Pemikiran Yahudi Bilangan 11:22: Akeidat Yitzchak & Derashot HaRan

(8) According to some, the promise that Abraham and Sarah would sire a child, made Abraham wonder if perchance Ishmael was destined to die, since otherwise his existence would have enabled G-d to fulfil His promise to Abraham to become the ancestor of a multitude of nations in a far more natural way. This consideration prompted Abraham to pray for Ishmael's continued existence. (6) When Abraham questioned G-d’s promise, his concern was legitimate, whereas when Sarah did so she had no such legitimate concern. Therefore, G-d criticized Sarah without criticizing Abraham. However, it is more likely that Abraham's remark was just as unseemly as Sarah's later, just as was that of Moses when he questioned G-d’s ability to feed all of Israel meat in the desert (Numbers 11,21). Since however, it was a day of glad tidings, a day on which Abraham had cheerfully accepted the commandment to circumcise himself, G-d did not want to spoil the occasion by criticizing him. Similarly, on the day the Torah was given, the leaders of Israel were not punished, although their conduct was deserving of punishment (Exodus 24, see Vayikra Rabbah 20). When G-d did criticize Sarah eventually for her similar lack of belief, He did so via Abraham. "Why does Sarah laugh?" (Genesis 18,13). He could have criticized Sarah without addressing Abraham on the subject. However, G-d wanted Abraham to get the message that he, too, had erred in a similar fashion on the same subject. (9) As it was, G-d’s answer was only meant to emphasize that Sarah deserved to bear a son. Ishmael's future was not in doubt at all. Abraham was to call the new son Isaac, as a reminder that he had considered his conception and birth as too amusing a flight of fancy to entertain seriously. G-d would let Ishmael become great, but the new covenant under discussion would be maintained with Isaac. (10) The statement that "G-d had finished speaking with Abraham" proves, that this whole vision had been of a superior nature compared to previous ones. This vision was more like the ones Abraham would enjoy from this point on, though in this instance we still find Abraham falling down due to the overwhelming impact of G-d’s Presence. The promptness with which Abraham carried out G-d’s commandment reflects the newly won awareness that he was as yet incomplete as a human being. Rabbi Berechya points out in Bereshit Rabbah 39 that in promising Isaac, G-d did not say, "I will place you," but rather "I will make you." This indicates a direct action on G-d’s part, similar to such actions by G-d during the creation of man. The meaning is "When I make a new creature out of you, be fruitful and multiply!" When G-d had made a covenant with Noach, the sign of which was the rainbow, He limited the power of the forces of water and assured the continued existence of man. He promised that the future of a nation based on Abraham and Isaac would be assured just as the future of mankind had been assured through the covenant with Noach. No matter what sins will call for retribution, the nation as a whole will not perish. This implies that Israel's character even amid persecutions due to its infidelity vis a vis the Almighty, will exhibit traits that will qualitfy it for eventual redemption.

The first premise: It is the desire and will of the Blessed One to keep the world on its natural course as far as possible. Nature being precious in His eyes, He alters it only when it is absolutely necessary to do so. This accounts for Moses' asking (Numbers 11:22): "Shall flocks and herds be slain for them…?" Moses was assuming that the Blessed One would not originate a miracle and a wonder for them in vain, simply to fill their stomachs, and he wondered, on the premise of the world following its natural course: How would there be enough meat for this vast multitude? And because this natural course is precious in the eyes of the L-rd and desired by Him, as we have written, sometimes, when He must originate a miracle and a wonder, He combines with it something natural to be a kind of support to it, though that natural element in itself not be sufficient for the miracle but only supportive of it. As Elisha said to the wife of one of the prophet's sons (II Kings 4:2): "Tell me what you have in the house…" and being answered that she had only a cruse of oil, he instructed her (Ibid 3): "Go and borrow vessels from abroad, from all of your neighbors, empty vessels, and do not be sparing…" all those vessels subsequently being filled from the one cruse of oil. Now there is no question that it was impossible in point of nature for so much oil to come forth from a cruse which contained almost no oil at all. In spite of this, the prophet desired to satisfy G-d's will that there be some kind of natural support for the miracle. This is the first premise.