pears motivated by the issue
of inheritance. But the very
next verse tells us more. Ab-
raham is genuinely bothered
"on account of his son." As
Sarah intuitively knows,
Abraham never gave up on
Ishmael; when the patriarch
is informed of the birth of
Isaac, his first response is to
plead for Ishmael's life
(17:18).
Even after Isaac's birth,
Abraham is not committed
totally to God's promise that
the covenant would be
perpetuated through Isaac
and not through Ishmael.
Just as Isaac was weaned
from Sarah, Abraham had to
be "weaned" from the idea
that Ishmael had a position
in the future of the nation.
Not yet completely comfor-
table with the exclusion
demanded by the covenant
with God, Abraham enters
into a covenant with
Avimelech. This is par-
ticularly striking, given that
Abraham had considered
Avimelech's kingdom a
place "void of the fear of
God" (20:11) and, at this new
encounter, reproves the king
for his servants' theft of Ab-
raham's well.
Nevertheless, Abraham's
universalist, inclusive
predilections lead him not
only to enter into a covenant
with the Philistines, but
even to "sojourn in the land
of the Philistines many
days" (21:34). And, in con-
trast to the thrust of selec-
tivity developed over the
previous 10 chapters, Abra-
ham "called there in the
name of God, Lord of the
Universe" (21:33). To Abra-
ham, his initial calling —to
spread the name of God
—seems thwarted by the
constant rejection and ex-
pulsion of slaves, nephews,
and children.
"After these things" (22:1),
God can have only one re-
sponse. Longing, as it were,
for the special man with
whom He covenanted, God
calls out the name that em-
bodies that covenant:
"Abraham." (At no other
time does God call out Abra-
ham's name before address-
ing him, not even at the in-
itial command to leave his
father's house.) God hopes to
bring Abraham back to the
covenant of chapter 17, back
to the realization that the
patriarch will be "the father
of many nations" only by
concentrating on being the
father of one.
The birth of a son from
Sarah, through whom the
nation of Israel would con-
tinue and maintain a special
covenant with God, seems to
have done little to alter Ab-

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'

ROGER INKS DILLAC

A General Motors Family Since 1917

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REAR ENDS

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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

147