the eighteen benedictions,³⁰The Amida prayer. but you do not know whether Mine precedes yours, or whether yours takes precedence.’ Rabbi Aḥuya said in the name of Rabbi Ze’eira: Yours precedes Mine, when one recites first: Shield of Abraham, and only then, He revives the dead.
Rabbi Abahu said: “Look now heavenward [hashamayim]” is not written here, but rather, “look now hashamaima” (Genesis 15:5).³¹With an added heh. The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘I created the world with the letter heh. I will add the letter heh to your name and then you will procreate.’³²This is an interpretation of “I will render your name great” – the name was rendered great by adding a letter to it.
Rabbi Yudan said: Your letters will have the numerical value of “I will bless you [avarekhekha]”³³This word ends with a kaf in the Torah, but the midrash calculates its numerical value based on its ending with the letters kaf heh. – two hundred and forty-eight.
Rabbi Levi said: No person [so much as] priced a cow from Abraham³⁴In order to purchase it. before he was blessed, nor did any person price a cow for him³⁵In order to sell it to Abraham. until he was blessed by Abraham.
How so?³⁶In what additional way was Abraham a source of blessing? Abraham would pray for barren women and they would be remembered,³⁷God would remember them and grant them a child. and for the ill, and they would gain relief. Rav Huna said: It was not only when Abraham would go to the ill person, but even if the ill person would merely see him, he would gain relief.
Rabbi Ḥanina said: Even ships that set sail in the Great Sea were saved due to the merit of Abraham. But were they not laden with libation wine?³⁸Wine used for idol worship. Why should Abraham want to bless such cargo? This is astonishing. The explanation is that [there is a saying:] Vinegar lowers the price of wine.³⁹When there is much vinegar on the market, it lowers the price of wine, even though more people buy wine than vinegar. Wherever the wine of idol worshippers is available, the wine of Jews is sold at lower prices.⁴⁰Even though libation wine is forbidden for Jews, when it is sold in the market, it affects the price of all wine, including kosher wine – which makes it more affordable for Jews.
Rabbi Yitzḥak said: He [God] did this for Job, as well, as it is stated: “You blessed his handiwork” (Job 1:10). A person never took a penny⁴¹As charity. from Job and needed to take from him a second time.
“And you shall be a blessing [berakha]” – read it as “a pool [berekha].” Just as a pool purifies the impure, so, you draw the distant near and purify them for their Father who is in Heaven.
Rabbi Berekhya said: “I will bless you” is already written; why does the verse state [further]: “And you shall be a blessing”? The explanation is that He said to him: ‘Until this point I was required to bless My world, from now on, the blessings are passed to you; whomever you deem worthy to bless, bless him.’

“It was when he drew near to come to Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife: Behold, I know now that you are a woman of fair appearance” (Genesis 12:11).
“It will be, when the Egyptians will see you, they will say: This is his wife, and they will kill me, and keep you alive” (Genesis 12:12).
“Please, say you are my sister, so that it may be well with me because of you, and my soul shall live because of you” (Genesis 12:13).
“It was when he drew near to come to Egypt” – he was together with her all those years, and only now he says to her: “Behold, I know now that you are a woman of fair appearance”? The explanation is that due to travel a person [usually] becomes unsightly, but this one [Sarai] retained her beauty.¹¹And this fact became known to Abraham only now.
Rabbi Ze’eira said in the name of Rabbi Simon: [Abraham told her:] ‘We traveled through Aram Naharayim and Aram Naḥor and we did not encounter a woman as fair as you. Now that we are entering a place of ugly and swarthy people, “please, say you are my sister….”’¹²It was only now that her beauty could potentially cause problems.
Rabbi Pinḥas said in the name of Rabbi Avun: There were two people who were the principal party, but subordinated themselves, and then actually became subordinate: Abraham and Barak. Barak – “She [Deborah] sent and summoned Barak son of Avinoam from Kedesh Naphtali, and said to him: Behold, the Lord, God of Israel, has commanded, saying: Go and draw toward Mount Tavor and take with you ten thousand…” (Judges 4:6).¹³This shows that Barak was originally the principal figure, as he was appointed to lead an army of ten thousand against Yavin, king of Ḥatzor, and his general Sisera. “Barak said to her: If you go with me, I will go, but if you do not go with me, I will not go” (Judges 4:8).¹⁴He thereby subordinated himself to Deborah. Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Neḥemya, Rabbi Yehuda says: [Barak said:] ‘If you go with me to Kedesh, I will go with you to Ḥatzor.¹⁵There was a preliminary battle at Kedesh, followed by the decisive battle at Ḥatzor. For the Kedesh battle, Barak sought the company of Deborah, who, as a prophetess, would inspire the soldiers to fight valiantly. In return, he undertook to bring her along for the decisive battle of Ḥatzor. If you do not go with me to Kedesh, I will not go with you to Ḥatzor.’ Rabbi Neḥemya said: [Barak said:] ‘If you accompany me in song,¹⁶The song of praise that was to be sung after Israel’s victory (Judges 5). Barak requested the assistance of Deborah, the prophetess, to infuse his song with the prophetic spirit. I will go with you to war.¹⁷In return for your help in composing the song, I will allow you to join me in battle. If you do not accompany me in song, I will not go with you to war. “She said: I will go with you; however [efes], it will not be your glory [on the path that you take, for it is by the hand of a woman that the Lord will deliver Sisera]” (Judges 4:9). Rabbi Reuven said: Efes is a Greek expression.¹⁸It means: Stop, it is not yours. She said to him: ‘What do you think, that the glory of the song was assigned to you specifically?’ That was a rhetorical question. He then became subordinate [to her]: “Deborah and Barak son of Avinoam sang” (Judges 5:1).¹⁹The song is ascribed first and foremost to Deborah.
Abraham was the principal party: “Abram took his wife Sarah” (Genesis 12:5). He subordinated himself: “Please, say you are my sister [so that it may be well with me because of you]” (Genesis 12:13). And he became subordinate to her: “He benefitted Abram for her sake” (Genesis 12:16).