Avraham Against The World

In the life of the patriarch Avraham as found Parashat Lech Lecha (Gen.12:1–17:27)

we encounter a prophetic mode expressed as Ma'asei Avot siman la-banim or “the experiences of the Patriarchs foreshadow the experiences of their descendants.”

To preserve and protect Avraham, God calls him out of the land of his father Terach, who once served as a prince in Nimrod’s sprawling idolatrous empire. God tells him, “Lech Lecha”, go for himself to a new land. This is not just a physical journey across the rugged landscapes of the Fertile Crescent, but a spiritual odyssey into the depths of faith, courage, and identity. That journey is the first of Ten Tests that Avraham will face. There are ten because the world was created with Ten Utterances and the Ten Trials will fashion the soul, mind and character of Avraham into the Father of Many Nations.

The narrative of Avraham provides a prophetic mode expressed as Ma'asei Avot siman la-banim or“the experiences of the Patriarchs foreshadow the experiences of their descendants.” It is a model that permeates the mission of the Jewish People. Individually and collectively they have continually responded to the delicate circuitry etched into their consciousness by the exploits of Avraham. This idea does not negate Free Will but reveals a mysterious process that allows the Chosen People to navigate their chosen path through history.

In this Torah portion we see powerful evidence that names are prophecies. Parashat Lech Lecha opens with the 75 year-old Avram being given his marching orders. The reference to the patriarch's age is the Torah's way of telling us that, at seventy-five, Avraham's life's mission has finally commenced.

Avram and Sarai were fated to remain childless. But when HaShem added the letter “hey” to each of their names, their "mazal" changed. As Avraham and Sarah, they were destined to have a child, thus expanding Avraham's sacred mission as “Father of a Multitude of Nations.” Avraham’s descendants would carry monotheism to the world. Later in the Torah, another personal transformation occurs when Jacob is given the name Israel, God promises him: “A nation and a community of nations shall be of thee” (Genesis 35:11). Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch explains that Israel’s twelve tribes represent the vast range of God-given talents and skills within one nation — warriors and scholars, farmers and priests, merchants and mystics — proving that God’s Torah sanctifies every human calling. Am Israel is a living model of human potential, united under one God. The names of the patriarchs were prophetic declarations that continue to shape the destiny of the Jewish people and, through them, the destiny of the world.

In the Hebrew year 2018, on the evening of the 15th of Nissan, Avraham asks HaShem how will he know that his offspring will inherit The Land promised to his descendants. God’s response is to tell the patriarch to offer five kosher animals. He experiences a deep sleep filled with panoramic vision of history, troubled by thick darkness. This darkness is symbolic of a future filled with oppression under Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. Five years later, Avraham will battle the Four Kings who are actually the founders of the aforementioned empires. This was much more than a military skirmish — it was a turning point in the history of the world.

One of the four monarchs was called Amraphel—another name for Nimrod. There is an enlightening discussion, in the Talmud, between Rabbi Abba Arikha (known simply as Rav) and Rabbi Samuel Yahina’ah (Shmuel). Rav argued that Nimrod was the real name of the tyrant while Shmuel countered by pointing out that the name is only evocative since it is derived from merod, meaning “to rebel,” and therefore it was not his given name. If Nimrod is a corruption of his actual name, it would be in keeping with the Torah commandment found in Exodus 23:13 that prohibits uttering the names of false gods or idols in a worshipful or reverential way,"Make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips."

There is evidence to suggest that Nimrod may have been known to modern scholars by another name or title, Amraphel which could easily be a corruption or pun derived from the name or possibly title Hammurabi. Famous for the Code that carries his name, this ancient ruler is thought to have arrived much later than the time of Abraham. The name could have been bestowed on successive heirs who took his throne. Though Hammurabi is famous for establishing some of the first laws in history, their very harshness suggests a Nimrod-like ruler. Infractions such as harboring a runaway slave, refusing military service or theft were all punishable by death.

H. W. F. Sagg, author of The Babylonians, notes that Hammurabi, aka Ammurapi “was probably pronounced Khammurapi.” If Nimrod and Khammurapi are one and the same, then the latter appellation is surely incorporates and honors Kham, known to most English readers as Ham, the grandfather of Nimrod. Saggs states that Khammurapi was the greatest ruler of Babylon’s First Dynasty and created a realm larger than modern Iraq.

There is an additional linguistic connection between Ammurapi and Amraphel allowed by exchangeable “p” sound and “f” sound as found in the Semitic tongue. It is quite plausible that the Torah is denying this rogue any honor by altering Ammurapi into a pun, calling him Amraphel, literally “he caused the people to fall.” It was Nimrod/Amraphel who organized the people at Shinar, or Sumer, the very foundation of the Babylonian Empire and its first dynasty.

Another of the Four Kings, Chedorlaomer was the head of the Elamite mountain clans that later developed into the Persian Empire. Prior to the building of the Tower, Chedorlaomer was a prince serving under the leadership of Nimrod. After the dispersion from the Babel, he rebelled against Nimrod and led a contingent to settle the land in a region within present-day Iraq and Iran. It is likely, that he is known to us in historical accounts as Kudurmabuk of Larsa.

The king called Arioch was the leader of Ellasar. The name suggests Elishah, the son of Javan and ancestor of the Ionians or Greeks. A son of Javan, Elishah could be another form of Ellasar. Elishah is progenitor of the Hellenes, another name for the Greeks. Elisha is probably the source for the name of the place called the Elysian Fields. These linguistic clues link Arioch to the earliest beginnings of ancient Greece.

Finally, there was Tidal king of Goiim, thought to be the ruler that historians call Tudhalia, a Hittite king. According to the lengthy Torah commentary known as MeAm Lo’Ez, Tidal led a collective of nations. This source also notes that Goiim was a site located on the Italian Peninsula which became part of the Roman Empire.

The account found in Parashat Lech Lecha, describing Abraham’s clash with these four titans mentioned above, reveals a marvelous foreshadowing of world events.

One man, the progenitor of the Jewish nation, and his small army of faithful take on the founders of Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome and defeated them. Abraham’s experience with the four kings is more evidence that the lives of the forefathers foreshadow the experiences of their descendants. Abraham’s bold move against the four monarchs is a prophetical vision of how his descendants, the nation of Israel (the smallest of nations) would survive and outlast enormous empires that attempted to absorb and erase them. There is continued references to these four empires throughout the Bible and in commentaries from the Jewish Sages.

This is a struggle that shapes the character of Avraham’s descendants via the rigors of history. But God shows Avraham that even before those empires emerge, his descendants will endure varying levels of servitude culminating in the miracles and emancipation of the Exodus. The monumental “Covenant Between the Pieces” made the night of 15th Nissan, takes place exactly 430 years prior to the Exodus from Egypt.

The Exodus experience indelibly marks Israel as the inheritors of the land shown to Avraham. This covenant is a binding agreement by which the Creator bequeaths the Promised Land to Avraham’s descendants.

Avraham was an intelligent and original thinker, who exhibited moral courage and unwavering bravery tempered with immense kindness. Today, he still serves as a prime example of how to live a life of purpose. Now, the Jewish People, Avraham’s heirs, are defending their right to possess that Land of Israel. The current war, waged by proxies of the modern iteration of those four ancient empires, want to dispossess the Jews of their land and wipe out the Jewish nation of Israel. But just as Avraham emerged victorious against the four kings, the Jewish People will prevail and eventually fulfill the ultimate mission that began with Avraham: To bring the entire world to belief in the One true God of Avraham.