Why did Hashem begin talking to the Satan?
Rashi (12): It is proper that the Gadol begins speaking, and lets the Katan answer.
Devar Eliyahu: Angels may not begin speaking to Hashem until He addresses them.
Malbim: Lack and loss (the Satan's power) do not apply to upper beings. He answered, he was in the land, where lack and loss apply.
What is "ba'Aretz"?
Ibn Ezra citing Rav Sadya Gaon: It is in his land alone 1 .
Ibn Ezra: It is in the entire world.
Rav Sadya Gaon holds that the Satan is a person, who cannot traverse the entire world. (PF)
Why was the Satan roaming in the land?
Rashi: It is his way to see good and bad.
Devar Eliyahu: He is the Yetzer ha'Ra and the angel of death. He descends, makes people stray, ascends and prosecutes.
What is the significance of "ume'His'halech Bah"?
Rashi: I did not find anyone like Avraham, whom You told "Kum His'halech ba'Aretz." Chazal said that he intended l'Shem Shamayim, lest Hashem forget Avraham's merit (Bava Basra 16a).
Malbim: There are two kinds of lack. (a) Every physical being must die - Halichah applies to fixed matters. (b) Some lack comes by chance, e.g. death or illness due to too much eating or intimacy, or murder - this is Shot ba'Aretz.
