א-ל שדי, “the G’d Shaddai.” The plain meaning is: “a powerful deity.” Rashi interprets the word שדי, as meaning that G’d proclaims Himself as sufficient, די, for any human being, i.e. His supervision, His Providence of the human being’s fate is adequate for anyone. They do not require additional patrons. Ibn Ezra, quoting Shemuel Hanaggid, derives the word שדי from שודד, meaning “victorious, conquering the heavens.”

התהלך לפני והיה תמים, “serve Me and become perfect.” Rashi understands the words היה תמים as a call to Avraham to successfully pass all the tests G’d would subject him to. Ibn Ezra understands these words as a warning that Avraham should not question G’d’s commands by asking why these tasks are required of him. Nachmanides explains the word התהלך as similar to the commandment to the Jewish people in Deut. 13,5 אחרי ה' אלוקיך תלכו, i.e. “follow all the instructions of the Lord your G’d.” (after you have been instructed about them) The command התהלך לפני goes beyond this and asks Avraham to anticipate G’d’s commandments and to act in accordance with his understanding of what G’d would later on command him. [it is difficult to imagine a greater compliment to Avraham than our verse here. Ed.]

והיה תמים, “and become perfect (in being in step with the wavelength of the Creator)” We find a similar directive addressed to the whole Jewish nation, i.e. each individual separately, in Deut. 18,13 תמים תהיה עם ה' אלוקיך. In that instance, the directive follows the injunction not to employ sorcerers, magicians, etc., but to have perfect, exclusive faith in the Lord, not to consult astrologers about what your future holds in store for you. G’d intimates to Avraham here, and to the people as a whole in Deuteronomy, that He alone holds the reins of our fate in His capable hands. He is capable and willing to do good for us even, if according to our horoscope, we appear to face insurmountable obstacles. This is what our sages meant when they interpreted the words (15,5) ויוצא אותו החוצה, “He took him outside,” to mean that He showed Avraham that there is a historical dimension beyond that indicated by astrology, i.e. הוציא אותו מהאצטגנינות שלו.

ויפול אברם על פניו, “Avraham prostrated himself before the Lord.” This was in order to show his readiness to receive prophetic communication from G’d.. In this instance, the commandment to circumcise himself was the physical part of fulfilling the commandment to become “perfect,” unblemished. As soon as he had received the commandment of circumcision he received the prophecy that Sarai, renamed Sarah, would bear him a son. (verses 16, and again 19) Avraham fell on his face once more preparatory to his prayer that Ishmael should be a son worthy of his father. Seeing that nothing is beyond G’d’s power, אלוקי הרוחות, “the Lord of all spirits,” he thought it appropriate to offer this prayer on behalf of Ishmael [who must have displayed signs of not following in his father’s footsteps already at that time. Ed.]

אני הנה בריתי אתך, “as far as I am concerned, here is My covenant with you.” The covenant G’d refers to here is the covenant of the circumcision. G’d instructed him to perform the sign of the covenant before Sarah would conceive, so that the baby born from her would also have been conceived in a state of purity and holiness.

ונתתיך לגויים, “I shall make you into nations;” Rashi believes that the plural “nations” refers to the Jewish people on the one hand and to Edom (Rome) on the other. Seeing that Yishmael had already been born, Rashi does not consider this promise/prophecy as applying to the Arab nation. Nachmanides considers Rashi’s commentary as flawed, seeing that it is most unlikely that at the time when G’d was preoccupied with the circumcision He should prophesy to Avraham concerning an as yet unborn Esau. After all, Avraham was neither in charge of Esau nor did the duty to circumcise him devolve upon him instead of upon his father Yitzchok (if and when). . According to Nachmanides both Yishmael and Esau’s descendants are called גויים, whereas the Jewish people are referred to as עם. He quotes Deut. 33,3 אף חובב עמים as proof. There are other verses of the same kind. [however, there are numerous occasions when the Jewish people are referred to as גוי, as in Exodus 33,13, Joshua 3,17, Genesis 25,23, Deut. 4,38 and numerous others. Ed.]

וערל זכר, and an uncircumcised male, etc.” according to Rashi this choice of words was chosen to teach us on which organ the act of circumcision has to be performed. According to Ibn Ezra, the part of the body on which circumcision would be performed had been well known, What was not known was the concept of ערלת הלב an uncircumcised heart and lip, as well as the uncircumcised ear. When such terms occur, the word ערלה always is in the construct mode, i.e. ערלת, “the uncircumcised state of, etc.” There was therefore no room for misunderstanding where this circumcision was to be performed. Nachmanides writes that here the Torah explains that the spot where the circumcision is to be performed is on the organ which separates man from woman. According to his view, the word בשר in the expression בשר ערלתכם, clearly relates to “flesh used as a cover,” as distinct from an organ, i.e. an appendage of a fleshy nature covering the organ itself. As there is no other such in the human being, the meaning is clear. You are circumcised when this cover has been removed from the organ in question.

ויצחק, “he rejoiced, laughed internally.” Onkelos renders this word as וחדי, “he rejoiced.” He reacted like someone who has been told of an unexpected fortuitous event, something that qualifies for his shouting for joy.

הלבן מאה שנה ייולד, “will a child be born to a hundred year old father?” Avraham expressed amazement, but not at the fact that a hundred year old man could sire children. He himself had at least 6 children when much older, and other males fathered children at such an age. His amazement concerned the fact that he would sire a child from a woman with whom he had lived as man and wife for so many decades without having succeeded to impregnate her with his semen. His amazement was reinforced further since he knew that Sarah at 90 had long ago ceased to menstruate.

לו ישמעאל יחיה לפניך, “if only Ishmael would live in awe of You.” According to Nachmanides what Avraham meant was that if Ishmael would live and not die prematurely. He had been under the impression up until now that seeing G’d had promised him זרע, seed, in the singular, that he would only have one child. Now that G’d promised him a son by Sarah, he was afraid that this might imply that Ishmael would die. He therefore said to G’d that he wished to accept a blessing of a son by Sarah only if it did not mean that Ishmael would die. Rashi views the word לפניך as “in awe of G’d.” Avraham prayed that Ishmael would be a G’d-fearing individual. This interpretation is not tenable, as history shows that contrary to G’d’s promise “I have accepted your prayer concerning Ishmael,” the latter did not live the life of a G’d fearing individual. The meaning of Avraham’s prayer concerning Ishmael must therefore be that his future would be ongoing, that the nation he would found would not die out.

אבל שרה אשתך, “but your wife Sarah, etc.” The word אבל in this instance means the same as the word everywhere else, i.e. We find a parallel for this in Kings II 4,14 אבל בן אי לו, “only (except) she has no son.”

בעצם היום הזה, “on this very day.” According to Rashi the meaning of בעצם היום הזה is: “on the day Avraham completed his 99th year He circumcised himself.” Nachmanides already queried this commentary, saying that seeing we accept the view of Rabbi Eliezer according to which the patriarchs were all born in the month of Tishrey, and this circumcision took place on Passover (the future date of Passover). In that case, Rash’is explanation would mean that the circumcision took place on what was going to be Passover. Therefore, Nachmanides understands the wordsבעצם היום הזה to mean that Avraham carried out the command on the same day it was issued. All male members of Avraham’s household were circumcised on that day, including his son Ishmael. The Torah tells us this in detail in order to compliment Avraham on the prompt execution of G’d’s command. Avraham circumcised himself last, as otherwise he would not have had the strength to circumcise his entire household which numbered probably more than a hundred, a considerable portion of whom were grown men. According to tradition Avraham observed all the commandments of the Torah, having divined G’d’s intent through his intellect. The question therefore is why he did not observe the rite of circumcision already many years ago, seeing that he knew that this would please the Lord? Some sages answer that this tradition that attributes to Avraham the knowledge of all the commandments which would be featured in the Torah, came to him only after he had circumcised himself. He advanced spiritually by giant steps as a result of having circumcised himself. This answer does not appear as likely, as if Avraham was intellectually mature enough at the age of three to recognize that there was a Creator who had created the entire universe, surely he had developed further intellectually in the 96 years intervening between then and the time when he circumcised himself. The more likely reason is that he wanted to wait until he was commanded to do so, as we have a rule that if one performs a commandment because it had been commanded by G’d, this is morally/ethically a higher ranking deed than doing the same thing without having been commanded. In the case of all other commandments Avraham knew that he would be able to perform the same commandment also after he would be commanded to do so. Removal of one’s foreskin is something irreversible, and will not be possible to be repeated again. Hence in this case Avraham waited until G’d issued His command.