Being Bold Before God

Parshat Vayera presents two distinct models of the human relationship with God.
The better-known one is the Akedah, the binding of Yitzhak, where God commands Avraham to offer his son as a sacrifice, only to instruct him at the last moment to substitute a ram instead. This episode embodies faith as the unwavering fulfillment of God’s will. It has stood at the center of Western religious thought for millennia, despite the fact that it is never mentioned again anywhere in the Tanakh.

The second model appears earlier in the parashah, when God informs Avraham of His plan to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for their grievous sins. Upon hearing this decree, Avraham opens a dialogue with God and dares to challenge the justice of His decision. This confrontation, so quintessentially Jewish, has received far less attention. (I recall teaching this episode to clergy at a prominent Christian institution in Jerusalem; the students were astonished at Avraham’s audacity in arguing with God. For them, such a thing seemed unthinkable!)

The exchange between Avraham and God unfolds almost like bargaining in the shuk: Avraham persuades God to spare the cities if ten righteous people can be found among them. One of Avraham’s statements stands out for its boldness:

“Far be it from You to do such a thing—to put to death the innocent with the guilty, making innocent and guilty the same. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do justice?” (Genesis 18:25)

Avraham’s final question is rhetorical. He is asserting that true justice, ensuring that the innocent are not punished, is precisely God’s duty as Judge of all the earth.

A remarkable Eretz Yisraeli midrash from the Talmudic period takes Avraham’s question even further:

Said Rabbi Levi: “‘The Judge of all the earth not practice justice?’ (Genesis 18:25) — [Avraham argued:] ‘If You wish to have a world, there can be no strict justice; and if You wish strict justice, there can be no world. You want to hold the rope at both ends: You want a world and You want strict justice. If You do not ease up a bit, the world will be unable to endure.’ The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him [Avraham]: ‘You love righteousness and abhor wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your peers.’” (Psalms 45:8) (Bereishit Rabbah 39:6, Theodor–Albeck ed., pp. 368–369)

Here, Rabbi Levi transforms Avraham’s rhetorical question into a profound declaration. God, being God, must temper justice with mercy; otherwise, the world cannot survive. Avraham, a human being, insists that compassion is a divine necessity.

This is the Jewish way. We do not rely on intermediaries. We face God directly. And not only is such moral courage accepted; it is precisely what God deems worthy of blessing.