The Ten Trials of Abraham and the Shield of Abraham

"And the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house" (Genesis 12:15). With ten trials was our father Abraham tried, and he withstood them all. The first trial: when he was born, all the great men of the kingdom and the astrologers sought to kill him, and he was hidden in the earth thirteen years, so that he saw neither sun nor moon; afterward he came out speaking the holy tongue and despising the idols. The second trial: he was imprisoned in the house of bondage ten years, three in Kutha and seven in Kardo, and some say seven in Kutha and three in Kardo; afterward they cast him into the fiery furnace, and the King of Glory stretched out His right hand and saved him, as it says, "I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees" (Genesis 15:7). The third trial: He uprooted him from his father's house, as it says, "And the LORD said to Abram, Get you out" (Genesis 12:1); and uprooting is harder for a person than anything. The fourth trial: "And there was a famine in the land" (Genesis 12:10) and not in all the lands, but only in the land of Canaan, to try him and to bring him down to Egypt. The fifth trial: Sarah was taken, as it says, "And the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house," and that night was the festival day of Passover, and the Holy One, blessed be He, brought upon Pharaoh and his house plagues, to make known that this is how He would in time strike his land, as it says, "Yet one plague more will I bring upon Pharaoh" (Exodus 11:1). Out of his love for her, Pharaoh wrote her a deed of her marriage-portion from all his wealth, whether silver or gold, whether menservants or maidservants and lands, and he wrote her the land of Goshen; therefore Israel dwelt in the land of Goshen; and he wrote her his daughter Hagar, one of his concubines, as a maidservant. And Abimelech too took her, and Michael the angel came down and drew his sword over him to kill him. The sixth trial: all the kings came upon him to kill him, and they said, let us begin first with his nephew, and for Lot's sake they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah; and Michael came and told Abraham, as it says, "And there came one that had escaped" (Genesis 14:13) this is what is written, "And that which has wings shall tell the matter" (Ecclesiastes 10:20). And why was his name called "the one who escaped"? Because at the hour when the Holy One, blessed be He, cast Samael down from his holiness from heaven, he seized the wing of Michael to drag him down with him, and the Holy One, blessed be He, delivered him from his hand; therefore his name was called "the one who escaped." And of him Ezekiel said, "One that had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, The city is smitten" (Ezekiel 33:21). Abraham rose early and took his three disciples, Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre, and Eliezer, and pursued them as far as Dan, and there he was delayed because of the idolatry, as it says, "and the other in Dan" (1 Kings 12:29). And there he left his three disciples and took his servant Eliezer, the letters of whose name number three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them as far as the left of Damascus. "And he divided himself against them by night" (Genesis 14:15) this is the night on which Israel went out of Egypt "and he brought back all the goods." Abraham stood and prayed: Master of the worlds, not by the strength of my hand did I do this, but by the strength of Your right hand, for You are a shield to me in this world and in the world to come. And those on high answered and said: Blessed are You, O LORD, Shield of Abraham.