The King of Spain held Reb Yitzchak Abarbanel in high esteem and appointed him to be the treasurer of Spain. But some people were jealous of Abarbanel's success and close friendship with the king. In particular, the foreign minister of Spain, a great rasha, was very jealous of Abarbanel's status. He tried to destroy the king's affection for Reb Yitzchok Abarbanel with all his might. He told the king that Reb Yitzchak Abarbanel was stealing money from the treasury. "Did you ever wonder why Abarbanel is so wealthy and has a beautiful home and expensive assets? It is because he steals money from the treasury! Ask him how much money he has, and you will see that he will hem and haw and attempt to get out of giving you a straight answer."
The king summoned Reb Yitzchak Abarbanel and said, "I want to know how much you own. I'll give you three days to appraise your assets, and then come back and tell me."
After three days, the Abarbanel came to the king and said, "I own 700,000 gold coins."
The foreign minister and his friends laughed and said to the king, "His home alone is worth more than a million gold coins. He is lying. He doesn't want to admit that he is stealing from you."
The foreign minister devised another plan to increase the king's wrath on Reb Yitzchak Abarbanel. The Abarbanel knew the kingdom’s secrets, which the king shared with him. He wasn't permitted to tell anyone the secrets other than a particular high-ranking official.
The foreign minister bribed this high-ranking official to reveal the sensitive information to him, and then the foreign minister spoke to the king about these secrets.
"How do you know about these things?" the king asked. "Who told you?"
The foreign minister lied, "Don Yitzchak Abarbanel told me."
The king was angry with Reb Yitzchak Abarbanel and decided to kill him. But he couldn't kill him in Spain since the Abarbanel was very beloved by the public, and it would create a tumult and uproar. So, he handed the Abarbanel a sealed letter and told him to deliver it to the owner of a brick factory outside Spain. A fire burned in the factory's furnace all day long. The letter said, "Throw the bearer of this letter into the furnace immediately, without further ado."
Don Yitzchak Abarbanel, not knowing what was in the letter, took it from the king and set out with the high-ranking official to deliver it. En route, a Yid rushed to the Abarbanel and said, "I have an eight-day-old son, and the mohel didn't show up. Can you please come?"
Reb Yitzchok Abarbanel didn't have to think long to decide. He was on a mission for the king of Spain, and now he had the opportunity to serve the King of all Kings, Hakadosh Baruch Hu. He agreed to go and perform the bris. Reb Yitzchok Abarbanel was an expert mohel and never missed an opportunity to perform this great mitzvah. So, he said to the high-ranking official, "Deliver this letter to the brick factory, and I will meet you there later tonight."
The high-ranking official didn't know what was written inside the letter, and when he delivered it, he was promptly thrown into the fire. Before his death, the official said, "I deserve this because I revealed the king's secrets."
Later that night, when the Abarbanel arrived at the brick factory, they showed him the letter and told him the official's final words. Don Yitzchak Abarbanel thanked Hashem for saving him in the merit of the mitzvah of milah. From the high-ranking official's final words, he understood that the king suspected he had revealed the secrets.
Don Yitzchok Abarbanel returned to the king and told the king everything that occurred. The king said, "I see that your G-d helps you. But there remains one issue that still bothers me. Why did you say you have 700,000 coins when we know you have so much more?"
Don Yitzchok Abarbanel answered, "The 700,000 coins are the amount I gave to tzedakah. This is the amount I know for certain that I have because the merit of tzedakah will remain with me forever. As for the rest of my wealth, I can't say that it is mine. The king can take it all away at any moment. So when the king asked me how much I own, I told him the amount I gave to charity because that is what I truly own."
The king praised him for his wise answer.