In Gen 12:5, we read:
And Abram took Sarai his
wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had
gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to
go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
In Abraham 2:15, we learn that the "souls
that they had gotten in Haran" refers to people they had converted:
And I took Sarai,
whom I took to wife when I was in Ur, in Chaldea, and Lot, my brother's son,
and all our substance that we had gathered, and the souls that we had won in
Haran, and came forth in the way to the land of Canaan, and dwelt in tents as
we came on our way.
Interestingly, Jewish commentators
understood Gen 12:5 in like-manner. The following comes from the (very useful!)
Sefaria
Website:
Rashi:
אשר עשו בחרן [THE SOULS] THAT THEY HAD GOTTEN (literally,
made) IN HARAN — The souls which he had brought beneath the sheltering wings of
the Shechinah. Abraham converted the men and Sarah converted the women and
Scripture accounts it unto them as if they had made them (Genesis Rabbah
39:14). However, the real sense of the text is that it refers to the
men-servants and to the maidservants whom they had acquired for themselves. The
word “עשה” is used here as (in Genesis 31:1), “he has
acquired (עשה) all this wealth”, and (Numbers 24:8), “And Israel
acquires (עושה) wealth” — an expression for
acquiring and amassing.
Chizkuni
ואת הנפש עשו בחרן “and the
proselyte (to monotheism) they had made in Charan.” Our sages Avodah Zarah 9, claim
that this is the first stage of Matan Torah, the giving (revealing) of the
Torah. The manner in which Targum Onkelos renders this phrase is further
evidence of this. [He speaks of Avraham communicating, i.e. converting to
Torah. Ed.]
Rabbeinu Bahya
A Midrashic approach to
the word עשו is found in Bereshit
Rabbah 39,14 where it is understood as applying to the converts Avraham and
Sarah managed to make in Charan and whom they took with them to the land of
Canaan. Avraham converted the males, Sarah the females. This is why the Torah
speaks of that phenomenon in the plural, i.e. “they had made, each one
separately.” If only Avraham had been busy proselytising the Torah should have
written אשר עשה “whom he had made.” We
also find that Yaakov did the same as his grandfather Avraham as the Torah
speaks of his sojourn in the land of Canaan in these words (Genesis 37,1) וישב יעקב בארץ מגורי אביו, “and
Yaakov settled in the land in which his (grand)father had had succeeded in
making converts” (Bereshit Rabbah 84,4). From this you learn that Yaakov was
also making converts.
Radak
ואת הנפש אשר עשו בחרן, the male and female servants they had
acquired in Charan. The word עשו must be understood as similar to
Deuteronomy 8,17 עשה לי את כל החיל הזה, “has gotten me this wealth.”
According to Onkelos, the word עשו refers to the people whom Avram
and Lot had succeeded in bringing back to monotheism, i.e. the same religion as
that professed by Avram. Lot too, professed the belief in the one and only
invisible G’d, the Creator of the universe Lot did not merely join Avram
because he was his uncle and much younger than his grandfather, but he shared
his religious beliefs and was active as an evangelist for that faith himself.
This is the reason why the Torah wrote the word עשו in the plural mode instead of the singular. According to our
sages (Bereshit
Rabbah 39,14) the plural mode of the word עשו is meant to prove that both Avram and Sarai, each were active in
converting their respective friends to monotheism. The use of the root עשה to describe such “brainwashing,” is also
found in Samuel I 12,6 אשר עשה משה את משה ואת אהרן, where it refers to G’d having been the
mentor of both Moses and Aaron.
Siftei Chakhamim
And Sarah would convert the women. Rashi knows this because it is
written אשר עשו בחרן, in plural — referring to both
Avraham and Sarah. It seems that [Rashi knew they made converts because] a
convert is regarded as a newborn. Thus it is considered as if they “made” them.
(Nachalas Yaakov)
