"Behold, God will not cast away the perfect, neither will He uphold the evildoers" (Job 8:20). God visited Sarah and she conceived (Genesis 21:1) — after decades of barrenness, after exile in Pharaoh's house and in Abimelech's court, after her body had ceased to function in the ordinary way. The promise had seemed impossible. The waiting had gone on longer than most people can keep believing. And then the text says, simply: the Lord visited Sarah.
Rabbi Abbahu went to work on the word "visited." He found in it a comprehensive divine action: God restrained everything belonging to Abimelech — every womb, every vessel, every opening in his household — the moment Abimelech had taken Sarah. Not as arbitrary punishment, but as protection. Nothing in Abimelech's world would move until Sarah was returned. The divine management of fertility — who opens, who closes, when and why — was not accidental. It was personal.
The perfect, the tam, is not the flawless. It is the whole-hearted — the person who moves through affliction without breaking covenant. Abraham suffered for years: the childlessness, the wandering, the circumcision at ninety-nine, the command to sacrifice his son. He remained whole-hearted throughout. And God, who does not cast away the perfect, returned to him in the form of a birth, in the form of laughter, in the form of Isaac — the son whose name means "he will laugh," because no one was laughing yet and God already knew they would be.
Chapter 27: Writings [1] "A Psalm of David. The Lord says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool" (Psalm 110:1). "And it shall come to pass in all the land, declares the Lord, that two-thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one-third shall be left alive" (Zechariah 13:8). Rabbi Berachiah said in the name of God: the mouth that says that they will be cut off and perish refers to two-thirds, and the remaining one-third will be more blessed. This refers to the people of Israel, as it is written: "And it shall come to pass that in all the land of Egypt, one-third shall be saved and remain" (Isaiah 19:24). But the wicked Babylonians say that God has a son, as it is written: "And the fourth looks like a son of the gods" (Daniel 3:25). God said: the wicked say that it is written "a son of God," but it was written "like a son of the gods," referring to the angels who are called "sons of God." If not for them, who would say this? Nebuchadnezzar was not one of them; when he was punished, he did not speak the truth, as it is written: "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego" (Daniel 3:28). He did not say, "Blessed be the God who sent his son," but rather, "Blessed be the God who sent his angels." "And it shall come to pass that in all the land, two-thirds shall be cut off and perish" (Zechariah 13:8)." [2] Another explanation: "Return to your right hand, the tribe of your strength; God will send forth His loving kindness from Zion. Which tribe is it that Tamar, from Judah, took? As it says, "Your seal, your cord, and your staff" (Genesis 38:18). Once she passed them over, "About three months later" (Genesis 38:24), she was found with them, and he gave her a pledge and did not burn her. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to him: "Since you have admitted, 'She is more righteous than I' (Genesis 38:26), I too acknowledge that three will come forth from your descendants and will be saved from the fire: Tamar and her two sons. Your descendants will also be saved, for I will save three of your descendants from the fire - Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah - as it says, 'Then these men were released from the fiery furnace' (Daniel 3:26)." At that time, Judah took three crowns - "Your seal" refers to Zerubbabel, as it says, "On that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will take you, Zerubbabel" (Haggai 2:23), "and I will make you like a signet" (Haggai 2:23), "Your cord" refers to the Temple, as it says, "And he had a line of flax in his hand and a measuring reed" (Ezekiel 40:3), "Your staff" refers to the Messiah who is destined to arise from your descendants, as it says, "The staff of your strength, God will send forth from Zion" (Psalms 110:2)."
