Footnote 2 – God Tests Abraham

This is in contrast Noah, whom our sages criticize for not speaking up when God announced his plan to destroy the world by the Flood. Moses, too, was told about God’s plan destroy the Jewish people and start a new nation from Moses’ progeny, after the sin of the golden calf (Exodus 32:1–14), and he is praised by our sages because he objected. In Jewish tradition, a prophet’s conscientious objection to a divine plan order is praiseworthy; in Jewish law, a prophet may only follow divine commands to violate God’s law if his purpose is protect the law. (See Responsum No. 652 of Razbag, Rabbi David ibn Zimka of Egypt and Palestine, renowned 16th-century halakhic interpreter.)