People assigned important responsibilities are often ready to “bend the rules” and push the limits of propriety in the pursuit of their goal. God therefore commanded Avraham to be “tamim,” to remain innocent and morally impeccable. His goal was to be pursued within the limits of integrity and dignified conduct - the rules of morals and ethics may not be broken even for the lofty sake of disseminating the belief in God.
We read in Parashat Lekh-Lekha of God’s exhortation to Avraham, “Hit’halekh lefanai ve-hyei tamim” (literally, “Walk before Me and be blameless” – 17:1). The commentators offer several different interpretations to the word “tamim” in this verse, and different explanations for the connection between the commands “hit’halekh lefanai” and “tamim.”
A particularly novel approach to explaining this verse was suggested by Rav Chaim Mordechai Bronroth of Chechnov, in his Omer U-dvarim (Warsaw, 1936). The phrase, “hit’halekh lefanai,” which instructs Avraham to “walk in front of” the Almighty, might refer to Avraham’s role in disseminating the knowledge of the Creator throughout the world, as described in the Midrashim and elsewhere. Avraham walked “in front of” God as a servant walks ahead of his master to announce his arrival, proclaiming God’s existence and urging His subjects to observe His dictates. He served as God’s representative and emissary on earth, working tirelessly to refute the claims of paganism and spread the belief in a single Creator.
In this verse, God commands Avraham to be “tamim” – innocent and upright – in this endeavor. People assigned important responsibilities are often ready to “bend the rules” and push the limits of propriety in the pursuit of their goal. Particularly when it came to as important an endeavor as spreading the belief in God, one might have assumed that Avraham was entitled to a certain degree of leeway in this effort, and would be allowed to employ ethically questionable tactics as he worked to bring his beliefs to the people. God therefore commanded Avraham to be “tamim,” to remain innocent and morally impeccable as he embarked on his historic mission. His goal was to be pursued within the limits of integrity and dignified conduct, as the rules of morals and ethics may not be broken even for the lofty sake of disseminating the belief in God.