| Bereshit (Genesis) 12:1 - 17:27 | Haphtorah:Yishiyahu (Isaiah) 40:27 - 41:16 |
"Get thee out" --Genesis 12:1-9
When Avram was 75 years old, Gd told him to leave Charan, where his father, Terah had moved the family from Ur of Casdim.
Gd promises to make Avram a great nation: "I will bless those who bless you, and he who curses you, I will curse. Through you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (vs. 3)
Avram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and "all the souls they had made in Charan" to Canaan.
Journey to Egypt --Genesis 12:10-20
There was a famine in the Land, so Avram took his family to Egypt. Knowing the low moral standard of the Egyptians, he realized there was a danger that they would see Sarai's beauty and kill him for her. He, therefore, told her to say she was his sister. The Pharaoh did take her into his palace, but he was plagued. When he discovered that she was Avram's wife, he sent her back to him and ordered them to leave, but with gifts.
Separation of Lot and Avram--Genesis 13:1-18
Fighting broke out between Lot's herdsmen and Avram's over the grazing. Not wanting such strife, Avram took Lot to a high point, from which they could see the whole Land. He told Lot that if he went left, he would go right, and visa versa. Lot choose the plain of the Jordan, where the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were. After the separation Hashem told Avram: "Lift up now your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, to you will I give it, and to your seed forever. And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth; so that if man can number the dust of the earth, then shall your seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for unto you will I give it." (vs. 14-17) Avram settled in Hevron.
Avraham's Travels
War of the four kings against the five kings--Genesis 14:1-17
King Amraphel of Shinar, King Arioch of Ellasar, King Chedorlaomer of Elam, King Tidal of Goiim attacked King Bera of Sodom, King Birsha of Gomorrah, King Shinab of Admah, King Shemeber of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (Zoar) for rebelling against Chedorlaomer. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell into tar pits in the valley of Siddim, while the others fled to the mountains. One escaped and brought word to Avram that his nephew Lot had been captured in the war. Avram took 300 men and pursued them as far as Dan. He defeated the attacking kings and brought back the captives and the booty. The king of Sodom offered to give him all the goods, but Avram refused, not wanting him to have any way to gloat that he had made Avram rich.
Blessing of Melchizedek, king of Salem--Genesis 14:18-24
Melchizedek, priest of the Most High Gd, met Avram with bread and wine and blessed him: "Blessed be Avram of Gd Most High, Maker of heaven and earth. and blessed be Gd the Most High, who has delievered your enemies into your hand." (vs. 19-20) Avram gave him a tenth of all he had.
Covenant between the pieces--Genesis 15:1-21
Regretting that he had no heir, Avram asked how he could know that the promises would come to pass. Gd promised again that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars. He was directed to offer a sacrice: a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-ol she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtle-dove, and a pigeon. He split the the large animals, but not the birds. Vultures came, and he drove them away. He fell into a deep sleep, and a dread came over him. Gd said: "Know that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation, whom they shall serve, I will judge; and afterward shall they come out with great substance. But you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And in the fourth generation they shall come back here; for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full." (vs.13-16) A smoking furnace and flaming torch passed between the pieces. Gd made a covenant with Avram:
"Unto your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates...." (vs. 18)
Sarai gives Hagar to Avram as a wife--Genesis 16:1-16
After being in the Land for ten years, when Sarai still had not had children, she gave Hagar, her Egyptian maid, to Avram to have children through her.
Once she conceived, she despised Sarai, who complained to Avram about her behavior. He told her to do whatever she wished with her. She "dealt harshly with her", and Hagar fled.
By a well, an angel appeared to Hagar and asked her where she was going. She told the angel she was running away from Sarai. The angel then told her to return, that she would be a mother of multitudes. Of her child he said: "...you shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lrd has heard your affliction. He will be a wild ass of a man; his hand shall be against every an, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the face of all his brethern." (vs. 11-12)
She named the well Beer-lahai-roi, "You are a Gd of seeing."
Avram was 86 years old when Ishmael was born.
Brit milah--Genesis 17:1-27
When Avram was 99 years old, Gd appeared to him and said: "I am Gd Almighty; walk before Me, and be whole-hearted. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly....
As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you and you shall be 'the father of a multitude of nations.'
Neither shall your name be Avram anymore, but your name shall be Avraham; for the father of a multitude of nations have I made you.
And I will make you exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come out of you.
And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a Gd unto you and to your seed after you.
And I will give unto you, and to your seed after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their Gd." (vs. 1-8)
Gd commanded that every male, at eight days of age, among Avraham's people be circumcised, as a token of the covenant.
Any uncircumcised male would be cut off from his people for breaking the covenant.
Sarai's name was changed to Sarah, and she was blessed to become the mother of nations.
Avraham fell on his face and laughed that they would have a child at their advanced age--him 100 years old and her 90 years old.
Avraham asked for a blessing for Ishmael, and Gd said Sarah's son, Yitzchak would be the heir of the covenant, but He would bless Ishmael with twelve princes of a great nation.
Avraham performed the circumcision on himself and Ishmael and all his household. Ishmael was 13 years old; Avraham was 99 years old.
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