The Month Filled With Commandments and the Oath Sworn to Abraham

"In the seventh month" (Leviticus 23:24) — in the month that is sated [mesubba] with commandments: the shofar is in it, the Day of Atonement is in it, the lulav and the willow are in it. Another interpretation: "in the seventh month" — in the month that is sated with everything: the wine presses are in it, the threshing floors are in it, all kinds of choice fruits are in it. Another interpretation: "in the seventh month" — Rabbi Berekhiah used to call it the month of the oath [yeraha de-shevu'ah], in which He swore to our father Abraham, "By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD" (Genesis 22:16). What need was there for this oath? Rabbi Bibah son of Rabbah in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: our father Abraham said before the Holy One, blessed be He, "Master of the worlds, it was revealed and known before You that in the hour when You said to me, 'Take now your son, your only one' (Genesis 22:2), I had something in my heart with which to answer You. I could have said to You, 'Yesterday You told me, In Isaac shall your seed be called (Genesis 21:12), and now You tell me, Take now your son.' But just as I had it in my heart to answer You, yet I suppressed my impulse and did not answer You — so, in the hour when the children of Isaac come into sins and evil deeds, may the binding of their father be remembered before You, and may You be filled with compassion for them and have mercy on them, and turn for them the attribute of judgment into the attribute of mercy." When? "In the seventh month" (Leviticus 23:24).