G‑d speaks to
Abram, commanding him, “
Go from your land, from your birthplace and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you.” There, G‑d says, he will be made into a great
nation. Abram and his wife,
Sarai, accompanied by his nephew
Lot, journey to the land of Canaan, where Abram builds an altar and continues to spread the message of a
one G‑d.
A famine forces the first Jew to depart for
Egypt, where beautiful Sarai is taken to Pharaoh’s palace; Abram escapes death because they present themselves as
brother and sister. A plague prevents the Egyptian king from touching her, and convinces him to return her to Abram and to compensate the brother-revealed-as-husband with gold, silver and
cattle.
Back in the land of Canaan, Lot separates from Abram and settles in the evil city of
Sodom, where he falls captive when the mighty armies of
Chedorlaomer and his three allies conquer the five cities of the Sodom Valley. Abram sets out with a small band to rescue his nephew, defeats the four kings, and is blessed by
Malki-Zedek the king of Salem (Jerusalem).
G‑d seals the
Covenant Between the Parts with Abram, in which the exile and persecution
(galut) of the people of Israel is foretold, and the
Holy Land is bequeathed to them as their eternal heritage.
Still childless ten years after their arrival in the Land, Sarai tells Abram to marry her maidservant
Hagar. Hagar conceives, becomes insolent toward her mistress, and then flees when Sarai treats her harshly; an angel convinces her to return, and tells her that her son will father a populous nation.
Ishmael is born in Abram’s eighty-sixth year.
Thirteen years later, G‑d changes Abram’s name to
Abraham (“father of multitudes”), and Sarai’s to
Sarah (“princess”), and promises that a son will be born to them; from this child, whom they should call
Isaac (“will laugh”), will stem the great nation with which G‑d will establish His special bond. Abraham is commanded to
circumcise himself and his descendants as a “sign of the covenant between Me and you.” Abraham immediately complies, circumcising himself and all the males of his household.
