Abraham Saw The Castle Aflame And God Looked Out

Portion Lech Lecha. "And the LORD said to Abram" (Genesis 12:1-2). Rabbi Yitzchak opened: "Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear; forget your people and your father's house" (Psalms 45:11). Rabbi Yitzchak said: This may be compared to one who was traveling from place to place, and he saw a certain castle alight [or: ablaze]. He said, Can it be that this castle has no master? The owner of the castle looked out at him and said, I am the owner of the castle. So too, because our father Abraham was saying, Can it be that the world has no ruler?, the Holy One, blessed be He, looked out at him and said, I am the Master of the world. "And the king will desire your beauty" (Psalms 45:12) to make you beautiful in the world; "for he is your lord; bow down to him" thus, "And the LORD said to Abram." Rabbi Berekhiah opened: "For fragrance your oils are good." Rabbi Berekhiah said: To what is our father Abraham like? To a flask of balsam sealed with a tight-fitting lid and set in a corner, whose fragrance did not spread; once it was moved about, its fragrance spread. So the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Abraham: Move yourself from place to place, and your name will grow great in the world. "And the LORD said to Abram: Go forth." Rabbi Berekhiah opened: "We have a little sister" (Song of Songs 8:8) this is Abraham, who stitched together [iḥah] all the inhabitants of the world. Bar Kappara says: Like one who mends a tear. "Little" while he was still young he was storing up commandments and good deeds. "Then I became in his eyes as one who finds peace" he entered in peace and went out in peace. "And wisdom strengthens the wise" this is Abraham; "more than ten rulers" more than the ten generations from Noah to Abraham. With none of them did He speak, only with him. "And the LORD said to Abram: Go forth." Rabbi Acha opened: "You loved righteousness and hated wickedness." This speaks of our father Abraham. When he sought mercy upon the men of Sodom, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: Abraham, you loved righteousness to declare My creatures righteous, and you hated to condemn them; "therefore God, your God, anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows" from Noah until you, ten generations, and with none of them did I speak, only with you. What is written just before the matter? "And Terah died in Haran." And afterward, "And the LORD said to Abram." Yet by the reckoning, sixty-five more years are still owed him. Rather, at the outset you expound that the wicked, even in their lifetime, are called dead. Because our father Abraham was afraid, saying: I will go out, and they will profane the name of Heaven through me and say, He abandoned his father in his old age and went off. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: For you [lekha] I release from honoring father and mother, but I do not release any other from honoring father and mother. And more than that, I will set his death before your departure. First, "And Terah died," and afterward, "And the LORD said to Abram: Go forth." Rabbi Yehudah says: "Go forth" twice one from Aram Naharaim and one from Aram Nachor. Rabbi Nechemiah says: One from Aram Naharaim and from Aram Nachor, and one that He caused him to fly from the Covenant Between the Pieces and brought him to Haran. Rabbi Levi said: When our father Abraham was traveling through Aram Naharaim and Aram Nachor and saw people eating and drinking and acting wantonly, he said: May I have no portion in this land. When he reached the Ladder of Tyre and saw people busy with weeding in the season of weeding, and hoeing in the season of hoeing, he said: May I have a portion in this land. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: "To your seed I will give this land." Rabbi Levi said: Twice it is written "Go forth," and we do not know which is the more beloved, the first or the second. From what is written, "to the land of Moriah," you learn that the second is more beloved than the first. Rabbi Yochanan said: "Go forth from your land" from your province; "from your birthplace" this is your neighborhood; "and from your father's house" this is your father's house. "To the land that I will show you." And why did He not reveal it to him? In order to make it beloved in his eyes, and to give reward for every single step. Similarly: "Take now your son." He said to Him: To which son? He said to him: "Your only one." He said to Him: This one is the only one to his mother, and that one is the only one to his mother. He said to him: "Whom you love." He said to Him: Are there boundaries within the heart? He said to him: "Isaac." And why did He not reveal it to him at once? In order to make him beloved in his eyes, and to give him reward for every single word. For once the Holy One, blessed be He, holds the righteous in suspense and keeps them waiting, afterward He reveals to them the reason for the matter. So too: "To the land that I will show you." Similarly: "On one of the mountains that I will tell you." And similarly: "And call out to it the proclamation that I speak to you." And similarly: "Arise, go out to the valley, and there I will speak with you." This may be compared to a king who was passing from place to place, and a pearl fell from his head. The king stationed his retinue, made heaps of earth, brought sieves, and sifted the first heap and did not find it, the second and did not find it, in the third he found it. They said: The king has found his pearl. So too the Holy One, blessed be He, said: What need had I to trace the lineage of Arpachshad, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nachor, Terah was it not for your sake? This is what is written, "And You found his heart faithful before You." So too the Holy One, blessed be He, said to David: What need had I to trace the lineage of Peretz, Hezron, Ram, Amminadav, Nachshon, Salmon, Boaz, Oved, Jesse was it not for your sake? This is what is written, "I have found David My servant."