Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“At that time, Abimelech and Phicol the captain of his army spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do. Now, therefore, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son’s son. But according to the kindness that I have done to you, you shall do to me, and to the land in which you have lived as a foreigner.””
(Genesis 21:22-23)

Abimelech comes back. This is the king who gave Abraham permission to live anywhere in his country and promised that he would not be molested while doing so (Genesis 20:15). Abraham has prospered. He has prospered so much, Abimelech is beginning to see Abraham as a potential threat. He has come to formalize peace between them. To protect himself, his son, and his kingdom. It shows you the power of the blessing of the Lord when one man and his family can threaten an entire city-state.

In spite of the way Abraham had treated Abimelech previously, Abimelech held no grudges. He was willing to deal with Abraham fairly and trust that Abraham would do the same. They may not have been a godly people, but Abimelech was clearly an honourable man.

Abraham is being asked to make a covenant with someone who is living on land God gave to Abraham. Why would Abraham consider this? Abraham had the promise of God that all of the Land would belong to his descendants. Abraham also had a timeline. It would be hundreds of years before it came to pass. It would make no difference to the promise for Abraham to agree to a few decades of peace. When the Land came into the hands of his descendants, nothing will have been violated. All this covenant did was provide more peace and security for himself and his son Isaac for the next couple of decades.

The sage Sforno writes: ‘אלוקים עמך, seeing that G’d clearly is on your side I am afraid of you. I am not afraid of your personal strength, but of that of your G’d. This is why I ask you to swear to me. כחסד אשר עשיתי עמך תעשה עמדי, do me the favour to include your children in the oath you swear to me.’

The sage Radak writes: ‘ויהי בעת ההיא, at the time Yitzchok was born, or at the time he was weaned. At any rate, Avraham was still in the land of the Philistines. This is why the Torah now reports Avimelech saying that he was interested in receiving assurances from Avraham. Had Avraham already left the land of the Philistines prior to this, the Torah would have had to report that Avimelech traveled to Avraham in order to suggest the treaty he wanted to conclude. When he had seen that a son had been born to Avraham, in his old age, and they saw that Sarah was the one who had given birth to him, they began to take seriously the promises made by G’d to Avraham concerning the future of his descendants. The reason that Phicol the head of Avimelech’s army was mentioned, was to underline that the words Avimelech addressed to Avraham had been what his army chief had proposed. ועתה..אם תשקור לי, perhaps the subject here is the immediate future, i.e. ועתה. Avimelech is concerned that within the next or subsequent generation the friendly relations between Avraham and himself might sour. Therefore he suggests a treaty reinforced by an oath as he is sure that Avraham would not renege on an undertaking confirmed by an oath. He is trying to commit the next 3 generations to this undertaking he asks from Avraham. The words לי ולניני ולנכדי comprise three generations. The word נין refers to the son, whereas the word נכד refers to the son’s son. The same words appear in the same sense in Isaiah 14,22 והכרתי לבבל שם ושאר נין ונכד, “I will wipe out from Babylon name and remnant, son and grandson, etc.” כחסד אשר עשיתי עמך תעשה עמדי, I allowed you to settle in any part of my country that you chose to settle in, and I respected you. ועם הארץ אשר גרת בה, I expect you also to act in a friendly manner with all the inhabitants of this country who will survive me, both you and your children and grandchildren after you, seeing that you have been treated well in this country by its people.’