Avot283

6:
We continue our discussion of the ten trials that Abraham underwent during his lifetime. Most of them are quite straightforward and will require little commentary or explanation. It seems to me that all of the trials are connected with the fact that Abraham was a religious innovator. It was Abraham, according to Jewish tradition, who was the first to recognize the inanity of idolatry and to perceive behind and beyond all creation the one living God.

7:
It seems to me that the greatest difficulty that Abraham faced with regards to his new found faith was not the reactions of his fellow humans: I think that his greatest difficulty was within himself. Could he be sure that this inner enlightenment that he recognized was truly a perception of the divine? If Abraham's God is invisible and inscrutable how can a mere human being be certain that his momentous discovery of his God is not just a figment of his fertile imagination? By surviving a sequence of occurrences that appeared to negate the divine promises that he claimed (even to himself) had been vouchsafed to him, and by surviving them with his faith still firm he began to realize that there was indeed an all-pervasive Providence whose utensil he was.

8:
Abraham had been told to leave his homeland and his family and to travel to an unknown destination. As a result of his obedience to this summons he would be blessed beyond measure:

According to this assurance when he arrives at his destination he should find greatness and security. Instead, he was immediately faced with famine: the land was not what he had imagined. Hunger forced him to leave his new-found land and travel south into Egypt. Could this be a sign that he had been wrong? Abraham's faith did not waver.

9:
The promise had been that Abraham would be a great personality. In Egypt he was faced with a new trial: his wife, Sarah, was taken from him and subjected to imminent disgrace in that she was 'confiscated' at the border at removed to the pharaoh's harem. How could such a thing happen to a 'great personality' upon whom God's blessings had been promised in abundance. Abraham's faith did not waver and God did, indeed, intervene to save the situation.

10:
No sooner does he arrive back in the 'promised land' (for God had already told Abraham "I assign this land to your offspring" [Genesis 12:7]) than he is faced with another trial. His nephew Lot is abducted by foreign kings and Abraham has to collect a force to secure his release from captivity. Is this the result of the divine promise of greatness and security in the land? He was promised that the land would belong to his progeny and he was childless! His nearest relative was his nephew and now his nephew had been abducted! Abraham's faith does not waver and when, upon returning home victorious, he is greeted by Melchizedek the priest-king of Jerusalem. Melchizedek is a priest of the Canaanite deity El, the father of Ba'al and Ashtoret, whose special title was El Elyon, El the Supreme. Melchizedek blesses Abraham in the name of his god (thus suggesting that Abraham's success was to be attributed to El):

Abraham will have none of it, and a couple of verses later he demonstrates (and remonstrates) his steadfast faith:

It is not Melchizedek who has made Abraham rich, nor is it any of Abraham's confederates, nor even El Elyon: Abraham is still absolutely certain that all derives from the providential care of his God.

To be continued.