Beraishis 14F – Education Must Start at Birth, in the Isolation of the Home

… “he led forth all those who had been born in his household and educated by him…”

This verse reveals to us why, until this point, Avraham had avoided all contact with others.

Avraham and Sarah had no reason to fear that they themselves might be corrupted. But Avraham had in his charge 318 human souls whom he had educated in the midst of corruption, who he now had to protect, to preserve them for their calling in which he had trained them. It was for their sake that he sought isolation.

They were “born in his household” and only because they were such could they become educated by him. He had been unable to achieve this objective in the case of Lot because Lot had come to him only as a mature man. Education must begin at birth, particularly if that education is to train the individual for the calling of עברי, one who stands in opposition to the rest of the world.

Until now Avraham had avoided all contact with the outside world, out of concern for the welfare of those he was educating. Until now they were held within the confines of his household. But now, when human life was in peril (his nephew Lot), he “poured them out” of his house.

Beraishis 14:14
pages 334-336