Another matter: “Remember Abraham” – that is what is written: “From hand to hand, evil will not be absolved” (Proverbs 11:21). Rabbi Pinḥas HaKohen ben Ḥama said: If you performed a mitzva, do not request to be given reward from one hand to another.6Do not demand immediate reward. Why? Because you “will not be absolved,” as you will not be absolved from your iniquities,7If in this world you are rewarded for your good deeds and not punished for your transgressions, when you die you will have only transgressions on your record. and you will be called wicked, as you did not seek to bequeath anything to your children.
Had Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob asked to be given their reward for the mitzvot they performed, how would it have been that “the descendants of the righteous will escape” (Proverbs 11:21)? How could he have mentioned, “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel”? Immediately, “The Lord reconsidered” (Exodus 32:14). That is, “From hand to hand, evil will not be absolved.”