[Avodah] When was the Bris Bein Habesarim?

[Zev Sero]

Marty Bluke wrote:
> This means that Lech Lecha had to be 5 years
> after the Bris Bein Habesarim. Tosafos in Shabbos 10b makes this
> calculation and says this is what happened. Avraham came to EY when he
> was 70

Or earlier.  He may have lived there for a long time.  After all, his
family had set out for Cenaan many years earlier; most of the family
stopped in Charan, but apparently after a while Avram continued the
original trip, lived in Cenaan for an unspecified period, and then went
back to live with his family.  At the time of Lech Lecha he had only
recently returned home ("where the heart is") and suddenly Hashem tells
him to leave again.  That's a test.  And maybe that's why He specified
"beit avicha".

This would also add to the understanding of why He didn't specify where
Avram was to go.  Had He told him to go back to Cenaan, it wouldn't
have seemed like such a hardship, since he'd already lived there for a
while and knew the country, had contacts, etc.  So not specifying made
it more of a test.


> and went through the Bris Bein Habesarim, and then he returned
> to Charan for 5 years until Hashem told him Lech Lecha.

Yes, the break appears to be at Shishi.   Which is probably why whoever
divided the sidrot into aliyot put a break there.  But it's in the middle
of a parsha, which means Hashem didn't even put a paragraph break to
indicate that we're going back in time 6 years.  That does seem strange.


-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas