Gabriel Wolf – Head Madrich

This week’s parashah further introduces us to Avraham. Basically, God ‘appears’ at Avraham’s tent in the form of three messengers. They feast, they banter, one of them tells Avraham that Sarah, his wife will soon have a son, Sarah overhears and giggles at this ‘absurd’ statement, The Lord confronts her about this laughter, she lies, and he busts her on her deceitfulness.

The messengers say their goodbyes and head towards Sodom (an ancient Canaanite town). God tells Avraham of the “outcry” of this town… which basically means that their wickedness is pretty serious, and if after checking it out, they are as evil as He thinks they are, He shall strike, destroying the city, and the citizens within it.

Avraham gets all philosophical on us, and begins to question the nature of justice. “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?”. After all does not God “judge of all on earth” act justly? After continued questioning, God finally agrees that he will not destroy the whole city if there are 40, or 30, or 20 or even ten righteous people.

The guests head off to Sodom and end up at the house of his nephew, Lot. They feast, and they banter… the men of Sodom surround the house and demand that Lot reveals his guests. Lot begs them not to act wickedly, and they almost smash down his door. The guests escape with Lot and his family, and they warn not to look back towards the town. Lot’s wife looks back, and she turns into pillar of salt.

Meanwhile, Abraham journeys to the land of Avimelekh, and Sarah gives birth to Isaac (at the age of 90).

Listen up guys… here’s where it gets pretty crazy.

God says to Avraham: “Take, your only son whom you love, Isaac, and get yourself to the land of Moriah and offer him on one of the mountains that I will show you.”

Pretty edgy right? Nonetheless, Avraham does what he is told. He journeys to Moriah, builds the alter, ties down his only son, and gets out his slaughter utensil. When suddenly, “Avraham, Avraham” … an angel of God calls to him from the heavens, and says: “Do not stretch your hand toward the lad, nor do the slightest thing to him, for now I know that you are God-fearing and did not withhold from Me.”

Wow. What just happened here? Was Avraham really just willing to kill his own child just because God said so? And did God really just do all of that just to test Avraham’s faith? Sounds pretty crazy, seeing that Avraham put up a fight for the lives of virtual strangers in the city of Sodom, he then just blindly followed orders when told to murder his own child.

So what can we learn from this?

When taking the situation of Avraham and his son, and applying it to our world today, it seems pretty ludicrous. So perhaps this story can teach us something about the importance of questioning and that, although Abraham didn’t necessarily do so, thinking critically about the things we do, and the things we are told to do, is vital as individuals and helps us to understand ourselves, our morals, and the world around us.

Gabriel Wolf Year 11/12