Beraishis 12I – אברהם קראו הר, יצחק שדה, יעקב בית

אברהם קראו הר, יצחק שדה, יעקב בית –   פסחים דף פ”ח עמוד ב

For Avraham the mountainside was where God revealed Himself. Avraham was a lone and solitary figure, singular among men; he could not find God in the sphere of human society. To seek God and uncover the traces of His deeds, he went out to the wilds of nature in the mountains, where the traces of men’s doing had not yet reached.

As the story of the patriarchs unfolded, they increasingly saw the “finger of God” revealed in the course of their lives. Yitzchak called his place of Divine revelation “field”; that is no longer the wild open mountainside, but nature that is harnessed by man for his nourishment. This sphere already pertains to man’s existence, though still only in a material manner (see below 26:12).

Ya’akov did not have to leave his home in order to find God; he found Him in the place where God always wants us to find Him: he was the father of children. Not in the hills and mountain, not in the fields and forests, but in his own home he found God; his own family life was where God revealed Himself to him. The stone on which a man lays down his weary head became to him “the house of God” (see below 28:22).

(GS- RSRH wrote above about the central importance of family as the sphere where morals and godliness develop, ultimately influencing society. See above 1:28.)

Beraishis 12:8
pages 302-303