Abraham's Tests: What and Why?

(1) Some time afterward, God put Abraham to the test. He said to him, “Abraham,” and he answered, “Here I am.”

(3) With ten tests Abraham, our father, was tested - and he withstood them all; in order to show how great was the love of Abraham, our father - peace be upon him.

(1) The ten tests with which Abraham, our father, was tested are all [in] the words of Scripture. The first is his emigration by His statement, may He be blessed - "Go forth from your land, etc." (Genesis 12:1). And the second one is the famine that was found in the Land of Canaan when he came there and it was [the land of] his destiny - "and I will make you into a great nation" (Genesis 12:2). And this was a great test, and it is its saying, "And there was a famine in the land" (Genesis 12:10). And the third was the injustice of the Egyptians towards him in the taking of Sarah to Pharaoh. The fourth is his fighting against the four kings. The fifth is his taking of Hagar as a wife after he despaired of giving birth through Sarah. The sixth is the circumcision that he was commanded about in the days of his old age. The seventh is the injustice of the king of Gerar towards him in his also taking Sarah. The eighth is the expulsion of Hagar after his being built (having a child) from her. The ninth is the distancing of his son, Yishmael, and that is His, may He be blessed, saying, "Let not it be bad in your eyes about the youth, etc." (Genesis 21:12). And Scripture already testified how this thing was difficult in his eyes, in its stating, "And the thing was very bad in the eyes of Abraham" (Genesis 21:11). Yet he observed the commandment of God, may He be blessed, and expelled him. And the tenth is the binding of Yitzchak.

With ten trials was Abraham our father tried before the Holy One, Blessed be He, and in all of them he was found steadfast, to wit:

Twice, when ordered to move on;

Twice, in connection with his two sons;

Twice, in connection with his two wives;

Once, on the occasion of his war with the kings;

Once, at the (covenant) between the pieces;

Once, in Ur of the Chaldess;

And once, at the covenant of circumcision.

Now, what was the reason for all this? So that when Abraham our father comes to take his reward, the peoples of the world shall say, “More than all of us, more than everyone, is Abraham worthy of getting his reward!” And it is of him that Scriptures says, Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart, for God has already accepted thy works (Eccl. 9:7)

Another comment: The verse beginning As for God, His way is perfect, alludes to our father Abraham. For the Holy One, blessed be He, upon seeing that Abraham followed Him, chose Abraham and said to him, I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be thou perfect (Gen 17;1). The word of the Lord is tried (Ps 18:31b) thus refers to Abraham, whom the Lord proved in ten trials as follows:

once, in a furnace of fire, of which God said: I am the Lord that brought thee out of the fire of the Chaldees (Gen 15:7);

once again, when God said: Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred (Gen 12:1);

twice, when Sarah was taken away from him by Pharaoh, and then by Abimelech— there you have four trials;

again, when Sarah said to Hagar the Egyptian: Go in, I pray thee, unto my handmaid (Gen 16:2)—there you have five;

again, when Sarah said of Ishmael: Cast out this bondwoman and her son (Gen 21:10)—there you have six;

again, when Abraham led forth his trained men (Gen 14:14) against the invading kings—there you have seven;

again, when God said of circumcision: Every male among you shall be circumcised (Gen 17:10)—there you have eight;

again, when God showed to Abraham, between the halves of a heifer, the four kingdoms enslaving his children—there you have nine;

and finally, in the binding of Isaac, when God said: Take now thy son, thine only one...and offer him…for a burnt-offering (Gen 22:2)—there you have ten. Abraham accepted these trials with reverence and with love and stood up to them like a man of might. And what was his reward? He is a shield unto all them that take refuge in him (Ps 18:31c); for God said to Abraham: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward (Gen 15:1b).

The nations of the earth asked: “Why does the Holy One, blessed be He, love Abraham and deliver him from the fiery furnace, from the nine kings, from armed hosts, and from all the troubles which came upon him?” The Holy One, blessed be He, replied: I shall bring you close and show you that even if I tell Abraham to take his son and offer him up as a burnt-offering for My name’s sake, he will obey Me. Therefore I am his shield, even as his is a shield to all them that take refuge in him; and in days to come, Abraham’s children will begin their Eighteen Benedictions with “Blessed art Thou, O Lord, the Shield of Abraham.”

(13) "And Haran died in the presence of his father Terah" (Gen. 11:28). Rabbi Hiyya the grandson of Rabbi Adda of Yaffo [said]: Terah was a worshipper of idols. One time he had to travel to a place, and he left Abraham in charge of his store. When a man would come in to buy [idols], Abraham would ask: How old are you? They would reply: fifty or sixty. Abraham would then respond: Woe to him who is sixty years old and worships something made today - the customer would be embarrassed, and would leave. A woman entered carrying a dish full of flour. She said to him: this is for you, offer it before them. Abraham took a club in his hands and broke all of the idols, and placed the club in the hands of the biggest idol. When his father returned, he asked: who did all of this? Abraham replied: I can't hide it from you - a woman came carrying a dish of flour and told me to offer it before them. I did, and one of them said 'I will eat it first,' and another said 'I will eat it first.' The biggest one rose, took a club, and smashed the rest of them. Terah said: what, do you think you can trick me? They don't have cognition! Abraham said: Do your ears hear what your mouth is saying? Terah took Abraham and passed him off to [King] Nimrod. They said [to the king]: let us worship the fire. Abraham said to them: [rather] let us worship water, for it extinguishes fire. Nimrod agreed: let us worship water. Abraham continued: if so, let us worship the clouds, which provide water. Nimrod agreed: let us worship the clouds. Abraham continued: if so, let us worship the winds that scatter the clouds. Nimrod agreed: let us worship the winds. Abraham continued: if so, let us worship humans who are filled with wind [air]. Nimrod replied: You're just speaking words - I only worship fire. I will throw you into it, and the God you worship can save you from it. Haran was hidden and was of two minds, saying [to himself]: if Abraham is victorious, I will say I am with Abraham, and if Nimrod is victorious, I will say I am with Nimrod. When Abraham was through into the fiery furnace and saved, they asked him [Haran]: who are you with? He replied: I am with Abraham. They took him and threw him into the fire, and his insides burned up and he died before his father Terah, as it says: "And Haran died in the [lit.] on the face of his father Terah" (Gen. 11:28).