Shabbat Parashat Lech Lecha - 5781

Rabbi Hal Miller

He said, "My Lord, Hashem Elokim, by what shall I know that I am to inherit it?"

[Bereishit 15:8]

God tells Avraham that he is going to have a son by Sarah, and Avraham says nothing

just believes. God tells Avraham that his descendants will inherit the promised land,

and Avraham seems to question God's statement or His ability to carry it out. How

could Avraham ask such a question? What did he really mean by it?

The Gemora Nedarim [32a] says that Avraham was wrong and was punished for it:

"Shmuel said, Why was Avraham punished and his children enslaved in Egypt for 210

years? Because he presumed to question God, with what shall I know?"

Radak and others see Avraham's question not as on his own behalf, but asked as if by

and on behalf of his son. He gives examples of such language elsewhere in the Torah.

Rav Hirsch notes a difference between our verse and a couple earlier ones. In 12:7 and

13:15, God said, "to you and to your descendants I will give this land." In 15:7, just

before our verse, He added, "to possess it" or "to inherit it". Rav Hirsch explains that

Avraham sensed that his descendants would have to perform some sort of act to acquire

the land, and he is now asking what that act needs to be.

Rav Soloveitchik says we should not read it as "how will I know", rather "how will I know

when I will inherit it".

Malbim makes an interesting argument. "There is a practical difference between what

God gives according to a person's merit and what He gives as a pure kindness. When

God follows the way of strict judgment, because the recipient was judged worthy, the

gift can be taken back in the event the merit for which it was given is no longer extant.

However if the gift was given in kindness, then it has a permanence that puts it beyond

the range of constant reevaluation." Avraham thought that God granting him a son was

strictly on kindness, not on anything he merited, so he did not question the gift. But

regarding the promise of the land, it appeared to Avraham to be tied to some merit that

he and his descendants had to maintain or it would be taken back, as it had been from

the Canaanites. God's response in the following verses make it clear that His promise

of the land comes from kindness rather than Avraham's merit, and was thus permanent.

Hal Miller