Мусар к Берешит 17:5

When the sons of Chet addressed Abraham by saying: "You are a prince of G–d in our midst" (Genesis 23,7), what they meant was that the personality of Abraham had made a deep impression on their תוכיות, internality. They felt that their own spiritual roots had become purified through having an Abraham in their proximity. They were convinced that this augured well for their future and eventual salvation, and they thanked Abraham. When our Bereshit Rabbah 43,5 explains the words עמק שוה in Genesis 14,17, by saying that all the nations agreed (השוו) to crown Abraham there as their king, this describes Abraham as being freed, set apart from the קליפות. Abraham personally represents the spiritual level of ישראל; he achieved a higher level than all the other patriarchs. The statement that his name was ישראל indicates his spiritual level as being on a very high plateau enabling him to penetrate to the most rarefied Celestial Regions. The name אברהם, on the other hand, describes his being the (spiritual) father of a multitude of nations, כי אב המון גוים נתתיך, something that was acknowledged when the sons of Chet said שמענו אדני, נשיא אלוקים אתה in 23,6. He had also been called Abram, for it was still at that time that Ishmael issued from him. We see that the dimension of אב המון already began to take practical form while Abraham was still Abram. This dimension was reinforced with the birth of Isaac, who in turn produced an Esau who incorporates all the קליפות.

Let us now get back to our previous statement that when at the beginning of our פרשה G–d asked Abraham to move to the land of Canaan and promised possession of that land to him and his descendants, this was already the second time G–d promised him ארץ ישראל, the first time having been five years earlier at the ברית בין הבתרים. The first promise corresponded to the "first" part of Creation; the second promise was in respect of the "second" part of Creation, i.e the period in history that represents "Torah." That period commenced with the verse telling us that Abraham and Sarah had "made souls in Charan," i.e. had converted pagans to the belief in the One and Only G–d who created the universe (12,5). We have explained the principle that Abraham represents the סוד (real reason) for the creation of the universe as alluded to in the spelling of בהבראם. When G–d speaks about making Abraham's name "great" in 12,2, using the expression ואגדל-ה, this is an allusion to the addition of that letter ה to his name אברם, the way his name would have been spelled in Genesis 2,4 without the "small" letter ה. G–d tells אברם in 12,5 that when in the future he would be ready to be circumcised (17,5) his name would be changed to אברהם.