"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."