Parsha Notes (Lech Lecha)

What follows is the third instalment of out new DovBear series (remember this one?) in which I will attempt to briefly summarize all that is odd and interesting about the current Parsha. [Others]

Lech Lecha

Things everyone should know

- There are six opinions on what Abraham's ten tests actually were. Rabenu Yona puts the burial of Sarah as the tenth against the others who all say the supreme test of Abraham's faith was the Akeida.

- Samson Rephael Hirsch refuses to understand the tests as tests arguing the God, assuredly, knew the results. Instead he compares the Hebrew for "test" with the word for banner and suggests God was giving Abraham the opportunity to realize his potential and to become "God's banner" a living symbol of faith and blessing.

Famous Ramban

- In the beginning of the Parsha (cite?) the Ramban tells us that Abraham's decision to leave Canaan against God's express command, and to endanger his wife in Egypt was "a very grave sin."

Motifs

- Lech Lecha introduces the sister-wife motiff, which is repeated three times. This telling, unlike the other two, presents many connections to the Exodus story. Only here does the patriarch go to Egypt, only here does he face Pharaoh, and only here does the narrator speak of plagues. Also, as Alter notes, the words in 12:10 (וְהָיָה כִּי־יִרְאוּ אֹתָךְ הַמִּצְרִים וְאָמְרוּ אִשְׁתֹּו זֹאת וְהָרְגוּ אֹתִי וְאֹתָךְ יְחַיּוּ׃) echo Exodus 1:22 (ויצו פרעה לכל־עמו לאמר כל־הבן הילוד היארה תשליכהו וכל־הבת תחיון׃) In both the potential death of one party is set off by the fact that another will be allowed to live.

Missing Pieces

- Did we once know more about Malkizedek, the King of Salem who gets a short mention this week? Nachun Sarna argues yes, pointing to אתה כהן לעולם על דברתי מלכי צדק from Psalm 110. He explains that this mention of an "order of Malkizedek" suggests that a longer story about the king, and perhaps his order, was once known in Israel and that the psalmist is referencing material (perhaps biblical material?) now lost. [More]

Textual Anomaly

- Gen 12:6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

As many have noted, this verse appears to have been written* by someone living after the Canaanites had ceased to be in the land, that is, long after Joshua's conquest and the subsequent settlement. No less an authority than the Ibn Ezra, in fact, suggests that these words might not have been part of the Torah Joshua took across the Jordan. [More] [Even more]

- In Gen. 14 the places names are glossed (Bela, that is Zoar.) What does this suggest if not an older document which invoked names usage had, over time, replaced.

- On Gen 14:14 Rashi says:
His trained servants. It is written "his trained one," referring to Eliezer whom he trained to observe the mitzvos...

Trouble is, that isn't what the verse says. The MT has חניכיו/his trained oneS. [explanation]

Misteaching

We all were taught that Abraham faught the four kings with only Eliezer at his side. The Gur Aryeh, hostory's foremost Rashi authority says this is not true. [explanation]

Musar

-God tells Abraham that his descendants will be like the stars in the sky; later he says they will be like the dust on the ground. Lesson: you will always have millions of descendants. When they behave correctly, they will be like stars and everyone will look up at them; when they behave badly, they'll be walked on like dust.

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