Abraham Conquers the Road Ahead for His Children

The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Abraham: Go and conquer the road before your children. You find that everything written of Abraham is written of his children. Of Abraham it is written, "And there was a famine in the land" (Genesis 12:10), and of Israel it is written, "For these two years has the famine been in the land" (Genesis 45:6). Of Abraham it is written, "And Abram went down into Egypt" (Genesis 12:10), and of Israel it is written, "And our fathers went down into Egypt" (Numbers 20:15). Of Abraham it is written, "to sojourn there," and of Israel it is written, "To sojourn in the land are we come" (Genesis 47:4). Of Abraham it is written, "And it came to pass, when he drew near," and of Israel it is written, "And Pharaoh drew near" (Exodus 14:10). Of Abraham it is written, "and they will kill me, but they will keep you alive," and of Israel it is written, "Every son that is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall keep alive" (Exodus 1:22). Of Abraham it is written, "that it may be well with me for your sake" (Genesis 12:13), and of Israel it is written, "And God dealt well with the midwives" (Exodus 1:20). Of Abraham it is written, "And it came to pass, when Abram was come into Egypt" (Genesis 12:14), and of Israel it is written, "And these are the names of the children of Israel who came into Egypt" (Exodus 1:1). Of Abraham it is written, "And Abram was very rich in cattle" (Genesis 13:2), and of Israel it is written, "And He brought them forth with silver and gold" (Psalms 105:37). Of Abraham it is written, "And they sent him away," and of Israel it is written, "And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, to send them out of the land in haste" (Exodus 12:33). Of Abraham it is written, "And he went on his journeys," and of Israel it is written, "These are the journeys of the children of Israel" (Numbers 33:1). "And the LORD plagued Pharaoh." It is written, "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree" (Psalms 92:13). Just as this palm tree, everyone who climbs to its top falls if he does not guard himself, so everyone who comes to mate with Israel ends up taking what is his out of their hands. Know that it is so, for since Pharaoh dragged Sarah away for one night, he and all his house were struck with plagues, this is what is written, "And the LORD plagued Pharaoh." Resh Lakish in the name of Bar Kappara said: Pharaoh was struck with raatan. Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel said: an old man stricken with boils met me in Sepphoris and said to me, there are twenty-four kinds of boils, and there is none among them all for which intercourse is harmful except raatan alone, and with it Pharaoh the wicked was struck. "And his house" even the beams of his house were struck, and all were saying it was on account of Sarai the wife of Abram, because he dared to approach the matron's shoe. And all that night Sarah lay prostrate on her face and said: Master of the universe, Abraham went out on a promise and I went out on faith; Abraham went out beyond the ship and I am within the ship. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to her: all that I do, I do for your sake, and all are saying it is on account of Sarai the wife of Abram. Rabbi Levi said: all that night the angel stood with a whip in his hand, and if she said to him strike, he would strike, and if she said to him leave off, he would leave off; and all this why? Because she kept saying to him, I am a married woman, and yet he would not desist. We have heard concerning Pharaoh that he was struck with leprosy, and concerning Abimelech that he was struck with stoppage [of his household]. From where do we apply what is said here to there and what is said there to here? Scripture teaches, "for the matter of" "for the matter of" for a gezeira shavah [a verbal analogy linking the two cases]. "And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold" (Genesis 13:2) this is what is written, "And He brought them forth with silver and gold, and there was none feeble among His tribes." "And he went on his journeys" (Genesis 13:3) on the same journeys by which he had gone, he returned and went back to pay off his debts.