Avraham's Tests and Why?

You are the G-d that chose Avram and took him out of Ur Kasdim and made his name Avraham and found his heart loyal to You.

(10) There was a famine in the land, and Avram went down to Egypt to live there, for the famine was severe in the land.

(10) There was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.

(11) As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are.

(12) If the Egyptians see you, and think, ‘She is his wife,’ they will kill me and let you live.

(13) Please say that you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may remain alive thanks to you.”

(14) When Avram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw how very beautiful the woman was.

(15) Pharaoh’s courtiers saw her and praised her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s palace.

(16) And because of her, it went well with Abram; he acquired sheep, oxen, asses, male and female slaves, she-asses, and camels.

(17) But Hashem afflicted Pharaoh and his household with mighty plagues on account of Sarai, the wife of Avram. (18) Pharaoh sent for Avram and said, “What is this you have done to me! Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? (19) Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife? Now, here is your wife; take her and begone!”

(20) And Pharaoh put men in charge of him, and they sent him off with his wife and all that he possessed.

(1) Sarai, Avram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar.

(2) And Sarai said to Avram, “Look, Hashem has kept me from bearing. Take my maid; perhaps I shall have a son through her.” And Avram heeded Sarai’s request.

(3) So Sarai, Avram’s wife, took her maid, Hagar the Egyptian—after Avram had lived in the land of Canaan for ten years—and gave her to her husband, Avram, as a wife.

(24) Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin,

(1) Avraham journeyed from there to the region of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was living in Gerar,

(2) Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” So King Avimelech of Gerar had Sarah brought to him.

(9) Sarah saw the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Avraham playing.

(10) She said to Avraham, “Cast out that slave-woman and her son, for the son of that slave shall not share in the inheritance with my son Yitzchak.”

(11) The matter distressed Avraham greatly, for it concerned a son of his.

(12) But Hashem said to Avraham, “Do not be distressed over the boy or your slave; whatever Sarah tells you, do as she says, for it is through Yiztchak that offspring shall be continued for you.

(14) Early next morning Avraham took some bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar. He placed them over her shoulder, together with the child, and sent her away. And she wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheva.

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

(2) And He said, “Take your son, your favored one, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the heights that I will point out to you.”

(3) So early next morning, Avraham saddled his ass and took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and he set out for the place of which God had told him.

(4) On the third day Avraham looked up and saw the place from afar.

(5) Then Avraham said to his servants, “You stay here with the ass. The boy and I will go up there; we will worship and we will return to you.”

(6) Avraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. He himself took the firestone and the knife; and the two walked off together.

(7) Then Isaac said to his father Avraham, “Father!” And he answered, “Yes, my son.” And he said, “Here are the firestone and the wood; but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”

(8) And Avraham said, “God will see to the sheep for His burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them walked on together.

(9) They arrived at the place of which God had told him. Avraham built an altar there; he laid out the wood; he bound his son Isaac; he laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

(10) And Avraham picked up the knife to slay his son.

(11) Then an angel of the LORD called to him from heaven: “Avraham! Avraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.”

(12) And he said, “Do not raise your hand against the boy, or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your favored one, from Me.”

(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)