After These Things the Word of the Lord Came Unto Abram

"After these things the word of the LORD came." This is what Scripture says: "He stores up sound wisdom for the upright, a shield for those who walk in integrity" (Proverbs 2:7). What is the meaning of "He stores up sound wisdom for the upright"? Before the world was created, the Holy One, blessed be He, stored away the Torah, until Abraham came and fulfilled it, as it is said: "Because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws" (Genesis 26:5). Rabbi Levi in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Nahman said: Nine hundred and eighty generations the Holy One, blessed be He, folded back in order to give circumcision to Abraham, as it is said: "He has remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded for a thousand generations" (Psalms 105:8). Yet it was given only after twenty generations: from Adam to Noah, ten; from Noah to Abraham, ten; behold, twenty, and it was given to Abraham. And Rabbi Yohanan in the name of Rabbi Yose the Galilean says: Nine hundred and seventy-four generations the Holy One, blessed be He, folded back in order to give the Torah to the generation of the wilderness, because they were upright, as it is said: "He stores up sound wisdom for the upright." Rabbi Shmuel bar Nahmani said: Abraham even observed the combining of cooked dishes, as it is said: "Because Abraham obeyed My voice." The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: You have occupied yourself with My Torah; by your life, I am a shield for you. Just as the shield holds the sword, and even if they throw arrows and stones at it, the shield receives them, so too I am a shield for you. And not for you alone, but even for your children: if they occupy themselves with My Torah just as you have occupied yourself, so too I will become for them like a shield, as it is said: "The word of the LORD is refined; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him" (2 Samuel 22:31). Therefore it is said: "a shield for those who walk in integrity."