Hell has seven names. This is what Aggadat Bereshit says when Malachi promises "the day is coming, burning like an oven" (Malachi 3:19). The rabbis did not flinch from the geography of punishment. Sheol, Abaddon, Death, Pit, the Awful, the Underworld, Gehinnom — seven chambers, seven levels, seven names for the place where the wicked are refined or destroyed depending on how they lived.
But the midrash is more interested in contrast than in punishment. The judgment of the wicked is the context for understanding the reward of the righteous. Israel complained to God: you say "the coming day will burn them," but we have been oppressed for years, judged again and again, calamity upon calamity. Isaiah replies on God's behalf: the fire burns day and night without ceasing, and its smoke rises forever (Isaiah 34:10). The wicked do not escape. They simply wait, while the righteous wait too — but differently.
What separates them? The rabbis return to Abraham's intercession for Sodom: "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?" (Genesis 18:23). Abraham already knew the answer. He was demonstrating — for the record, for all generations — that the righteous and the wicked are not swept away together. The day of burning separates them. The garden of Eden separates them. God's judgment, for all its severity, is not random. It is precise. And that precision is itself a form of mercy — for those paying attention.
Chapter 19: Torah [1] And the Lord appeared to him in the plains of Mamre (Genesis 18:1), which means, "So said the Lord, 'The heavens are My throne, and so on, and all these things My hand has made'" (Isaiah 66:1). [Abraham] saw glory, he saw might, and as it were, he was occupied with whom [God is], and to this one I will look, to the poor and afflicted spirit, and the one who trembles at My words (Isaiah 66:2). Who is this one who trembles at the word of God? This is Abraham, as it is said, "In the very same day, Abraham was circumcised" (Genesis 17:26). Immediately [after his circumcision], "And the Lord appeared to him." From where do we know that the Scripture speaks about Abraham here? For it is written after this, "Slaughtering a bull, he struck a man" (Isaiah 66:3), and it is written, "And Abraham ran to the herd" (Genesis 18:7). "He struck a man" (Isaiah 66:3), that is, he killed Nimrod. "Slaughtering the sheep" (Isaiah 66:3) [refers to] when did Moses offer Isaac [as a sacrifice]? As it is said, "God will provide for Himself the sheep for a burnt offering, my son" (Genesis 22:8) Alternatively, "The heavens are My throne" - our sages said that this is found in seven places [in the Bible], where God compares Himself to lowly creatures. -(1) "For the Lord your God is the God of gods" (Deuteronomy 10:17). [This teaches that] He sees might, and He is occupied with the one who does justice for the orphan and widow, and so on. -(2) "For high and low, He sees" (Psalms 138:6). -(3) "So said the lofty and exalted One" (Isaiah 57:15), "and to revive the spirit of the lowly" (Isaiah 57:15). -(4) "Sing to God, chant His name, cast up a road for Him who rides through the deserts" (Psalms 68:5), and it is written, "Father of orphans and judge of widows" (Psalms 68:6). -(5) "The Lord is close to the broken-hearten" (Psalms 34:19). -(6) "So said the Lord, 'The heavens are My throne, and so on, and to this one I will look, to the poor and afflicted spirit, and the one who trembles at My words'" (Isaiah 66:1-2). "[2] Another interpretation: The LORD appeared to him [Abraham]. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: 'You shall make for Me an altar of earth' (Exodus 20:21). Rabbi Isaac Ne'eha said: The Holy One, blessed be He, said: If one slaughters and spills a little blood, or the blood of a non-sanctified animal, or the blood of an ox, I come and bless him, as it says, 'In every place where I record My name [I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee]' (Exodus 20:21). How much more so for Abraham, who had a river of blood flowing from his house, and he circumcised himself, and all the people of his household, yet I did not come and bless him. Therefore, it is written, 'And the LORD appeared to him.' He came and saw the strength that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave him, for on one day he circumcised himself, and Ishmael his son, and blood was still dripping from his circumcision, yet he also circumcised all the men of his household, and the male children of his household. He saw how many male children there were in his household, eighteen hundred and thirty-two, and if all the members of his household were only these, he could sell his entire fortune for them, and they were all circumcised on the same day, as it says, 'In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son' (Genesis 17:26) and all the men of his household (Genesis 17:26)." From the elders, from the young. And "Yelid Beitoh" acquired (with his money) from a foreigner, they circumcised him, (his name is omitted), Abraham established a hill of foreskins in his house, and a river of blood flowed from his house. The Lord called upon the ministering angels and said to them, "Come and visit the sick." The angels said to Him, "Lord of the Universe, what is man that You should take note of him, and a mortal being, that You should pay him heed? (Psalms 144:3) You are walking in a place of filth, in a place of blood and filth." The Lord said to them, "You just mentioned the smell of that blood of foreskins that I commanded, and if you are not willing to go, I myself will go." Similarly, King Solomon said, "Until the day breathes and the shadows flee (Song of Songs 4:6) — these are the circumcised and the uncircumcised, whom Abraham took care of, who were like shadows coming and going so that they should not suffer from the word they were called." "I will go to the mountain of myrrh" (Song of Songs 4:6) — this is Abraham, who was called "myrrh," as it says, "myrrh and aloes" (Psalms 45:9). Therefore, the Lord appeared to him. Once the ministering angels saw him, they went with the Lord, as it says, "He lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men were standing over against him" (Genesis 18:2), and David praised Him, saying, "All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth" (Psalms 25:10). This is Abraham, who kept the covenant of circumcision. Once the Lord revealed Himself to him, he was sitting, as it says, "And he sat at the door of his tent" (Genesis 18:1). Abraham came to stand when he saw the Shechinah, but the Lord said to him, "Do not move, as it says, 'The Lord says to my lord, "Sit at my right hand"' (Psalms 110:1). Abraham said to Him, "Master of the Universe! Such is the way of the world: a person sits while the king stands." The Lord said to him, "It does not matter. You are now old, one hundred years of age, and you wonder why I am standing and you are sitting? Your children, for generations, will be sitting in the synagogues while I stand, as it says, 'God stands in the congregation of God' (Psalms 82:1)." Abraham began to complain and said, "You gave me the shield of Your salvation (Psalms 18:36) when I pursued the kings, as it is said, 'Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you' (Genesis 15:1). And 'Your right hand will save me' (Psalms 138:7) when You held my right hand and helped me to circumcise myself, and 'Your answers will increase me' (Psalms 138:3), while I am sitting and You are standing." [3] Another interpretation: "The LORD appeared to him [Abraham] in the plains of Mamre." (Genesis 18:1) And you shall know that Hashem, your God, is God, etc. (Deuteronomy 7:9). What did He see fit to reveal to him in the plains of Mamre? It was to let him know that His name, the Holy One, blessed be He, is not lacking in rewarding any creature. He had three friends, Anar, Eshkol, and Mamre. And when Hashem said to Abraham, "With yourself," He took counsel from them. Anar said, "He is a blemished man; will You do for him?" "With a human being, who is fashioned by Your own hands, You do not keep faith," Eshkol said, "and with him You will keep faith?" So He left them and went to Mamre, who said to Him, "Even You, do You not know that he is a castrated man, and You want to do for him?" "His relatives will be kings who will arise from those whom he killed," he said to Him, "and they will castrate him, and You will not be able to escape from them." He left him and went to Mamre, who said to Him, "My Lord, let me advise You to circumcise yourself." He said to him, "Even now, you are standing and bewildered, and they have not made you into small pieces?" "The forty-eight pieces of the limbs that were over You in the furnace," He replied, "You saved from the fire. And You are standing and finding it difficult to give one limb to Me!" He said to Him, "You gave him good advice that he should be circumcised. I swear that I will appear to him within your domain," as it is said, "And Hashem appeared to him in the plains of Mamre." (Genesis 18:1) And from where did He take counsel to circumcise? As it is said, "And they, the men, were afraid because they came to the house of Joseph, etc., and they said, 'We came on account of the money that was returned in our sacks at the beginning, etc.'" (Genesis 43:18-19) "And he lifted his eyes and saw, and behold, three men were standing over him. The angels said, "God, until when will you honor him, until when will you stand and he sits?" The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to them, "It is not enough that I see three righteous men who will come from him, for the entire world falls and worships the image, and they stand like a palm tree and do not bow down, as it is stated, "Your stature is like a palm tree" (Song of Songs 7:8). "Therefore, behold, three men, etc." God said to him, "You prostrated yourself to my angels, but kings will one day prostrate themselves to your descendants, as it is said, 'And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth' (Isaiah 49:23)."
