Avraham three Angels Phillip Ratner
The Commandment of Lekh-Lekha
The name of the Parashah that we are dealing with is “Lekh-Lekha” – which the Koren translation renders as “get thee out” and we’ll translate initially as “walk to thyself”. This is the first command that was given to Abraham ( pronounced in Hebrew “Avraham”) while still called Abram – ( pronounced “Avram” and meaning “High Father”). What does this “walking” – halikhah – mean?
The first time we encounter the word root “HLKh” is in the Parashah of Genesis-Bereshit: “And they heard the voice of the Lord God (YHWH-Elohim) walking in the garden in the breeze of the day” (Gen. 3:8), and the scared Adam, having transgressed, was hiding, instead of joining Him and “walking with God” as would anokh-Enoch and No’a-Noah later do.
“And ?anokh walked with God, and he was not, for God Took him” (Gen. 5:24). Our sages of blessed memory explained that ?anokh’s “walk with God” was so good, that the Master of the Universe took him and appointed him to become an archangel, called Metatron, who is in charge of all the workings of the world. Also in the case of the next righteous person it was written “and No’a? walked with God” (Gen. 6:9). But Abraham was commanded, after he underwent the first five trials, “walk before me, and be perfect” (Gen. 17:1). (All these instances of these righteous acts, translated as “walk”, are rendered in Hebrew not as halakh, but as hithalekh, which is a reflexive form.)
So what is the difference between active and reflexive walking, and what is the difference between walking with God and walking before God? Are these walks different, or could they be complementary?
The Bal Shem Tov thought that “Lekh-Lekha” means, “go into your essence” (which in Hebrew makes perfect sense of these words). Abraham had to find the divinity within him. He had to go towards the quality that is the root of his particular soul – which is the quality (Midah or Sefirah) of chesed-Mercy, as in the verse (Mikha 7:20) “thou will show Emet-truth to Ya’?qov, ?esed to Abraham”.
Noa?, who “walked with God”, did not perform independent action: he did not argue with his creator before the coming of the flood, and did not try to save the doomed rest of humankind. Abraham, who was required to show independent action, was capable of arguing with his God. For his sake God agreed to save Sodom, if there would be there 50 righteous people, and even only ten. Being so identified with the Sefirah of ?esed, Abraham could have cause God to “change his qualities” (la’?vor ?l Midotav). The walking of Abraham before God is like that of a scout who goes before the main corpus; as in the Song of the Sea, when all Israel sang (Exodus 15:16): “till thy people pass over, O Lord” (?d ya’?vor ?mkha YHWH), which was explained by chassidic commentators as “till thy people overtake Thee, O Lord” (which can be read from the same Hebrew words) – meaning that the whole people of Israel would overtake God and serve as the avant-garde of the Divine forces in the world.
It is written about Adam “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden” (Gen. 2:15), in total passivity (the Hebrew word for “put him” is vayeni?ehu, related to menu?ah – rest). Noa?, whose name connotes passivity) was commanded “Come thou.. into the Ark” (Gen. 7:1), which is an accompanied walk, like a mother who teaches her child to walk and calls “Come”. Even the angels of heaven are not commanded to walk. In the vision of the prophet Zekharya (Zechariah) the Lord promises to Yehoshua, the High Priest, “I will give thee passage (ma’halakhim) among these who stand by” (3:7), meaning the angels, and the Midrash explains that the angels stand fixed in their place and in their spiritual rank, whereas those humans who are righteous are capable of “walking” of moving and advancing in their spiritual rank.
This connects also with Abraham’s being an “Ivri” – which means “Hebrew”, but also has to do with “Ivor” – to pass, or go beyond. This is the appellation he is referred by the one who escaped from Sodom (Gen. 14:13), and what is apparently meant is about Abraham’s lineage from Iver. But Ivri is also one who can make a passing and transformation, who can transcend – and even pass over a local law or norm if really necessary and “pass over his own qualities” (la’avor l Midotav), go beyond his genetic programming.
The combination of Lekh-Lekha is very rare in the scriptures. Just once more, on his way to the Aqeda, the offering of Isaac-Yitchak, would Abraham be commanded “Lekh-lekha l’Ere? haMoriah” – “get thee into the land of Moriya” (Gen. 22:2). This combination would return twice in the Canticles (2:10,13) when the beloved is commanded twice: “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and walk thee” – Lekhi-Lakh. In order to consummate her love, the beloved has to experience going into her own essence, to get lost in byways. It was for a reason that our sages allegorized the love in the Canticles to the love of God to his people.
Thus the command “Lekh-Lekha” that was given to Abraham and his progeny is a unique command, which allows them to introduce new leadership styles to the world. The “Messiah Complex” that (us) Jews are so involved with – the individual urge to do something to redeem the whole world[1] – is an authentic derivative from our being “The Children of Abraham”. (Whereas the Eastern religions are religions of sitting down, contemplation and passivity, the religions of the Children of Abraham are intended to push on, to strive towards the redemption of humankind. In the command of Lekh-Lekha is therefore enfolded the formation of the three religious-spiritual movements, which drive – halekh – and guide humankind till this day.)
It is even possible to explain the walking of Abraham in front of the Lord in a more extreme way – that the divinity that is represented by the Name of YHWH (or the human conception of and communication with) is in a process of development, and it progresses to the extent that her adherents, namely The Children of Abraham, are walking before her.[2] Such progress raises questions of piloting to which we shall return in the discussion of Ya’?qov/Israel.
As noted, the name “Abram” signifies a five-dimensional space. The essence of the Journeys of Abraham is the striving to locate himself – hineni, Here I Am – at the place of the Holy Shrine (Heikhal haQodesh) mentioned in Sefer Yetzirah: “Ten Sefirot Blimah, their measure without end – profundity of beginning and profundity of ending, profundity of good and profundity of evil, profundity of height and profundity of depth, profundity of East and profundity of West, profundity of North and profundity of South, and one master trusted king God rules them all from His Holy Shrine to infinity”, just as in three-dimensions “six extremities Up and Down, East West North and South and the Holy Shrine orientated at the centre and carries them all, blessed be the glory of the Lord from His Place”.
This becomes a series of journeys in the world, in Time (“Shanah-Year in the language of Sefer Yetzirah) and in the Soul dimensions in order to find the optimal point for receiving divine inspiration for all humankind so that “in thee shall all the families of the (living) earth be blessed” (12:3).
In the sequel we shall follow the journeys of Abram-Abraham in space and time and examine how his soul developed within the context of a classical 12-stage initiation journey.
Parashat Lekh-Lekha in the framework of Biblical History
We have noted at the outset that the stories of Genesis have generally a three-fold structure, both in the overall wide framework, and in the details (a fractal structure). We have also noted that the history of “This World” (olam haZeh) is made of six thousand years, in parallel with the six Days of Genesis that make a trinity, “two thousand years chaos (Tohu), two thousand years Torah and two thousand years Days of the Messiah”. Or in a different manner, from three levels of cognition, which are the Worlds of “Beri’ah”, “Ye?irah” and “Assiyah” (which we may characterize as 5D, 4D and 3D spaces respectively).
In the Parashah of Lekh-lekha begins a new stage in the history of humankind, but it too is integrated with the structure of the stages that preceded it: the ten generations from Adam and his grandson Enosh until Noah, is the thousand-year era that corresponds with “The First Day”. The ten generations from Noah, his son Shem and grandson Iver – the progenitor of the Ivrim-Hebrews – are the thousand-year era that corresponds with the Second Day. Together, these are the two thousand years that are called “the Era of Chaos”. In the first “Day”/millennium “the earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep”, without place to land and set roots. The second “Day”/millennium is the time of division between “the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament” (Gen. 1:7). This era was started with the flood, in which the waters from above and from below the firmament returned to unite – “on that same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken open, and the windows of heaven were opened” (Gen. 7:11). And thereafter the division was re-established and a covenant was made with Noah: “And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of the flood, neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth” (Gen. 9:11).
The third “Day”/millennium that opens with Abraham, is the era of the Torah – literally “Guidance”. There is, of course, a difference between the third millennium/”Day” of “the primordial Torah” which was not yet written upon tablets and scrolls, but transmitted as Living Torah, and the Torah of the fourth millennium/Day. Actually, Abraham was not a “Jew” (since, strictly speaking, Judah – from which the word Jew derives) was his grand-grandson) and did not know the commandments of Moses and Sinai.[4]
(In an aside, we may recall that the fourth millennium/Day was the period of the Kingdom and of the two temples, a period in which the written Torah was becoming disseminated among the people of Israel (who were getting limited during that period to the framework of “The Jewish People”). In the fifth millennium/Day (from the period of the Mishnah till the commentaries of RaShY to the Torah and the Talmud) the Oral Torah became written and fixed. In the sixth millennium/Day, there were formed (or at least published) also the teachings of the Qabbalah and ?assidut.)
The Transition of Abram into Abraham haIvri
In the course of Parashat Lekh-Lekha the name of the protagonist is changed from “Abram” to “Abraham”. As already noted: the name (or actually names) of Abram-Abraham – is meaningful to our narrative.
Some of the meanings are hinted by the text itself: Abram-Av-Ram – namely “High )or Exalted( Father” – is indeed a patriarch with an exalted paternal role, but only when he became Abraham, and when he begot children of his own – he could become “a father of many nations” (17:5). In order for this to happen – Abram and Saray have to share among them, and receive new names (that is, identities. Saray shares with Abram half of the letter Y’od in her name, and now she would become Sarah and he Abraham. This completed operation is precisely parallel to the structure-process of the name of YHWH – the Y that denotes the highest world (Atzilut) descends using the letter Waw (which has the form of a line) and divides into H’e on this side and H’e on that side, This H’e that is added to the name of Abram is the last, lower H’e of the Name of YHWH – which is the Shekhinah and the presence of the residence of the hyperdimensional God in our world, namely in three-dimensional space.
The letter Y’od (which is the tenth letter in the Hebrew alphabet, and has a gematria value of 10) is the letter that serves to connote the future tense, the unrealized. Saray would have to divide it equally with her husband, so that each one of them would receive the letter H’e (the fifth letter in the Hebrew alphabet, and its value in gematria is 5), which serves to connote the present tense.
Abram could not realize his vocation and to leave the present daily because he was too high, Saray failed to realize her vocation because she left the divine promise for seed in the realm of the future. Only Abraham and Sarah could together form the Tree of Life.
This process of converting the names is described only towards the end of this Parashah, after half a dozen trials that Abraham experienced on his way (see below). We shall try to examine why.
In order to pass the conversion of their name (which signifies their inner quality) on their transition from the hidden and to the revealed, they both must pass liberation by means of laughter. Abraham is the first to laugh: already before the covenant of the divided sacrifices (Brit ben haBetarim) Abram had complete trust in the ability of God to give him progeny “And he believed in the Lord, and He counted it to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:6) – but in the very ceremony of the change of his name, Abraham behaved differently – “Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born to him who is a hundred years old? And shall Sara, that is ninety years old, give birth?” (Gen. 17:17).
Sara’s turn to laugh was yet to come, when she eavesdropped on the saying of the angel to Abraham: “I will certainly return to thee at this season; and, lo, Sara thy wife shall have a son… therefore Sara laughed within herself, saying, After I am grown old shall I have pleasure?…” (Gen. 18:10, 12).
Detailing the Trials of Abraham
Since Abraham was positioned in an exalted mythical role, which has to do with the high level of the divine-human image (tzelem), the level of Neshamah, it is important for the scriptures to show that Abraham was also a flesh-and-blood mortal, a real human being like any of us, given to weaknesses, is in need of trials, and does not always stands them with full success.
The First Trial is of Lekh-Lekha, of “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, to the land that I will show thee”. This is the first stage in the Hero’s Journey – severance from the earlier heritage, from the familial allegiance, and from the loyalty to blood and soil. In his book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”, Joseph Campbell analyzes the universal myth of the Hero, and shows that in every case the story of the Hero starts with his severance from his birth environment. It is possible to say that Abraham, who comes from the place of Cain (Qayin) – of farmers and city people – to become his brother Abel (Hevel), in order to stand for the reformation of all humankind. The promised reward for this total renunciation is a promise for permanent settlement in the future to come, for his progeny. He was going to see the land, but not to inherit it in his own lifetime.
Abram stands the test, but only just. The exit from his country and kindred was not made by him, but by his father, and until his father died – he did not continue on his journey. Abram also did not completely leave his father’s house, since he took Lot – his brother’s son – along with him; and when the question of his son’s wedding arose – he demanded that the son should marry someone from his own family of origin. With all that, Abram did get to the Land of Canaan, and laid the foundations for a material hold on it. (In the sequel we shall show how this foothold realized the initial part of “The Hebrew Merkabah”). There were laid the foundations of the belonging to the land of the Children of Abraham, which would be completed through the acquisition of a burial estate for the patriarchs, one that attaches the sons to it.
Yet at this stage, Abram had not yet been promised the possession of the land, but only a universal, which does not necessarily demand a homestead: “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. … and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Gen 12:2-3). (From a mythical-ontogenetic perspective, this is the stage of the journey of the sperm towards the ovum).
When we examine the journeys of Abraham in the land, we can see they were prophetic – “the acts of the fathers are a sign unto the children” (Tanhuma for Genesis 12:9) to be reproduced later. Thus in Genesis 12:1-9 Abraham comes to the land from ?aran in the the North to shekhem, “the navel of the land”, which would be visited by Jacob’s return from paran (Gen. 31). Abram then moved further south to between Bet-el and Ai, which was later also Jacob’s next station, and later the axis of the entry of the tribes into the land and the start of its conquest (Joshua 8:9). These followings get more marked with the second trial, in Egypt and out again.
The Second Trial is the contention of Abraham with the first famine that fell upon the land since he moved there, his decision to descend to Egypt along with taking his beautiful wife into a foreign territory and the decision to display her as his sister, (namely, one who is permitted to others).
Ostensibly, it may be hard to maintain that Abram stood this trial with glory. He yields and deserts in these two aspects: he leaves the land promised him by God, and was ready to lie and to abandon his wife, for the sake of his personal security. Pharaoh-Par’oh, the king of Egypt, had justification to complain to Abram: “What is this that thou hast done to me? Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?” (Gen. 12:18). In the sequel we shall see how a very similar experience recurs to Abraham with Abimelekh. The difference is the concerning the King of Egypt, the scripture does not even allow for an apology by Abraham, as he would to the King of Gerar (in the Land of the Philistines – Palestine).
We might be able to justify Abraham by leaning on contemporary historians and researchers who point at the likelihood that marriages of brother and sister were indeed the norm in Abraham’s family (which traditional commentators could not even conceive), and that the family of Abraham was actually a matriarchal family. At any rate, this event recalls what we shall see in the Vayera portion – that Abraham did not observe the commands of the Halakhah and not even those of Moses. A certain justification for the conduct of Abraham is implied by the Qabbalah: Av-Ram – the Neshamah, or eternal Divine Soul – belongs still to the higher worlds (and so is the family of Na?or and Lavan, in whom the Kabbalah sees “the Supreme Whiteness” (Loven ha’tzlyon). In those higher worlds, there are no incest taboos. On the contrary: The Divine Images: “Father”, “Mother”, “Son” and “Daughter” of the higher worlds are engaged in recurring copulations, some of them never cease. As representative of the Higher World, Abraham might be still familiar with incest (as was also the norm for the Pharaoh, who was considered divine).
However, as noted, even if Abraham is the issue of the Higher World, the scriptures take pains to attribute to him qualities of the lower world, in which there are significant and requisite separations and boundaries.
Abram then collected the great property he had amassed through this disagreeable occasion, and returned to his land as a rich man: “And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold” (Gen. 13:2). So now he had the basis to succeed in the land even materially, to sell and to buy (as he would do with the Cave of the Makhpelah). In current terms, he now had the “financial seed” that enabled to establish “The Abrahamic Corporation” destined to bring blessing to the world. He then retraced his steps and returned to the place where his tent has been at the beginning, between Bet-El and ‘Ay; to the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first, and there Abram called on the name of YHWH.
Further understanding of this affair comes when we see the events as prophetic signs for greater later events. The issue of the descent to Egypt and the exit with a great property would recur, with the exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt, as described in the Book of Exodus. It was the marking of the place where, in due course, the People of Abraham would be formed.[12] Abram went to sojourn there because of the famine (12:10), and so did Jacob and his sons (47:4). The handing of the wife to Pharaoh, with Abraham’s fear of being killed (Gen. 12:12), parallels the later edict of Pharaoh about killing the male babies of the Israelite slaves and preserving the girls (Exodus 1:16, 22). After this sojourn brought plagues upon him (12:17), Pharaoh then sent Abraham out. Likewise, after the ten plagues, Pharaoh sent out the Israelites. Abraham returned from Egypt “very rich in cattle, in silver and in gold” (13:2), whereas the Children of Israel took from Egypt vessels of silver and of gold (Exodus 12:35) that eventually served for building the Tabernacle.
The Third Trial happened immediately when Abram returned to the land as a rich man. There flared the conflict between the shepherds of Abram and the shepherds of Lot over grazing grounds: “And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together, for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together” (Gen. 13:6). The solution was separation and the division of the land between them. Now Abram had to agree to the separation from his kinsman, from whom he did not want to separate before, even though he was commanded to leave his father’s house. Lot chose for himself the fertile valley of the Jordan, namely Jericho and the other towns there, a region that is reminiscent of Egypt “Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of the Yarden, that it was well watered everywhere… like the garden of the Lord-YHWH, like the land of Miitzrayim-Egypt” (Gen. 13:10). But immediately after he gave up on the choicest part of the land, then the Lord promise Abram that he would receive all the rest – from the place where he stood and lifted his eyes – since the Sodom and the cities of the Jordan rift are low, and cannot be seen by observation from the high spot of Bet-El in the context of “Northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever” (Gen. 13:14-15). The land that he could see, namely without the Jordan valley, was promised to him and to his seed. For the sake of this possession of land, there duplicated the promise that his seed will be plentiful “as the dust of the earth”.
Abram was not entirely rid of Lot, because when the latter got involved in wars that had nothing to do with him and became a prisoner, Abram set out to save him, even though required the test of a fighting till victory over the military power that none of the kings of the land could contend with.
After his victory over the foreign kings, Abram received recognition from the local people, affirming that they wanted him and accept him as a one blessed by “the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth” – even if they themselves still gave Abram no rights of possession in the land.
In the Fourth Trial to this count, it becomes evident that Abram, who overcame all the kings, was still afraid of something, because the epiphany starts with an encouragement “Fear not, Abram” (15:1). It is immediately evident that Abram was still full of worries about the inheritance of the land and was not confident with the two promises that he has already received from the master of the universe. Even after he received a promise and on the face of it had faith “And he believed in the Lord-YHWH, and he counted it to him for righteousness” (15:6) – still he asked for a proof “by what shall I know that I shall inherit it?” (15:8).
Until that point Abram only received promises for the future: “to thee I will give it” (13:15) in future tense. Now we are just before the ceremony of the covenant that, following it, we shall see for the first time a completed thing: “In the same day the Lord-YHWH made a covenant with Abram, saying, To thy seed have I given this land…” (15:18), in the past tense.
Thus the covenant was signed – but for a heavy cost. Four hundred years of sojourn would wait for his sons, in a land not their own, where they would be slaves and tortured by hard labor. They would also experience what happened to Abram, and would also finally exit from there with much property, but the inheritance of the land would be delayed for many generations. (the years of the scheduled exile parallel the number of silver shekels that Abraham paid eventually, in order to establish the connection of his seed with the Land of Canaan – by means of the tomb estate – namely, to the promise that the years of exile would eventually pass, and the connection between his seed and the land that had been promised him would be renewed.
The Fifth Trial is the case of Hagar: Saray, Abram’s beautiful but barren wife, offered him her maid, Hagar, and from her issues his firstborn child, Ishmael- Yishm?’el. This was also a trial for Hagar, who overcame her humiliation and her torment under her mistress. She bequeathed to her children those qualities that would in time become the foundation of their religion – acceptance and submission (which is the literal meaning of “Islam”). With the annunciation of the angel, which is also a command (“Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself to her hands”, Gen. 16:9) – an angel who the Islamic tradition connected with Gabriel – it was promised to Hagar that there would be reward for her misery and her suffering under her mistress: “I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude”.
The trial of Abraham is in overcoming his natural fatherly feelings, and his handing the woman who carries his son in her womb over to the dominance and jealousy of Saray. Hagar’s endurance created for the two women the possibility of living together – a possibility that will diminish later. Also Abraham’s overcoming of his natural heart’s feeling to his offspring – which brings to the flight of Hagar – would bring a still more painful repetition of the trial, with the deportation of Hagar along with the son. This act created a kind of stigma that would repeat and open with the binding of Isaac. There is a reason why the story of Ishmael served as a framework for writing a historic/mythical alternative to the Torah – the writing of the Qur’an. According to the Moslem tradition the angel Gabriel dictated the Qur’an to the prophet Muhammad, and the Qur’an includes also the other son – Ishmael, the mythical father of the Arabs – among the followers of the covenant and the promise that God promised Abraham. It is as if Muhammad gave Abraham a rebirth among the children of Ishmael.
The sixth Trial took place thirteen years later, as the boy Ishmael was growing. The new act changes the definitions. Abram was again promised to become “a Father of many nations” (17:4), and was asked to come to a covenant by circumcision along with his son Ishmael. His name and the name of his wife were changed, which signifies a change in their identity. Abram received the letter H’e and became Abraham, whereas “Saray” lost a H’e (fifth letter, see above) from her Y’od and became “Sarah”. It was here that there came the special promise to Sarah, that she would be blessed with a son and that kings will issue from her. Abraham fell on his face and laughed, which would seem to an onlooker as an incomplete faith in the promises of God. Only after receiving further confirmations, both concerning Yi??aq-Isaac and concerning Yishma’el-Ishmael, did Abraham circumcise himself, his son Ishmael and his entire host.
But not only Sarah gained on that occasion, for not only the son of Sara would inherit, but God promises: “And as for Yishm?’el I have heard thee” (ul’Yishm?’el shma’?tikha – a word play in Hebrew). It is for a reason that his name was called Yishma’el. To Yishma’el-Ishmael was promised – for the first time – the ideal pattern (that would later be renowned particularly with the issue of Isaac and Jacob), the Twelve-Fold Pattern: “Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget and I will make him a great nation” Gen. 17:20). But the relative failing of Abraham – his lack of confidence in the promise for a son from Sarah – which expressed itself in laughter – would still mark the challenge for the next generation. Therefore the name of this son was dictated beforehand by God to become ““Yitzaq” – namely “He who will laugh” – and to rectify the principle of Laughter to its core.
Up to here we surveyed the six trials found in the Lekh-Lekha portion. For the sake of completeness, we shall present here briefly the further trials, which will be treated in detail in the next chapter.
The Seventh Trial is in Parashat vaYera, with the arrival of the three miraculous visitors. This is a trial for Abraham and for Sara alike. One of the angels came to announce to her about the birth of her son and received the same response that Abraham already failed in – a laugh of incredulity in the face of what sounded absurd. The trial for Abraham was connected with the judgment of the people of Sodom. Abraham knew that they were mostly sinners, but his nephew was among them and perhaps other virtuous people. Abraham then argued persistently with God, and even dared utter to him “Shall not the judge of all the earth not do right?” (Gen. 18:25).
The Eighth Trial: is like a repetition on the second trial, which did not fare so well, and this time with Abimelekh King of Gerar, in the Land of the Philistines.
The ninth Trial: is like the fifth trial – deportation of Hagar, and this time along with the son, Ishmael.
The Tenth Trial: negotiations with Abimelekh and Pikhol, captain of his host, over territory and water (wells), concluding with the making of a covenant in which Abraham effectively yields his promised rights in the Land of the Philistines. (And just as Abraham made a pact with the Egyptians – the progeny of Ham – here he made an accommodation covenant with the Philistines – issue of Yefet)
The Eleventh Trial: The binding of the younger son – Yitzaq-Isaac, which amounts to a repetition and intensification of the trial of deporting his firstborn son, Yishmael-Ishmael.
(The Twelfth Trial: The sending out of the six sons of Qeturah, like the sending ouot of Ishm’el, though more comfortably.)
The last Trial: in the portion of chaye Sarah, is the negotiation with the people of the land concerning the acquisition of a burial estate – and with it an ultimate connection with the land.
We have thus twelve trials that some of which are repetitive trials over the same issue (yielding the wife to the ruler of the land, sending Hagar away to the desert and the giving up on the two sons – each in turn). In this way, it is possible to reason out the difference in the counts – there are twelve trials that are also ten different trials, possibly trials with characteristics that relate to the Ten Sefirot.
