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Why didn’t Abraham intercede on his son’s behalf when commanded to sacrifice him?

by Rabbi Moshe Miller

  

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Your question is quite good, especially when comparing it with Moses’ (successful) prayers on behalf of the Jews after G-d decided to annihilate them following the sin of the Golden Calf. However, if you analyze the two situations you will see that there is a tremendous difference between them.

Moses was interceding on behalf of the Jewish people; Abraham was being tested as an individual. Prayers and intercession on behalf of others is clearly what G-d wants from the leaders of the people. We see a similar situation with Abraham himself – when he interceded on behalf of the people of Sodom. (His prayers were heeded and even though the outcome was that he could not save the people, this was due not to G-d not listening, nor to anything amiss in Abraham’s prayers, but due to the depth of the sin of the Sodomites).
 
Furthermore, Abraham did not view G-d’s command “take your son... and bring him up there as an offering” as a judgment upon his son. Instead he saw it as an elevation of his son (as the words “bring him up” clearly suggest). And this is another reason why Abraham didn’t question G-d’s command.

Abraham did not view G-d’s command “take your son... and bring him up there as an offering” as a judgment upon his son. Instead he saw it as an elevation of his son

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Sacrifice not murder?

Posted by: Rebecca on Aug 01, 2006

I take it that in this instance the sacrifice of Isaac is seen as completely distinct from murder?

I am a little confused by the clarification that all commandments, even on the Sabbath, can be broken in order to help a human life (except murder, sexual misconduct and idolatry).

So, if G_d directly orders someone to kill someone else - is this considered sacrosanct? What about war? I can see that in the comments on the Sabbath, askmoses suggests that a solider ? who is supposed to be protecting lives after all - may go into work if called in on an emergency on Shabbat, but isn?t this a ?tricky? situation (esp. if they have to take lives, to save them?)?

Is there any guidance on when it is considered acceptable to take a human life? When that is not considered to be murder?

Editor's Comment

It all depends on one's frame of reference. Why is "murder" wrong? For the believing individual, the answer is "because G-d told me so." That said, taking a life is anathema in G-d's eyes, and He makes that perfectly clear in the Torah. He also "programmed" our intellect to understand and fell the same way. And, indeed, G-d had no intention for Abraham to kill Isaac. However, if G-d commands one to take another's life, there is nothing inherently wrong with the act. There are certain circumstances which unfortunately but necessarily call for taking another's life - such as self-defense and capital punishment. In such instances killing is not evil, because it is not counter to G-d's will.
Moses
[Hebrew pronunciation: Moshe] Greatest prophet to ever live. Led the Jews out of Egyptian bondage amidst awesome miracles; brought down the Tablets from Mount Sinai; and transmitted to us word-for-word the Torah he heard from G-d's mouth. Died in the year 1272 BCE.
Abraham
First Jew, and first of our three Patriarchs. Born into a pagan society in Mesepotamia in 1812 BCE, he discovered monethieism on his own. He was told by G-d to journey to the Land of Canaan where he and his wife Sarah would give birth to the Jewish People.
G-d
It is forbidden to erase or deface the name of G-d. It is therefore customary to insert a dash in middle of G-d's name, allowing us to erase or discard the paper it is written on if necessary.