Why Abram Is Called the Hebrew and How Mamre Counseled Circumcision

"And he told Abram the Hebrew [ha-Ivri]" (Genesis 14:13). Rabbi Yehudah says: the whole world was on one side [ever], and he was on one side. Rabbi Nehemiah says: he was of the descendants of Eber. And the Rabbis say: that he came from beyond [me-ever] the river, and that he spoke in the Hebrew tongue. "And he was dwelling in the oaks of Mamre." Rabbi Yehudah says, in the plain of Mamre. Rabbi Nehemiah says, in the palace of Mamre. According to Rabbi Yehudah it is a place called Mamre, and according to Rabbi Nehemiah it is a man named Mamre. And why was he called Mamre? Because he defied [himrah] Abraham to his face. When the Holy One, blessed be He, told him to circumcise himself, he went and took counsel with his three friends. Aner said to him, "You are already a hundred years old, and you go and afflict yourself." Eshkol said to him, "Why should you go and maim yourself among your enemies?" Mamre said to him, "Did not your God stand by you in the fiery furnace, in famine, and against the kings? And this thing that He tells you, to circumcise yourself, will you not listen?" The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, "You gave him counsel; by your life, I will reveal Myself to him only in the palace of Aner, nor in the palace of Eshkol, but in your palace," as it is written, "And the LORD appeared to him in the oaks of Mamre" (Genesis 18:1).