ספר בראשית

Genesis ‎18,17 “How can I conceal from Avraham….seeing that I ‎have known him intimately and want to encourage him to ‎command Torah observance to his offspring, etc., etc.” This ‎introductory verse is G’d’s way of demonstrating His love for ‎Avraham to the whole world. He is not so much concerned with ‎Avraham “ordering” his descendants to keep these ‎commandments, as no one knows better than G’d that such ‎‎“commandments” by a grandfather or great-grandfather, are ‎usually observed in the breach, seeing that even HIS direct ‎commandments are more often ignored than observed. The word ‎יצווה‎ in this verse is akin to ‎צוותא‎, ‎חברותא‎, friendly association, i.e. ‎performance of G’d’s commandments collectively in a spiritually ‎oriented community, each member of such a community drawing ‎inspiration and additional strength form the other.The fact ‎that the words ‎ושמרו דרך ה' לעשות צדקה ומשפט‎, are phrased in ‎the past tense, i.e. “so that the generations following Avraham ‎drew on his shining example in the past when performing ‎righteousness and justice,” are G’d’s way of saying that when Jews ‎in the future will act as Jews, a large part of the credit goes to ‎their founding father Avraham. Avraham’s having had all of his ‎descendants in mind when he performed G’d’s commandments, ‎enabled them in later generations to emulate their ancestor. ‎Seeing one’s father perform charitable deeds, i.e. showing that ‎one considers oneself as merely an administrator of the wealth ‎granted by Hashem, makes it easier for the son to follow in ‎such footsteps.‎