Abimelech ruled over Israel for three years (Judges 9:22). Aggadat Bereshit uses this strange opening — about a king in the book of Judges — to arrive at the first murder. The path runs through broken loyalty. Proverbs warns: "Your friend and your father's friend do not forsake" (Proverbs 27:10). David took this seriously when he showed kindness to Hanun, son of his father's ally. Hanun repaid him by humiliating David's ambassadors — shaving their beards, cutting their garments. The breach of covenant became the beginning of a war.
This is the midrash's way into Cain and Abel. The first murder was also a breach of the most intimate covenant possible — between brothers. Cain had everything: the firstborn status, the work of the ground, the legacy of Adam. And when God accepted Abel's offering and not his, something curdled in him. The rabbis asked what the two brothers argued about before the murder. Their answers varied: land, women, the location of the Temple. All variations on the same theme — what we believe should be ours, and what we're willing to do when someone else has it.
God warned Cain directly: "If you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it" (Genesis 4:7). The door image is vivid — sin waiting just outside the threshold, patient, ready to enter. Cain did not master it. He invited it in. And the first blood spilled on this earth was not from an animal sacrifice but from a brother who had been warned, explicitly, that he was about to make the worst decision in human history.
Chapter 25: Torah [1] And Abraham journeyed from there (Genesis 20:1). This is what the scripture said, "But the mountain falls away and the rock is moved from its place" (Job 14:18). What is written above? "The sun rises and sets, and the Lord brings rain, and He turns it all around" (Genesis 19:23-24). Abraham said, "I did not dwell opposite Sodom and its surrounding cities because they did not receive the passersby and those returning, since Sodom and Gomorrah did not merit the poor, as it is written, 'And the hand of the poor and needy did not find anything' (Ezekiel 16:49), and it is written, 'Now the people of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly' (Genesis 13:13). Wicked to one another and sinners openly with forbidden relationships. And before the Lord, greatly, in bloodshed. Therefore, Abraham sat opposite it so that he could receive the passersby and those returning. Once the Holy One, blessed be He, overturned them because of their sins, Abraham said, "Why should I sit here? There is no longer any merit here, so behold, I am going to another place," as it is written, "But the mountain falls away and the rock is moved from its place" (Job 14:18),"And there is no mountain except for Sodom, as it is said 'He moves mountains, and they do not know where He overturned them in His anger' (Job 9:5). 'And the Rock shall be moved from its place' (Job 18:4), this refers to Abraham, as it is said 'Look to the rock from which you were hewn' (Isaiah 51:1), therefore it is said 'And Abraham journeyed from there.'" [2] Another interpretation: And Abraham traveled from there. "I have not sat with false people and I will not go with the deceitful" (Psalms 26:4). The false people are the people of Sodom and their associates, and the deceitful are Lot and his daughters. As it is written above, "Do not look behind you" (Genesis 19:17). Just as you should not look at prostitutes, as it says, "For a harlot is a deep pit" (Proverbs 23:27). Lot said to them, "What shall I do?" They said to him, "Go to Abraham," as it says, "The mountain, flee!" (Genesis 19:17). This refers to Abraham who was called a mountain, as it says, "Hear, O mountains" (Micah 6:2). He said to them, "Abraham is a completely righteous man and I cannot go to him," as it says, "And I cannot" (Genesis 19:19). Why? Because as long as Sodom and Gomorrah existed, I sat among them and appeared righteous among them, and the Holy One, blessed be He, would observe my actions and theirs, and I would appear righteous in their eyes. But now, if I go to Abraham, he is a completely righteous man, and if the Holy One, blessed be He, observes my actions and theirs, if I am found to be wicked in His eyes, He will destroy me. Therefore, "I cannot" (Genesis 19:19). Instead, "Behold, this town" (Genesis 19:20). He did all these things so that he could go to the cave to engage in immorality, as it says, "And Lot went up...and the elder daughter said" (Genesis 19:30). And from the beginning, when he was with Abraham, he desired to engage in immorality, as when Abraham said to him, "Let there be no quarrel between you and me" (Genesis 13:8). "Separate yourself" (Genesis 13:9). Immediately, "And Lot lifted up his eyes" (Genesis 13:10). The word "lifted up" only refers to desire for immorality, as it says, "And the wife of his master lifted up her eyes" (Genesis 39:7). "And he saw all the plain" (Genesis 13:10), for the sake of a harlot one can travel a distance of a kilometer (Proverbs 6:26). "For [they were afraid] that the drink would fail" (Genesis 13:10). "And they made their father drink wine that night" (Genesis 19:33) - At first, Lot had a desire for immorality, which is why Abraham said, "Please separate from me," etc., and Lot thought he sinned and no one knew. Rabbi Berechiah said, "The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Lot: 'What, do you think you have sinned and no one knows? Your descendants will be called "Moab" and "Ammon," as it says, 'So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father' " (Genesis 19:36), and similarly, Solomon said to desire, "Depart from me, you who are a deceiver" (Proverbs 1:10). When Abraham saw this, he said, "What am I seeking from these people?" Immediately he left there. Therefore it is said, "And with the crafty, you will not come" (Psalms 26:4). And the Holy One, blessed be He, judged them according to their deeds: Lot's daughters were deserving of being burned in fire, but the Holy One, blessed be He, judges only according to thoughts, which they thought and said, "Our father is old and there is no man on earth to come to us" (Genesis 19:31). It can be compared to a priest who had a field, sowed it with a tenant farmer, and the field did not produce. When the owner of the field asked for his share, the tenant farmer said, "There was no seed for us to sow." The priest asked him, "Did you see that there was no seed to sow?" He replied, "Yes, I saw it, so I took the tithes and sowed them, and the field produced a crop." The priest said to him, "What did you do?" He replied, "Since I saw there was no seed, I did this." But the priest said to him, "You should not have put it in the storehouse." Similarly, Lot's daughters saw that there was no man in those places, and furthermore, they thought that there was no creature in the world, as they said, "The world is turned over just as Sodom was overturned," as it says, "There is no man on earth," etc. "Come, let us make our father drink wine" etc. They sowed their seed like tithes. The Holy One, blessed be He, said, You deserved to be burned, but since you intended to build the world, you will not be admitted to the treasury. "No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the congregation of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 23:4). (This raises a question: This is written regarding a matter that did not precede you [i.e., the generation that left Egypt], so why should it apply to you?) Immediately, Abraham said, "I will not come to terms with hidden people; I have nothing to do with those about whom it is written, 'No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter.'" (Babylonian Talmud, Yevamot 76b:15) and he left.
