In a pagan world, that had for several generations been taught to bow to and worship graven images and natural elements, one can easily imagine the challenges and ridicule Avraham had to confront during this campaign of disseminating the belief in the One true God. Upon his return from Egypt, Avraham was in a better position to teach and inspire, to provide some of the answers he "owed" to those who rejected him.
Yesterday, we discussed the verse in Parashat Lekh-Lekha that describes Avraham's return to Canaan after his turbulent sojourn in Egypt: "Va-yeilekh le-masa'av" (literally, "He went along his travels"). As we saw, Rashi cites the Midrash's interpretation that Avraham found lodging in the same inns in which he had stayed when he first journeyed from Canaan to Egypt.
In addition, however, Rashi cites a second interpretation from the Midrash, which reads this verse to mean that Avraham "repaid his debts." According to the simple reading of the Midrash, it seeks to emphasize Avraham's sense of respect and responsibility towards others, that immediately upon acquiring wealth and returning home, he made a point of repaying his outstanding loans. The priority he afforded to his financial obligations serves as yet another example of his strict ethical standards and respect for other people and their property.
Rav Shlomo Breuer (son-in-law of Rav Shimshon Refael Hirsch), however, in his work Chokhma U-musar, suggested a deeper reading of the Midrash's comment. The Torah tells that when Avraham first arrived in Canaan, he "called in the Name of the Lord" (12:8), which the Midrash (Bereishit Rabba 39) and several commentators (such as the Ramban and Radak) explain to mean that he began his campaign of disseminating the belief in the one true God. In a pagan world, that had for several generations been taught to bow to and worship graven images and natural elements, one can easily imagine the challenges and ridicule Avraham had to confront during this campaign. He sought to teach the people of his time to worship and believe in a God whom they neither saw nor heard, and whom they could not even conjure in their minds as any kind of image. We may assume that these challenges only intensified as drought struck the area and Avraham fell into destitution. "If you do worship a kind, benevolent God," they may have asked, "why does he not provide you with rain and miraculously bring you food and water?" These difficulties in disseminating monotheism intensified as Avraham fled to Egypt and then had to endure the abduction of his wife.
But just then, God intervened and brought plagues upon Pharaoh and his household. Sara was returned, and Avraham was showered with wealth. He could now return to Canaan and look forward to a future of financial security. Upon his return, he went to "repay his debts." According to Rav Breuer, this comment in the Midrash alludes to his "debts" to his interlocutors, those who pointed to his struggles as proof against the beliefs he was trying to sell. Indeed, this verse tells of Avraham's renewed efforts to draw people to the belief in God: "He went along his travels…to the site of the altar which he had initially made, and Avraham called there in the Name of the Lord" (13:3-4). (According to one interpretation suggested by Rashi, this refers to a new campaign to "call in the Name of the Lord.") Equipped with success and salvation, Avraham was now in a position to teach and inspire, to provide some of the answers he "owed" to those who rejected him. He showed his audience that even when God's power and authority over the world seems difficult to discern, when the rewards of belief and observance seem distant, ultimately His salvation surfaces and His unchallenged dominion over the earth becomes evident and undeniable.