Commentary for Avodah Zarah 37:1
אברהם אבינו שלא הלך בעצת אנשי דור הפלגה שרשעים היו שנאמר (בראשית יא, ד) הבה נבנה לנו עיר ובדרך חטאים לא עמד שלא עמד בעמידת סדום שחטאים היו שנאמר (בראשית יג, יג) ואנשי סדום רעים וחטאים לה' מאד
refers to Abraham our father who did not follow the counsel of the men of the generation of the division of the world who were wicked, as it is said, “Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, with its top in heaven” (Genesis 11:4); “Nor stood in the way of sinners” — for he did not stand with the people of Sodom, who were sinful, as it is said, “Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord” (Genesis 13:13);
Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
Yonatan applies each part of this verse to Abraham, using prooftexts to show how each section of the verse applies to various peoples whom Abraham did not join—the people who built the tower of Babel (they are called in rabbinic literature the “generation of the division of the world, for when the tower fell, the world was divided), the people of Sodom and the Philistines (against whom Abraham went to war).
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