Something about this week’s parsha really bothers me. How can Abraham be so bold as to challenge God, when he’s told of the prospective destruction of a Sodom & Gemorrah (18:23) – a region of wicked people - yet say nothing when God asks him to sacrifice Isaac (22:2)! Yes, it was noble for Abraham to inquire if the complete destruction of two cities was necessary. But, in the later instance, human sacrifice would have been the antithesis of the faith Abraham had been preaching for decades and the seeming negation of God’s promises to Abraham that he’d have a son to inherit him. Abraham is vocal in the first situation and silent in the second, more personal matter. I find this seeming inconsistency quite disconcerting.
Responding to this dilemma, my ‘neighbor’ in the early morning weekday prayer service Rabbi Shlomo Ziegler suggests that in the first instance God was consulting with Abraham (so to speak) whereas in the second situation he posed a direct command. Rabbi Ziegler suggests that we are not given license to broadly question God’s judgment when presented with a command. Rabbi Ziegler offered another possible answer – Abraham learned in the first instance that, even if questioned, God’s reasoning is well founded and his decisions are final. So he did not bother to challenge God the second time.
Though I see truth in both answers, the question still vexes me.
I saw the same explanation in this article on the Chabad website (http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/474410/jewish/Why-Didnt-Abraham-Plead-for-His-Sons-Life.htm), but an additional parenthetical explanation was that Sodom and Gemorrah were to be destroyed as punishment, while being a sacrifice was not a punishment.
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