Dvar Torah for Lech Lecha

I thought of an interesting discussion for this week’s parshah. This week’s parshah tells the story of Avraham going down to Mitzrayim, Sarah is taken to Paroh’s palace and later returned after Paroh is punished. When Paroh returns her, he says to Avraham, “וְעַתָּה הִנֵּה אִשְׁתְּךָ קַח וָלֵךְ” “Now, here is your wife, take her and go” (12:19). Rashi comments that this is not like Avimelech, the king of Garar, who in next week’s parshah also takes Sarah to the palace, returns her after being punished, and then tells Avraham that he may settle in his country wherever he desires. Why was Paroh not as welcoming? Rashi answers that the residents of Mitzrayim were “שטופי זמה”, disgusting people and Paroh was afraid of trouble breaking out if Avraham and Sarah would stay in Mitzrayim, so he sent them away.

Later on in the parshah, we are introduced to Hagar, Sarah’s maidservant and Paroh’s daughter. Rashi explains that when Paroh saw who Avraham was, he decided that it was better for his daughter to be a servant in the house of Avraham then to be a princess.

So who was better, Paroh or Avimelech? On one hand, Avimelech let Avraham stay in his land, keeping him around which could possibly have led to his people becoming influenced by Avraham. Or maybe Paroh, who did not want Avraham around even though he might have influenced his people, but still sent his daughter with him to be influenced by Avraham?

I thought of two different ways to look at it. You could say that Avimelech was better because he wanted to keep Avraham in the area in order to have his influence around for the benefit of his people as well as his own. Paroh, on the other hand, wanted no part of Avraham’s spirituality in his country and sent him away. However, he recognized that Avraham was a great man so he sent his daughter with Avraham.

The other way to look at it is that Paroh was better. He realized that his people were beyond help and didn’t want Avraham to be bothered by them. However, he still wanted to make sure that his children could benefit and be influenced by Avraham, so he sent his daughter with him. Maybe because of this he merited to have children from Avraham, which is not what he was thinking of when he sent Hagar to live with him.

Avimelech on the other hand did not have the same noble intentions. Notice in the words in the pasuk that Avimelech says Avraham can live anywhere in the country, “הנה ארצי לפניך” “My entire land is before you”, he says. He doesn’t care where Avraham lives, he just knows that Avraham is a special person and that Hashem will bless Avraham wherever he goes. So if Avraham stays in Garar, the entire country will benefit from his presence. But he could live on the other side of the country and it would be the same thing.  Avimelech doesn’t want to be influenced by him, he’s just a parasite.   

I’m more inclined to go with the second side based on my understanding of the story of Avimelech in next week’s parshah and his personality. Please let me know what you guys think. Comment below or email me.

Shabbat Shalom!