Some men can’t get no satisfaction. But Avraham was no such man. “Avraham gave up the spirit, and died in a good old age: an old man, satisfied.” (Genesis 25:8). Ramban explains the phrase זָקֵן וְשָׂבֵעַ (an old man, satisfied) to mean that, upon his death, Avraham wanted for nothing. Every desire had been fulfilled, every request granted, every goal achieved. Quite a life. Indeed, a man who dies with even half his desires fulfilled would be unusual (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:13). How did Avraham achieve this?
Ramban attributes Avraham’s satisfaction to two causes. God, in his Grace and Kindness, bestows satisfaction upon His righteous when they die. God does this in order to relieve the anxiety the righteous feel on their deathbeds. Have you obeyed the Will of God? Have you failed – now permanently – to live your life in accordance with His Will? Have you done what you were supposed to do? You’d best hope. There is nothing to be done now.
Satisfaction alleviates these anxieties. Indeed, these anxieties are themselves pain from lack of satisfaction. God bestows this satisfaction as a parting gift: the righteous upon their leave of This World rest easy as they awake in the World to Come. Avraham himself is also responsible for his satisfaction. “He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver.” (Ecclesiastes 5:9). Avraham did not pursue silver — he pursued God. But more than this, Avraham decided to achieve satisfaction. His noble decision was possible only by virtue of his Godly pursuit. A man in pursuit of silver cannot also choose to be satisfied with the silver he now possesses. Either his pursuit or his satisfaction would come to close. A man in pursuit of silver may look to other men to guide him. But the man on the radio has only useless information; the man on the television doesn’t smoke the same cigarettes as me; man cannot find satisfaction in the world of men; how white can your shirts really be?
A man pursuing the Eternal knows the absurdity of his own attempt: the Eternal is not silver that a man can possess it. But by pursuing the Eternal, Avraham releases himself from the pursuit of the ephemeral. He does not want, lack, or desire anything of the world of men. The world of men cannot provide Avraham with what he wants; he does not pursue silver, and he therefore finds in it satisfaction. Just as Avraham sacrificed Yitzchak, and, thereby, earned him, so too, Avraham turned his eyes towards higher things, and, thereby, earned the lower. We might say: He that does not love silver shall be satisfied with silver. By leaving behind that which can be attained and turning toward that which cannot, Avraham was satisfied in both.