With ten temptations Abraham was tempted, and he withstood them all,
showing how great was the love of Abraham.[52] The first test to which
he was subjected was the departure from his native land. The hardships
were many and severe which he encountered, and he was loth to leave his
home, besides. He spoke to God, and said, "Will not the people talk
about me, and say, 'He is endeavoring to bring the nations under the
wings of the Shekinah, yet he leaves his old father in Haran, and he
goes away.'" But God answered him, and said: "Dismiss all care
concerning thy father and thy kinsmen from thy thoughts. Though they
speak words of kindness to thee, yet are they all of one mind, to ruin
thee."[53]
Then Abraham forsook his father in Haran, and journeyed to Canaan,
accompanied by the blessing of God, who said unto him, "I will make of
thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great."
These three blessings were to counteract the evil consequences which,
he feared, would follow emigration, for travelling from place to place
interferes with the growth of the family, it lessens one's substance,
and it diminishes the consideration one enjoys.[54] The greatest of all
blessings, however, was the word of God, "And be thou a blessing." The
meaning of this was that whoever came in contact with Abraham was
blessed. Even the mariners on the sea were indebted to him for
prosperous voyages.[55] Besides, God held out the promise to him that
in time to come his name would be mentioned in the Benedictions, God
would be praised as the Shield of Abraham, a distinction accorded to no
other mortal except David.[56] But the words, "And be thou a blessing,"
will be fulfilled only in the future world, when the seed of Abraham
shall be known among the nations and his offspring among the peoples as
"the seed which the Lord hath blessed."[57]
When Abraham first was bidden to leave his home, he was not told to
what land he was to journey—all the greater would be his reward for
executing the command of God.[58] And Abraham showed his trust in God,
for he said, "I am ready to go whithersoever Thou sendest me." The Lord
then bade him go to a land wherein He would reveal Himself, and when he
went to Canaan later, God appeared to him, and he knew that it was the
promised land.[59]
On entering Canaan, Abraham did not yet know that it was the land
appointed as his inheritance. Nevertheless he rejoiced when he reached
it. In Mesopotamia and in Aramnaharaim, the inhabitants of which he had
seen eating, drinking, and acting wantonly, he had always wished, "O
that my portion may not be in this land," but when he came to Canaan,
he observed that the people devoted themselves industriously to the
cultivation of the land, and he said, "O that my portion may be in this
land!" God then spoke to him, and said, "Unto thy seed will I give this
land."[60] Happy in these joyous tidings, Abraham erected an altar to
the Lord to give thanks unto Him for the promise, and then he journeyed
on, southward, in the direction of the spot whereon the Temple was once
to stand. In Hebron he again erected an altar, thus taking possession
of the land in a measure. And likewise he raised an altar in Ai,
because he foresaw that a misfortune would befall his offspring there,
at the conquest of the land under Joshua. The altar, he hoped, would
obviate the evil results that might follow.
Each altar raised by him was a centre for his activities as a
missionary. As soon as he came to a place in which he desired to
sojourn, he would stretch a tent first for Sarah, and next for himself,
and then he would proceed at once to make proselytes and bring them
under the wings of the Shekinah. Thus he accomplished his purpose of
inducing all men to proclaim the Name of God.[61]
For the present Abraham was but a stranger in his promised land. After
the partition of the earth among the sons of Noah, when all had gone to
their allotted portions, it happened that Canaan son of Ham saw that
the land extending from the Lebanon to the River of Egypt was fair to
look upon, and he refused to go to his own allotment, westward by the
sea. He settled in the land upon Lebanon, eastward and westward from
the border of the Jordan and the border of the sea. And Ham, his
father, and his brothers Cush and Mizraim spoke to him, and said: "Thou
livest in a land that is not thine, for it was not assigned unto us
when the lots were drawn. Do not thus! But if thou persistest, ye, thou
and thy children, will fall, accursed, in the land, in a rebellion. Thy
settling here was rebellion, and through rebellion thy children will be
felled down, and thy seed will be destroyed unto all eternity. Sojourn
not in the land of Shem, for unto Shem and unto the children of Shem
was it apportioned by lot. Accursed art thou, and accursed wilt thou be
before all the children of Noah on account of the curse, for we took an
oath before the holy Judge and before our father Noah."
But Canaan hearkened not unto the words of his father and his brothers.
He dwelt in the land of the Lebanon from Hamath even unto the entrance
of Egypt, he and his sons.[62] Though the Canaanites had taken unlawful
possession of the land, yet Abraham respected their rights; he provided
his camels with muzzles, to prevent them from pasturing upon the
property of others.[63]