It says, "Abram was ninety-nine years old, and the Lord appeared to Abram; He said to him: I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be faultless.” Ninety-nine years old. Think about that for a moment. It’s never too late, is it?
The Rabbis, in their wisdom, saw layers upon layers in even the simplest verses. In Bereshit Rabbah 46, they unpack this very encounter. They connect it to Hosea 9:10, which says, "Like grapes in the wilderness I found Israel, like a first fruit on the fig tree in its first season…" What does a fig tree have to do with Abraham?
Well, Rabbi Yudan has a beautiful explanation. He says that when you first pick figs, you pick them one at a time, then two, then three, until you're harvesting them with baskets. At first, only a few ripen individually, but eventually, they all ripen at once. It’s a process. A gradual unfolding.
So too, with Abraham and his descendants. At first, as Ezekiel 33:24 reminds us, “Abraham was one and he inherited the land.” Just one person. Then there were two – Abraham and Isaac. Then three – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And then, boom! "The children of Israel were fruitful, teemed, increased, and grew exceedingly mighty" (Exodus 1:7). From one to a nation. It’s a powerful image of growth, isn't it?
But Rabbi Yudan doesn't stop there. He delves even deeper, into the idea of flawlessness. He uses the fig as an analogy again. He says that a fig has no refuse, no waste, other than its stem. You remove the stem, and the imperfection is gone. Similarly, God says to Abraham, "You have no refuse on your body other than the foreskin; remove it, and the imperfection is eliminated: 'Walk before Me, and be faultless.'"
This is about brit milah, circumcision, the covenant of circumcision. It’s more than just a physical act, though. It's about striving for wholeness, for perfection in God’s eyes. It's about removing what holds us back from being truly present before the Divine.
The Bereshit Rabbah, drawing on Hosea, uses the fig as a metaphor for the gradual ripening and growth of the Jewish people, connecting it directly to Abraham's journey. This resonates profoundly. It tells us that growth is a process, that perfection is a journey, and that even at ninety-nine, we can still take steps towards becoming the person God calls us to be. It's a reminder that even seemingly small actions can have a profound impact on our journey towards wholeness.
So, what "stem" are we holding onto? What imperfection can we remove to walk more fully before God? It’s a question worth pondering, isn't it?