Milah elevates Avraham to a new beginning

בפסוק ואברכה מברכיך כו'.

On the verse: "And I will bless those who bless you" (Bereishis 12:3).

The Sefas Emes opens on Hashem's promise to Avraham that those who bless him will themselves be blessed.

יש להקשות לפי משחז"ל הצדיקים אורריהם קודמין למברכיהם וכן הקשה הרמב"ן ז"ל בפ' תולדות.

There is a difficulty: according to what Chazal taught, regarding tzaddikim those who curse them are mentioned before those who bless them — and the Ramban likewise raised this question in parshas Toldos.

By Avraham the verse puts "those who bless you" first and "the one who curses you" second; yet by Yitzchak (Toldos) the order is reversed, with the curser first. Why the difference?

ונראה כי אברהם אע"ה נשתנה אחר המילה למדריגה עליונה מאוד.

It appears that Avraham Avinu was transformed after the milah to an exceedingly lofty level.

The bris milah elevated Avraham into a wholly new spiritual madreigah (level), beyond where he had stood before.

ובבחינה הראשונה כבר בא לבחינת המברכים שהכל הודו לו.

And in his earlier state he had already arrived at the level of "those who bless," for everyone acknowledged him.

Even before the milah, Avraham had already won universal recognition, so that the world's blessing of him was, as it were, already accomplished.

אך ידע הבורא ית' כי עוד יהיה לו סדר חדש ויוקדמו עוד אורריו למברכיו.

But the Creator, may He be blessed, knew that he would yet have a new order, in which his cursers would again come before his blessers.

Because the milah raised Avraham to a fresh, higher beginning, he would again have to win over a world that started out opposing him — so once more the cursers precede the blessers.

לכן כתיב אחר כך עוד ונברכו בך שהוא המברכים האחרונים כנ"ל:

Therefore it is written afterward, further: "and through you shall be blessed" — these are the later blessers, as explained above.

The added phrase "and all the families of the earth shall be blessed through you" points to this second wave of blessers, those who would come to recognize Avraham only after his new, post-milah elevation.

Summary: The Sefas Emes resolves why Avraham's blessers precede his cursers (unlike by Yitzchak): the bris milah lifted Avraham to an entirely new madreigah, beginning a fresh chapter in which he would again start from opposition and rise to a later, deeper recognition — the "blessers" alluded to in "and through you shall be blessed."