ספר בראשית

According to what we have said the query posed by ‎Nachmanides is easily answered. At the beginning of the portion ‎where G’d had told Avram to leave Charan for his own good, He ‎had not promised him anything specific, such as children, or that ‎he and his children would inherit the land of Canaan, for instance, ‎even though G’d assured him of a great future in general terms, ‎i.e. “I will make you great and your name great.” He had basically ‎assured him only that he would not be losing anything by ‎undertaking this journey. By now, however, G’d had added ‎specific promises in addition. These promises concerned matters ‎that are of importance to people who feel rooted in the terrestrial ‎life on earth. In recognition of these promises Avram built an ‎altar, i.e. he reciprocated the good that G’d had done for him with ‎an act that would bring him closer to G’d. He did so to show G’d ‎that he did not view His promises as intended for himself as such, ‎but as a means of enabling him to continue to intensify the ‎manner in which he had been serving G’d.[I feel constrained ‎to add at this point that according to all our traditional sources the ‎revelation discussed in chapter 15 of Genesis occurred 5 years ‎before Avram was commanded to leave Charan to a destination ‎G’d did not immediately reveal. This interpretation is based on the ‎fact that otherwise the verse in Exodus 12,40 that the Israelites had ‎dwelled in Egypt for 430 years is impossible to reconcile, as ‎traditionally, the 400 years of which G’d spoke in chapter 15,13 ‎began with the birth of Yitzchok. Ed.] Avram rejoiced that as a result of G’d’s promise his children ‎too would be able to serve their Creator in due course. We had ‎pointed out that the significance of offering G’d animal sacrifices ‎on an altar was to demonstrate one’s desire to tighten one’s bond ‎with the Creator. The word ‎אליו‎, to him in 15,7 is not really ‎necessary, as there had been no interruption between this verse ‎and the one preceding it, so that it was necessary to insert this ‎word to prevent any misunderstanding about whom G’d was ‎addressing. The word ‎אליו‎ appears to hint that in this instance G’d ‎addressed Avram primarily in his capacity as a member of the ‎world of the ‎יש‎, the part of the universe in which it is possible to ‎sublimate the secular to a level of holiness, to elevate it to the ‎level of metaphysical dimensions. Our author concludes by ‎repeating the words of the verse that is not part of our chapter at ‎all, i.e. ‎ויבן שם אברהם מזבח לה' הנראה אליו‎.‎‎