Bereshith Rabba, chap. 40.

The question may naturally be asked why Abraham hid his wife from the gaze of others first then and not before.  The reply is to be deduced from the following double rendering of Gen. xii. 11:—­“Behold now I know that thou art a fair woman.”  As if to say, “Usually people lose their good looks on a long journey, but thou art as beautiful as ever.”  The second explanation is this:—­Abraham was so piously modest that in all his life he never once looked a female in the face, his own wife not excepted.  As he approached Egypt and was crossing some water, he saw in it the reflection of her face, and it was then that he exclaimed, “Behold now I know that thou art a fair woman.”  As the Egyptians are swarthy, Abraham at once perceived the magnitude of the danger, and hence his precaution to hide her beauty in a chest.

Zeenah Ureenah (1877 in Russia), fol. 28, col. 1.

When Abraham came to the cave of Machpelah to bury Sarah, Adam and Eve rose from their grave and protested against his committing her to the dust in that receptacle.  “For,” said they, “we are ever ashamed in the presence of the Holy One—­blessed be He!—­on account of the sin which we committed, and now comest thou to add to our shame by the contrast therewith of the good works which ye two have done.”  On Abraham’s assurance that he would intercede with God on their behalf that they should not bear the shame any longer, Adam immediately retired to his sepulchre, but Eve being still unwilling to do so, Abraham took her by the hand and led her back to the side of Adam; and then he buried Sarah.

Yalkut Chadash, fol. 14, col. 3, sec. 68.

Abraham’s father, Terah, was both an idolater, a manufacturer of idols, and a dealer in them.  Once when Terah had some engagement elsewhere he left his son Abraham to attend to his business.  When a customer came to purchase an idol, Abraham asked him, “How old art thou?” “Lo! so many years,” was the ready reply.  “What,” exclaimed Abraham, “is it possible that a man of so many years should desire to worship a thing only a day old?” The customer, being ashamed of himself, went his way; and so did all other customers, who underwent a similar inquisition.  Once an old woman brought a measure of fine flour and wished to present it as an offering to the gods.  This so enraged Abraham that he took a staff and broke all the images, excepting the largest, into whose hands he fixed the staff.  When his father came and questioned him about the destruction of the gods, he replied, “An old woman placed an offering of flour before them, which immediately set them all by the ears, for every one was hungrier than another, but the biggest god killed all the rest with this staff which thou now seest he still holds in his hands.”  Superstition, especially when combined with mercenary motives, knows neither reason nor human affection, therefore the father handed over his son Abraham to the inquisition of Nimrod, who threw him into the fiery furnace, as recorded elsewhere in this Miscellany.  This is an historical fact, to the truth of which the whole orthodox Jewish world will bear testimony, and is solemnly recorded in Shalsheleth Hakkabalah fol. 2, col 1.