Parashat Lech Lecha - Sixth Aliyah

God makes a covenant with Abram and promises the land to his descendants, but also tells him that they will undergo exile and enslavement before returning to it. Meanwhile, at home, Sarai has not borne a child and gives him her servant Hagar as a wife. After Hagar becomes pregnant, she looks down on Sarai; Sarai mistreats her and Hagar flees. In the wilderness, an angel of God meets her, tells her to return and announces the birth of her son. Ishmael is later born. At the end of the aliyah, when Abram is ninety-nine, God changes his name to Abraham and promises that nations and kings will come from him.

Why is the land not given immediately?

In the covenant between the pieces, Abram hears that his descendants will return to the land only after generations. Alongside the news of enslavement comes an explanation concerning the people who already live there:

ki lo shalem avon ha’Emori ad henah.

Translation: For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.

Genesis 15:16

Rashi explains that the time has not yet come to expel the Amorite from his land, because God does not punish a nation until its sins reach the measure that warrants it. The promise to Abram does not set aside justice toward those who live in the land now. They too are taken into account.

What does Radak refuse to justify?

After Hagar conceives, Sarai becomes of little account in her eyes. Sarai turns to Abram, and he leaves the decision about how to treat her servant in her hands. Sarai mistreats Hagar, and Hagar flees into the wilderness.

Radak explicitly criticizes Sarai: she treated Hagar too harshly and did not act with moral restraint or piety. He explains that a person should not use all their power against someone under their control. Of Abram, too, he says that he did not prevent the mistreatment for the sake of peace at home, even though it was wrong in his eyes.

In the wilderness, an angel of God meets Hagar, tells her to return and announces the birth of her son and the multiplication of her descendants. The name Ishmael is explained by God’s having heard her affliction. Radak sees this announcement as a blessing given in response to her suffering, and as evidence that Sarai’s treatment of her was not good in God’s eyes.

A new name before the promise is fulfilled

Years after Ishmael’s birth, God changes Abram’s name:

ki av hamon goyim netaticha.

Translation: For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

Genesis 17:5

Sforno emphasizes that the meaning of the name takes effect that very day; that is why his name will now be Abraham, even though the many generations are still to come.

God promises Abram land and descendants, but within the story of that promise the Torah also pauses over the inhabitants of the land and over Hagar as she flees. According to the interpretations we have seen, the Amorite is not expelled before the time for his punishment has come, and Hagar’s mistreatment is not justified merely because it took place in Abram’s household. Choosing Abram does not mean approving everything done in his home.