פרשה: לך לך · עלייה: שביעי (מלכות)

ויאמר אברהם…לו ישמעאל יחיה לפניך. Abraham said…. "if only Ishmael will live (a righteous life) before You." Abraham prayed that Ishmael should enjoy divine assistance to live as a righteous person. The term "to live before You" is the source for the righteous being called "alive" in our rabbinic literature. Abraham "borrowed" a phrase from Deut. 4,11 where the Torah describes the fact that the Jewish people were "alive" at that time as due to their having cleaved to G'd. Abraham saw the need to pray for this as he had observed negative character tendencies in Ishmael (who was still a minor). Had Ishmael been truly wicked at that time, Abraham, though prejudiced as his father, would have been aware of such wickedness, just as any other righteous person could perceive such things. We have explained in connection with 15,2-3 that Abraham had worried about a son of his not being worthy because G'd described his seeds as comparable to dust. At this point Abraham prayed that Ishmael would turn out to be worthy.

ויאמר אלוקים אבל שדה אשתך יולדת לך בן. G'd said: "But your wife Sarah will bear a son for you." Why did G'd add the word "but?"

G'd may have wanted to explain to Abraham that if the gift of a son was something intended only for Abraham, it would suffice to grant his prayer and assist Ishmael to become worthy. However, there was another person to be considered, his wife Sarah. Inasmuch as Sarah was destined to bear a son, he, Abraham, had no right to waive the gift of a son by Sarah in order for Ishmael to grow up worthy of his father. The Torah was very particular using the word לך, "for you," in connection with the son Sarah would bear. She would bear this son in answer to her prayer.

It is also possible that the Torah here hinted at G'd's displeasure that Abraham was satisfied with Ishmael, someone who contained residual poisonous material from the original serpent. Had it not been for Abraham's prayer regarding the future of Ishmael, his son Isaac might not have originated in what kabbalists know as the סטרא דנוקבא, an emanation on the left and female side of the emanations. Had Isaac originated in the other side of the emanations he might never have fathered an Esau. This matter had ramifications at the time of the עקדה, when Isaac received the soul who would bear children for him, i.e. the moment at which Rebeccah his life-partner was born.

ולישמעאל שמעתיך, "Concerning (your prayer for) Ishmael, I have listened to you, etc." Inasmuch as the only reason Abraham had prayed for Ishmael was because he was at that time his only son, and he had not prayed for him again after Sarah had born Isaac, G'd listened to his prayer. We can understand this according to the principle postulated in Makkot 11 that even the conditional curse of a Torah scholar comes true. We have another principle that a blessing is much stronger than a curse, i.e. has far wider ramifications. G'd told Abraham that Ishmael would eventually become a בעל תשובה since Abraham had prayed for Ishmael to develop into a G'd-fearing person. This is the meaning of G'd's words: "Here I have blessed him." G'd used the past tense to hint that when He promised that Abraham would die in a ripe old age, He had already made provisions for Ishmael's conduct not to cloud Abraham's departure from this earth.

ויקח אברהם את ישמעאל בנו. Abraham took his son Ishmael, etc. Inasmuch as Ishmael had attained maturity, (he was 13 years of age) Abraham had "to take him," i.e. convince him, not merely order him to submit. The same applied to all the other members of his household who were no longer minors. Abraham was anxious that G'd's commandment to become circumcised would be accepted willingly.

כאשר דבר אתו אלוקים, as G'd had told him to. We need to know why the Torah added these last few words. After all, anyone who reads the passage is aware that this is exactly what Abraham did. Perhaps the Torah wanted to tell us that the efforts Abraham made to have all the people concerned be circumcised willingly was what G'd had told him to do.

Possibly, the Torah testified to the fact that Abraham complied with G'd's instructions immediately, without any delay. The Torah credited Abraham with the manner in which he related to any of G'd's demands upon him.

Avodah Zarah 27 understands the repetition of המול ימול in 17,13 to mean that he who circumcises others must himself first have been circumcised. Perhaps this is what is meant by the words: "as He commanded him to do," i.e. Abraham circumcised himself first before he circumcised anyone else. If we accept this explanation we do no longer have to search for a reason why the Torah did not specifically mention that Abraham circumcised himself. There were two reasons why it is assumed that Abraham was the first to circumcise himself. 1) It was his nature to comply with any commandment of G'd immediately. Besides, how could he have persuaded others to do something he himself appeared to be afraid of doing? 2) In order for his circumcision of the members of his household to be halachically valid, he himself had to be circumcised first.

When the Torah told us in verse 24 that Abraham was circumcised, this concerned only the time element. The Torah wanted us to know that just as Ishmael allowed imself to be circumcised at 13 years of age, so Abraham was 99 years of age. [The letter ו in the word ואברהם in that verse was necessary because it interrupts the story of Ishmael's circumcision. The Torah wanted to mention Abraham's circumcision before that of Ishmael; this is why it had to insert verse 24. Ed.]