Today, we're diving into a fascinating little debate from Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis. Specifically, we're looking at Chapter 41, which wrestles with God's reaction to Abraham separating from his nephew Lot.
The verse in question is Genesis 13:14: "The Lord said to Abram, after Lot parted from him: Raise now your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward." Simple enough, right? God is telling Abraham to survey the land he's promised. But the rabbis of the Midrash, always digging deeper, saw something more complex.
Rabbi Yuda suggests that God was actually annoyed with Abraham! Can you imagine? The Holy One, blessed be He, supposedly thought: "Abraham is always trying to bring people closer to God, yet he distances himself from his own family, from Lot?" It’s a stinging rebuke, implying that Abraham was neglecting his familial duty in his pursuit of wider righteousness. Abraham, of all people!
But then Rabbi Nehemya offers a completely different perspective. He suggests that God was actually angry while Lot was still traveling with Abraham! According to this view, God was thinking: "I promised this land to Abraham's descendants (Genesis 15:18), and now he’s dragging Lot along, potentially to inherit a piece of it? If Abraham wants to give away his inheritance, let him find some random orphans, not his nephew!" It's a question of divine promise and who is truly entitled to it.
So, which is it? Was God upset that Abraham pushed Lot away, or upset that he kept him around in the first place?
The Midrash continues, quoting Proverbs 22:10: "Banish the scoffer, and strife will depart." Here, "the scoffer" is interpreted as Lot, and the "strife" as the quarrel between the herdsmen of Abraham and Lot. (Genesis 13:7) The implication being that Lot's presence was causing problems. "One who loves purity of heart, he who has grace on his lips, his friend is a king" (Proverbs 22:11). That's Abraham, who, because he loved God, God became like a friend to him.
This section concludes by linking Abraham’s “grace on his lips” (Job 41:4) to God’s promise: “To your descendants I have given this land” (Genesis 15:18). In other words, because Abraham was righteous, God reaffirmed his covenant with him.
What are we to make of these conflicting interpretations? Maybe the point isn't to decide which rabbi is "right," but to recognize the complexity of the situation. Perhaps both perspectives hold a piece of the truth. Abraham faced a difficult choice: family loyalty versus the potential for conflict and dilution of the divine promise. It's a human dilemma, amplified and examined through the lens of divine expectation.
As Ginzberg retells it in Legends of the Jews, Abraham always sought to bring people closer to God, and this desire was a key part of his character. But even the most righteous among us can face situations where the right path isn't clear, where different values seem to pull us in opposite directions.
And isn't that often the case in our own lives? We strive to do good, to make the right choices, but sometimes the consequences are messy, and the path forward is shrouded in ambiguity. The story of Abraham and Lot, as interpreted in Bereshit Rabbah, reminds us that even our spiritual ancestors grappled with these complexities. It's in the wrestling, in the questioning, that we often find deeper meaning and a more nuanced understanding of ourselves and our relationship with the divine.