Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Neḥemya, Rabbi Yehuda says: “Go you [lekh lekha]” – twice,6This is expounded as though it was written: Lekh lekh – go, go. one from Aram Naharayim and one from Aram Naḥor.7God told him to leave both places. Rabbi Neḥemya says: “Lekh lekha” – twice, one from Aram Naharayim and Aram Naḥor, and one when He flew him from [the Covenant] between the Pieces and brought him to Ḥaran.8Abraham was seventy years old when he first went to Canaan, and it was then that God made the Covenant between the Pieces (Genesis 15) with him (Seder Olam Rabba 1).
He then returned to Ḥaran, and left again at age seventy-five, as recounted in our verse. That is what is written: “Your people [amekha] will volunteer on your day of battle [ḥeilekha]” (Psalms 110:3) – I was with you [imekha] when you volunteered on My behalf to descend into the fiery furnace. “On your day of battle” – when you assembled for Me all the hosts [haḥayalot] and masses.9They converted when you emerged from the furnace unscathed.
“In sacred glory [hadrei]” (Psalms 110:3) – from the radiance [hadar] of the world10From the east, where the sun rises, Ur of the Chaldeans. I sanctified you; “from the womb of the dawn [mishḥar]” (Psalms 110:3) – from the womb of the world11This, too, is a reference to the east. I have sought you out [sheḥartikha]. “Yours is the dew of youth” (Psalms 110:3) – because our forefather Abraham was fearful, saying: ‘Perhaps I have a sin on my hands because I was an idol worshipper all those years?’
The Holy One blessed be He said to him: “The dew of your youth” – just as dew evaporates, so, too, your sins will evaporate; just as dew is a sign of blessing for the world, so, too, you are a sign of blessing for the world. That is what is written: “I said: Would that I had wings like a dove; I would fly away and come to rest” (Psalms 55:7).12The verse is expounded as referring to Abraham, who had an intense desire to leave his land and go to the Land of Israel.
Why like a dove?13As opposed to some other bird. Because all other birds, when they are weary, they rest on a stone or on a tree, but a dove, when it flies and grows weary, it folds one of its wings and flies with the other wing. “I would wander [nedod] far away” (Psalms 55:8) – movement after movement, wandering after wandering.14Nedod is expounded as nidnud ¬– one wandering [nod] after another, from Ur of Chaldeans to Ḥaran and from Ḥaran to Canaan.
“To repose in the wilderness, Selah” (Psalms 55:8) – it is preferable to repose in the wildernesses of the Land of Israel rather than to repose in the palaces outside the Land. And if you object that Abraham did not act immediately, and did not rejoice over the words of the Omnipresent, and [you ask] why did he not depart [at once]? It is because he had not yet been permitted, but once he was permitted: “Abram went as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him” (Genesis 12:4).
Rabbi Levi said: When Abraham was traveling through Aram Naharayim and Aram Naḥor, he saw them eating, drinking, and reveling. He said: ‘Would that my portion not be in this land.’ When he reached the Promontory of Tyre, he saw them engaged in weeding at the time of weeding, hoeing at the time of hoeing,15They were a hard-working people, not given to merry-making. he said: ‘Would that my portion be in this land.’ The Holy One blessed be He said to him: “To your descendants I will give this land” (Genesis 12:7).