Lech Lecho 5770

“And Hashem said to Avrom, go for yourself from your land, from your birthplace and from your father’s house to the land which I will show you.” Bereishis, 12:1

Why is there this three-pronged instruction to Avrom to leave his land, birthplace and father’s house, wouldn’t one suffice? Avrom was at that point in his father’s household, the verse should have said this one place alone.

As a preface to the answer, the Midrash Raba tells us that Hashem never revealed the destination to Avrom in order to “Make it valuable in his eyes and to give him reward for every step”.
The Etz Yosef explains this as follows, “to make it valuable in his eyes, so that he would wish to know where he was going and the knowledge would come to him after much desiring.” And, “For every step, for one who travels to a known destination understands that upon arrival he can rest. But for one who travels without knowing where he will rest, each step will seem a heavy load. Thus for each step his reward grew.”

The Maharil Diskin asks how Avrom know which direction to go in, since his destination had not been revealed, (for the reasons above). His answer is that the he knew from land, birthplace and father’s house. His land, the place where he grew up was Aram Naharim, he was born in Ur Kasdim, and his father’s household was in Choron. These three locations make up a triangle which Avrom understood that he had to get away from, any direction but straight towards Canaan would take him either into the triangle or keep him the same distance from one of its sides.