When was Abraham chosen?

When Abrahan was asked to move to Canaan, God instantly provided a bounty of blessings to him, namely: he would become a great nation, be blessed, have a great name, Abraham will be a blessing, God will bless who blesses him, curse who curses him, and all families of the world are blessed through him.  Thus, it sounds like Abraham was selected for greatness at the very beginning of Genesis Chapter 12.

On the other hand, it seems pretty clear that he still needed to prove himself.  Our Sages talk about his ten tests.  If he was being tested, then evidently the decision that he was selected for greatness was not yet certain until the ten tests were completed.

This tension appears to be deliberate.  If you look carefully at the text, there are seven distinct instances in which Abraham receives collections of blessings.  Each blessing arrives right after he passes an important milestone in the tests.  He doesn’t get his final blessing until he passes the tenth test.  Thus, although he was selected as a candidate for greatness when God first called out to him, and he was able to receive blessings from God, he was not yet selected to be the progenitor of the Chosen People.

We can infer that Abraham was not definitively chosen as Patriarch at the beginning of chapter 12.  If you look at that blessing, there are several items that are missing. There is no promise of descendants. There is no promise of getting ownership of the Land of Canaan. Abraham must first succeed in the tests.

In order to observe the process of the accumulation of blessings, it is important to look at the tests and blessings together.  While authorities differ on what comprised the ten tests, we use Maimonides’ formulation.  The tests and blessings are summarized in the following chart.

In ten tests, we pointed out that there were three key qualifications that were required for the Chosen People, that Abraham was being tested for.  Abraham needed to obey God’s commands.  He needed to believe that God was involved in the world and insisting on ethical behavior.  He needed to transmit these ideals to future generations.  In the table below we designate what each test was testing for.  Each group of three tests had one test for each category.  The final test was testing for all qualifications.

From this chart, we see that God is incrementally providing more blessings when Abraham reaches certain milestones.  Abraham accumulates merit and thereby achieves a higher degree of commitment from God.  He does not receive a blessing after each test; but most of the blessings are after significant achievements.

The first significant achievement is related to the first test.  That is where God introduces the novelty that He will test Abraham and provide blessings for milestone achievements.  Abraham does not start as a Patriarch.  He is a candidate Patriarch.  The first two blessings are associated with the first test – one is given before the test (if Abraham comes through) and one after Abraham passes the test.

The other timing of blessings for significant achievements occurs when Abraham passes each set of three sets.  The third blessing came after the first group of three tests was finished.  The fifth and sixth blessings after the second group.  The final blessing after all ten tests were finished.

The pattern is that every time that Abraham completes a significant testing milestone he earns a blessing.  That brings him closer to being selected as the progenitor of the Chosen People.

After the ten tests Abraham has done all that he is asked to do.  With the completion of the tests, does Abraham assumes the full role as the progenitor of the Chosen People?  Or is it required for Isaac and Jacob to also pass some tests.  We will leave that question for the next posting.