Why is it that the Torah tells us absolutely nothing about Avraham’s past? The midrashim are replete with beautiful stories reflecting the special qualities of this unique personality. The verses themselves, however, offer us no clue as to why God suddenly designates him as the father of His special nation.
The explanation of this enigma may lie in a transition that occurs in the Biblical narrative towards the end of Parashat Noach. Heretofore, the Chumash tells us about the development of mankind as a whole. For example, in chapter 10, the Torah tells us how the 70 nations evolved from the descendants of Noach’s three sons. Suddenly, at the end of Parashat Noach (in chapter 11), the Torah becomes far more discriminatory, focusing specifically on the descendants of Shem and then on Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov and his family. What triggered this shift and wherein lies its significance?
Presumably, the answer should be provided right at the point where this transition occurs: in Bereishit chapter 11 — the Tower of Babel narrative. The people of the world gathered to build a city and a tower for the expressed purpose of “making for themselves a name” (11:4). Rather than promoting the awareness of God and devoting themselves to the glorification of His Name, the people did just the opposite: They sought to extol their own greatness.
God therefore interfered and disrupted the construction, and the ensuing dispersion ultimately led to the formation of multiple nations. However, it is precisely at this point in Chumash that its focus shifts to the story of God’s choice of Avraham Avinu. In light of the events of Migdal Bavel, God designates a single nation — whose destiny will be to redirect mankind towards a theocentric, rather than anthropocentric, mentality. Towards this end, God summoned a qualified, righteous personality, Avraham Avinu, and promised him a special nation that would inherit a special land for the purpose of representing Him to the rest of mankind.
Avraham wastes no time getting to work. Although clearly this destiny requires first the formation of a nation living on its land, Avraham sowed the seeds of this destiny by “calling out in the Name of Hashem” —the antithesis of the Tower of Babel —in Beit-El (see 12:8, 13:4). As Ramban explains, Avraham would assemble audiences and teach monotheism.
The ultimate contrast to the Tower, however, will not emerge until Bnei Yisrael will inherit their land and build the Beit HaMikdash, as alluded to in Sefer Devarim. In his farewell speech, Moshe refers to the Temple in numerous instances as “the place God will choose to have His name dwell therein” (see in particular Devarim 12). In direct contrast with the builders of the Tower, who gathered the entire world to a valley (facing downward) to construct a city with a tower in its midst to exalt mankind, Bnei Yisrael will assemble all the nations to the Temple Mount (facing upward) to the city of Jerusalem with the Temple in its midst to exalt God.
Yeshayahu (2:1–4) beautifully captures this ultimate purpose of the Beit HaMikdash: “In the days to come, the mountain of Beit Hashem will stand high above the mountains… and all the nations shall gaze on it with joy. Many people shall go and say: Come let us go up to the House of God, that He may instruct us in His ways and that we may walk in His paths – for Torah shall come forth from out of Tzion, and the word of God from Yerushalayim…”
This universal goal underlies God’s designation of Avraham Avinu. The Torah tells us nothing of his superior qualities in order to focus instead upon Avraham’s response to his mission. This may teach us, his progeny, how we must relate to the chosen destiny of Knesset Yisrael: not as a reward, but rather as a challenge and mission.
Rabbi Menachem Leibtag is an internationally acclaimed Tanach scholar and online Jewish education pioneer. He is a member of the Mizrachi Speakers Bureau (www.mizrachi.org/speakers).
