El Shaddai and Abraham's Circumcision as the World's Sustaining Bargain

Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Lech Lecha 24:1

Another interpretation of "And Abram was ninety years old" (Genesis 17:1). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: From the time I created My world, I have been turning and waiting through twenty generations, until you would come and take up the circumcision. And now, if you do not accept it, it is enough for Me that the world has existed until here, and I will return it to chaos and void (tohu va-vohu), and I have no further need of the world. Therefore He said, "I am El Shaddai" (ibid.) — that is, "Enough" (Dai) for the world. But if you accept it upon yourself, it is enough for the world — I and you.

Themes

Biblical References