"Lech Lecha": Arrival in Canaan and the Descent to Egypt

"Go for yourself from your land, from your birthplace, from your father's house, to the land that I will show you." Abraham is seventy-five. He takes Sarah, his nephew Lot, his possessions and "the souls they had made in Haran"—people they had brought to faith, says Rashi. He crosses the land to Shechem and the plain of Moreh and hears the promise, "To your seed I will give this land." He builds an altar near Bethel and "calls in the name of the Lord," teaching passersby openly. Almost at once a famine strikes and he goes down to Egypt—the first of the descents that will shape Jewish history. Fearing for his life he asks Sarah to say she is his sister; she is taken to Pharaoh's palace anyway, but plagues strike Pharaoh's house and he returns her with rich gifts. Nachmanides draws the rule that governs the rest of the story: "the deeds of the fathers are a sign for the children."