After the conquest of Canaan, God deliberately left certain nations in the land — not because He couldn't remove them, but to test Israel (Judges 3:1-2). The rabbis found this practice disturbing enough to need explanation. A psalmist had already asked for it: "Do not kill them, lest my people forget; make them totter by your power" (Psalm 59:12). Left without enemies, Israel forgets. Given enemies, Israel remembers who it needs.
The midrash then traces the angel Michael through the wilderness narrative: he appeared to Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3:2), guarded the camp at the sea (Exodus 14:19), and stands throughout as Israel's divine protector. But the rabbis make a distinction: Michael guards, God leads. When Moses refused the angel-as-intermediary and demanded God's direct presence — "If your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here" (Exodus 33:15) — God agreed. No substitute. No proxy. The covenant demanded the presence itself, not its representative.
This is the heart of Israel's test: not whether they can survive enemies, but whether they can remember the difference between God's presence and God's representative. Nations can be kept in check by angels. Only Israel demands — and receives — the thing itself. The nations left in the land are not God's failure to complete the conquest. They are the ongoing conditions for Israel's faithfulness.
Chapter 31: The Torah [1] And it came to pass after these things, that God tested, etc. (Genesis 22:1) "I will not break my covenant, nor change that which has come out of my lips." (Psalms 89:35) "What covenant did Hashem make with Avraham that day?" (Genesis 15:18) "And how can I break my covenant, if Yitzchak is slaughtered? Even the angels gathered together and wept," as it is said, "Behold, their mighty men cry out without, the messengers of peace weep bitterly." (Isaiah 33:7) The people said, "Master of the universe! The paths have been silent; the sabbath traveler passes by, and the covenant is broken!" (Shabbat 33a) But if Yitsak was slaughtered, where were the footprints? Where is it written about them: "The Israelites said to him: 'We are going up the highway'? (Numbers 20:19) "The paths have been quiet" - Did you not say to him: "Yitsak's name is your seed"? (Gen. 21:12) God answered, "I swear by your life that I will not break my covenant, nor change that which has come from my lips," as it is said, "Take, pray for your son, etc." (Gen. 22:2) "And how can I keep both promises?" It can be compared to the king who said to his beloved, "I want to see a peacock on my table." His beloved immediately went and brought the peacock and placed it on the table. The king rushed to bring a knife to slaughter it, but the bird spread its wings and flew away. The king exclaimed: "What are you doing? Isn't this what I asked you - to bring the peacock to my table to be slaughtered?" The Beloved replied: "Here it stands before you, and you have a knife. Slaughter it under the peacock." Likewise, God said to Abraham, "I wanted to see your only son Yitzhak on Mount Moriah as a burnt offering. As soon as you brought him there and placed him on the altar above the tree, I thought you would have already sacrificed him." (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 22) Rabbi Chanina asked: What does "ma'al" (above) mean in the verse "The Seraphim stood above him" ( Isaiah 6:2)? It means that above the altar, which was opposite the Throne of Glory, Abraham stretched out his hand to take the knife to slaughter his son, as it says: "And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son" (Genesis 22:10). For at that moment God called to him from heaven, saying, “Avraham, Avraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.” And God said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy and do nothing to him. For now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld your beloved son from me." (Genesis 22:11-12) ).The Midrash teaches that at that moment God told Avraham that just as he had brought his son to be sacrificed, so in the future God will command his children to bring sacrifices to Him. And it says, "And God called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying: Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: When one of you sacrifices cattle to Hashem, choose your own. offering from the flock or herd" (Leviticus 1:1-2).The rabbis learned from the verse, "I did not speak to your fathers, nor did I command them about burnt offerings or sacrifices" (Jeremiah 7:22), that God did not command Jephthah to sacrifice his daughter. Nor did God command the king of Moab to sacrifice his son on the wall, as it says, "And he took his firstborn, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall." (2 Kings 3:27) For it never occurred to me in my heart to tell Abraham to sacrifice his son, although I told him to take him and offer him as a burnt offering. (Genesis 22:2) Therefore I will not break my covenant. [2] Another interpretation: "And God tested Abraham, who went weeping, etc." (Psalms 126:6). "I went weeping" refers to Avraham, as when God said to him, "Go out of your land." (Genesis 12:1) "And wept" - why did he weep? He wept in his heart, because just yesterday God said to him: "Through Yitzhak you will have descendants" (Genesis 21:12), and now He says to him: "Slaughter him." "Faithful is he that hath promised, and he found his heart faithful before thee" (Nehemiah 9:8), and he set out to do God's will, leading Yitzchak, as it is said, "He that draweth his seed." (Nehemiah 9:8) (Psalms 126:6) When God said to him, "Do not stretch out your hand" (Genesis 22:12), they returned home safely, and Abraham returned to his servants. "Let him come and carry his burdens" (Psalms 126:6) - he considered himself deaf and dumb and said nothing, as it is said, "The deaf cannot hear" (Psalms 38:14). That is why it says, "Let him come bearing his torches." [3] Another interpretation: "And God tested [Abraham]." (Genesis 22:1) "I am always mindful of your commandments and do not delay in keeping your commandments" (Psalms 119:60). This refers to Avraham, who quickly obeyed God's command to sacrifice his son Yitzhak. Unlike Lot, his nephew, who lingered and hesitated. (Genesis 19:16) As soon as God said to Abraham, "Take your son" (Genesis 22:2), Abraham got up early in the morning and immediately set out on his journey. He doesn't see He saw nothing the first day and continued on his way. He woke up early the second day and saw nothing. It was not until the third day that he saw the divine presence standing on the mountain, as it is said, "On the third day Avraham looked up and saw the place afar off." (Genesis 22:4) Here it says "from afar" and elsewhere it says, "From afar Hashem appeared to me" (Jeremiah 31:2). Why did God wait until the third day to reveal the place to Abraham? So that the nations of the world would not say that Avraham sacrificed his son brazenly, but that he had thought about it and done it out of love for God. When God revealed himself to Avraham, his fear overwhelmed him and he lost his mind. But he went ahead and sacrificed his son. If he had waited even an hour, he wouldn't have done it. That is why God said he would suffer for three days so that everyone would know that he had acted out of love and not fear. As it says, "On the third day." (Genesis 22:4) When Avraham was about to slaughter his son, God's grace overcame him, and he cried out: "Do not raise your hand against the son." (Genesis 22:12) Rabbi Avin said in the name of Rabbi Helkiya: "It is foolishness for liars to say that God has a son. If the son of Avraham, when he saw that he had to be sacrificed, and could not bear to see it, immediately cried out." Lay not your hand upon the son, etc. (Genesis 22:12), for if God had had a son, He would have allowed him [His son] to be sacrificed. He would not have turned the world into chaos and emptiness. That is why Solomon says "[God] is one, and there is no other, neither has he son or brother." (Ecclesiastes 4:8) And for the love of Israel they are called sons, as it is said, 'My firstborn son, Israel.' (Exodus 4:22)
