Avot340

4:
Our mishnah attributes to Abraham three outstanding qualities, but it does not give any basis for this attribution. (The only biblical reference that is given concerns the reward that awaits those who emulate Abraham's qualities.) However, tradition does fill in the gaps.

5:
The first quality attributed to Abraham is generosity. (The term 'generous eye' in tannaitic literature always refers to generosity of spirit; see, for example, the recommendation of Rabbi Eli'ezer in Avot 133.) So, we must ask ourselves where the sages would have perceived an example of generosity of spirit in Abraham's career. They refer to the aftermath of Abraham's defeat of the foreign kings and rescue of Lot as described in Genesis 14. A lot of plunder had been taken and Abraham's allies are anxious to share it out. The Torah relates how Melchizedek the priest-king of Salem blesses Abraham and Abraham, in return, gave him one tenth of everything [Genesis 14:20]. (For a more sober reading of this episode please refer to Avot 283.) However, even more important is the riposte that Abraham gives to then kings who had been his allies:

Not only does Abraham give one tenth of what would have been his share to Melchizedek but he foregoes all the rest of his share.

6:
The next quality which we must examine is modesty. But, in the context of our mishnah this term refers to sexual modesty. This entails not only chastity but also a reticence to engage overmuch in even legitimate sexual activity. We must start our investigation of this quality by reference to Abraham's visit to Egypt. He has arrived in the Promised Land, but there is a famine, so he goes south temporarily to Egypt.

Of course, there does not seem to be anything in this quotation that suggests sexual – even conjugal – reticence. We need to see what the sages did with this passage. There is a discussion in the Gemara [Bava Batra 16a] concerning the character of Job. The sages try to demonstrate that Job was not nearly as righteous as he tries to make out. One of Job's claims is:

The Gemara reprimands him for claiming to be more righteous than Abraham! When he claims that he did not gaze on maidens – unmarried women – he implies that he did gaze upon married women. Abraham, on the other hand did not gaze amorously even on his own wife! When it says that Abraham tells her that "now I know what a beautiful woman you are" the word 'now' implies that until this time he had not looked at her to examine her beauty.

7:
The third quality of Abraham is humility. This can quite simply be demonstrated from words that Abraham addresses to God when he is pleading for Lot to be saved from the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

8:
In our next shiur we shall, God willing, look at the other side of this equation: the qualities associated with Balaam.

To be continued.