The most incredible story about Abraham Avinu is generally called Akiedat Yitzchak. This was the most difficult of the tests of his faith in G-d.
G-d told Abraham to take his only son who he loved dearly and to slaughter him as a sacrifice. What would we do in such a situation?
We would ask ourselves many questions. The first of which should be, “doesn’t G-d despise human sacrifice?” Followed by, “how can I slaughter my own son?”
Then you would ask, “Where is the logic?” G-d promised Abraham that Yitzchak would continue the tradition and now he is commanded to kill his son as a sacrifice!
I am sure that Abraham asked these questions and more.
When any of you are in a difficult situation you ask yourself and G-d questions. Especially in business or in marriage we do not always have a quick answer for what is right and what is wrong. Even after we make a decision we do not always know if it is the right thing to do.
These are the difficulties of life.
We praise Abraham for withstanding this very difficult test of faith which G-d thrust upon him. We rarely think about what must have gone through his mind.
There are two different good traits which Abraham Avinu had. These are mercy and that he was faithful. We saw his incredible mercy when he actually argued with G-d not to destroy the wicked cities of Sedom and Amorah. Abraham pleaded with G-d not to destroy them even though they were the most decadent society.
His faithfulness we see from today’s story of the Akiedat Yitzchak. When Abraham was commanded to kill his son he was prepared to follow through. The most obvious question is: where do we see that Abraham argued with G-d to spare Yitzchak? If he argued with G-d to spare the wicked certainly he had something to say about his very righteous, innocent son.
There is a midrash which says that Abraham did Argue with G-d. The Pasuk says:
Take your son, your only one, who you loved, take Yitzchak….
When G-d told him to take his son Abraham answered which son? I have two: Yitzchak and Yishmael. G-d Then said your only one. Abraham Answered both are only children to their mothers. G-d said “the one you love.” He answered “I love both.” After this G-d finally said he should take Yitzchak. From here we see that Abraham really did argue with G-d.
Even after this discussion and all of the questioning thoughts which I discussed before Abraham still followed the commandment of G-d.