Lech Lecha: Faith and the Promised Land

Lech Lecha: Faith and the Promised Land

 Lech Lecha introduces the concept of the Promised Land. Gd tells Avram: 

לֶךְ־לְךָ֛ מֵאַרְצְךָ֥ וּמִמּֽוֹלַדְתְּךָ֖ וּמִבֵּ֣ית אָבִ֑יךָ אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַרְאֶֽךָּ׃ 

GD said to Abram, “Go forth from your (native)land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

Gd’s initial promise is:

 וְאֶֽעֶשְׂךָ֙ לְג֣וֹי גָּד֔וֹל וַאֲבָ֣רֶכְךָ֔ וַאֲגַדְּלָ֖ה שְׁמֶ֑ךָ וֶהְיֵ֖ה בְּרָכָֽה׃

 I will make of you a great nation, And I will bless you; I will make your name great, And you shall be a blessing.

Avram will become a great, blessed nation. 

The land grant occurs after the Avram has returned with cattle  wealth  from Egypt. He and his nephew Lot  are grazing their cattle. But the land cannot sustain them, causing strife between their shepherds.  

וַֽיְהִי־רִ֗יב בֵּ֚ין רֹעֵ֣י מִקְנֵֽה־אַבְרָ֔ם וּבֵ֖ין רֹעֵ֣י מִקְנֵה־ל֑וֹט וְהַֽכְּנַעֲנִי֙ וְהַפְּרִזִּ֔י אָ֖ז יֹשֵׁ֥ב בָּאָֽרֶץ׃ 

And there was quarreling between the herders of Abram’s cattle and those of Lot’s cattle.—The Canaanites and Perizzites were then dwelling in the land.—

The mention of the Canaanites and Perizzites prompts Rashi (quoting Genesis Raba)  to attribute the strife between Avram and Lot to the interpretation of Gd’s promise. Lot’s shepherds argued that the land would eventually belong to childless Avram. Lot would be the heir, Lot would inherit the land currently occupied by Canaanites and Perizzites. Therefore it is acceptable to graze on the land those people currently claim. Avram did not agree. If the land was currently the property of the Canaanites and Perizzites , using the land without permission is theft. Avram needed to separate from  a thief.

Last week, the Rabbi at the Lincoln Square  synagogue quoted this Rashi. ( The Rashi imprimatur makes this the default standard interpretation.)  He was talking about settlers in the West Bank pilfering olives from Arab orchards - an action that had been sanctioned by some Rabbis.  Rabbi Robinson was comparing the settler’s actions to those of Lot’s shepherds. The geography matches. 

There is a small textual problem with Rashi’s interpretation. It assumes that Gd had already promised the land. In the text, the first promise of land follows that episode.  The text is explicit: 

אַחֲרֵי֙ הִפָּֽרֶד־ל֣וֹט מֵֽעִמּ֔וֹ שָׂ֣א נָ֤א עֵינֶ֙יךָ֙ וּרְאֵ֔ה מִן־הַמָּק֖וֹם אֲשֶׁר־אַתָּ֣ה שָׁ֑ם צָפֹ֥נָה וָנֶ֖גְבָּה וָקֵ֥דְמָה וָיָֽמָּה׃ 

And GD said to Abram, after Lot had parted from him, “Raise your eyes and look out from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west,  

כִּ֧י אֶת־כׇּל־הָאָ֛רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־אַתָּ֥ה רֹאֶ֖ה לְךָ֣ אֶתְּנֶ֑נָּה וּֽלְזַרְעֲךָ֖ עַד־עוֹלָֽם׃ 

for I give all the land that you see to you and your offspring forever.

Now we have a Promised Land (perhaps as a reward for separating from the thief). 

The parsha goes on to describe the geopolitics of that time and place. The Persian and  Mesopotamian kings had conquered  the land. They had ruled over the area around ( what was to become) the Dead sea for 12 years until the locals rebelled. Avram was aloof from these political struggles until Lot, the nephew from whom he had separated, was captured by the Mesopotamian forces. Avram made an alliance with some of the local tribes and rescued his nephew by overcoming the Empire’s forces.  Avram was the liberator of the land. By the custom of the times, he may have become the ruler, the heir to the land on that basis. 

The context of the story weakens that argument. The overarching  history of conquest by the Babylonians and rebellion by the locals illustrates the insecurity of occupation as a road to possession.  

After Avram’s victory over the Mesopotamian Imperialists he has a dream. In the dream, Avram expresses his concern that he has no heir to his legacy. He has been promised the land ( that he liberated) but he has no heir. Gd shows Avram (the secret of infinity by showing him) the stars in the sky and tells Avram that his offspring will be as numerous (uncountable). Avram trusts in Gd’s reassurance and GD credits Avram’s faith. It is not entirely clear whether the dream ends now or goes on.  THe next sentences are: 

וַיֹּ֖אמֶר אֵלָ֑יו אֲנִ֣י יְ

אֲשֶׁ֤ר הוֹצֵאתִ֙יךָ֙ מֵא֣וּר כַּשְׂדִּ֔ים לָ֧תֶת לְךָ֛ אֶת־הָאָ֥רֶץ הַזֹּ֖את לְרִשְׁתָּֽהּ׃ 

Then [Gd] said to him, “I am GD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to assign this land to you as a possession.”  

וַיֹּאמַ֑ר אֲדֹ

בַּמָּ֥ה אֵדַ֖ע כִּ֥י אִֽירָשֶֽׁנָּה׃ 

And he said, “O my Sovereign GD, how shall I know that I am to possess it?”

Avram’s faith, trust in the absence of evidence, has been his great merit. Is he now abandoning that? 

The root of the  word  אֵדַ֖ע  is is closely related to the  עֵ֕ץ הַדַּ֖עַת ט֥וֹב וָרָֽע, the Tree of Daath (knowledge?). The eating from that tree gave humanity the ability to ask such a question. I understand  the sin of Adam and Eve better from this interaction between Avram and Gd.  If you don’t have daath, you don’t have doubt.  Once you have daath,  Gd’s word is no longer enough: show me the proof! Belief can never again be pure. Pure faith, for most of us, is a dream.  For Avram doubt arises in a dream state

There is also a practical aspect to the question: בַּמָּ֥ה אֵדַ֖ע כִּ֥י אִֽירָשֶֽׁנָּה׃ how shall I know that I am to possess it?”  Possession implies convincing other people  of the right to that land. I understand the question to include the idea of evidence of possession, the deed. How will Avram convince others that the land belongs to his offspring?

  Gd’s answer is a ritual involving the hemisecction ( cutting in two) of a calf, a goat and ram and dove and pigeon that are left intact. Rituals are symbolic and the meaning is usually mysterious. I will leave interpretations of the ritual for another time or person. 

 Then: 

וְתַרְדֵּמָ֖ה נָפְלָ֣ה עַל־אַבְרָ֑ם וְהִנֵּ֥ה אֵימָ֛ה חֲשֵׁכָ֥ה גְדֹלָ֖ה נֹפֶ֥לֶת עָלָֽיו׃ 

As the sun was about to set, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a great dark dread descended upon him.

There is only single other תַרְדֵּמָ֖ה, (tardema) deep sleep, anesthesia experience, in the Torah.  That one involves the emergence of the woman from the side of  the single human. Tardema seems to be an anesthesia experience. 

In this תַרְדֵּמָ֖ה, this time outside reality, Gd tells Avram a prophecy of the future. That future will include 400 years of servitude. Followed by a grand  emergence of Avram’s offspring as a great nation. . 

It is these events that no one could have foreseen that prove Gd’s grant of the land to Avram.  Avram knows the sequence of events that no one else could predict. That knowledge is the deed to the land. That information, sourced through Avram, is carried by the conquering descendants and (vaguely?) remembered by the nations to be vanquished.

After the victory over the four kings, Melchizedek associated Avram  with ל עֶלְיֽוֹן, Melchizedek’s concept  of Gd. Melchizedek  had said that A elyon was קֹנֵ֖ה שָׁמַ֥יִם וָאָֽרֶץ, the owner of heaven and earth.  The prophecy demonstrated that Avram was connected to the creator of history. The transfer of possession was from the true owner  to the descendants of Avram. 

The parsha ends with Abraham’s adoption of the brith milah, circumcision. It introduces the boy into the tribe of Abraham with all of its rewards and obligations ( including honest dealings with others) This is an act of faith that involves pain, mutilation, blood, child abuse. It is an act of faith that rejects science ( as we have it as a consensus of experts). That is what makes it great. It is a bite of the tree of life, the antithesis of the Tree of Knowledge.  In the text Gd seems to like that.