Avraham, Moshe & Questions

There is an inherent contradiction between the derech of Avraham and the derech of Moshe.

The psukim record Avraham obeying G completely without question in the Akeidah incident. This is particularly strange considering Avraham has received assurance from G that Avraham would have a great nation through Yitzchak. Aside from the obvious objections anyone would raise when tasked to kill their own son, Avraham had blatant contradictions that he presumably could have requested G to resolve. But the psukim give no indication that Avraham responded in any way other than performing exactly the commandment as it was given to him.

Moshe is almost the exact opposite of this. He questions G for days. And he has good questions which G answers. Interestingly, Chazal are very rarely critical of Moshe's continued questioning of G. Even moreso, we say that Moshe's nevua was inherently superior to the nevua of Avraham. So then the obvious question is: who's right?

On the one hand we say that Moshe was the greatest navi who ever lived or would live. It seems that we must say that he was doing something better than Avraham. But the Akeidah is also a pretty fundamental part of our nation as we can see from the psukim as well as our tfillos. So it doesn't sound right to say that the psukim are suggesting that Avraham was doing something wrong when he obeys loyally without question.

I would answer the question by saying that the premise of the question is that either one of them was doing something wrong - I would suggest that they were both implementing different "styles" of b'chira.

Avraham trusted G completely and would do whatever He commanded without question. To him, the basic Truth of G's Existence meant that his own personal understandings were largely irrelevant. G's knowledge is incomparable to our own. If it is clear in one's mind that the commandment is from G, what can one do but follow it?

Moshe had a different style. He questioned G endlessly until he understood. Perhaps this was necessary because of the role he played in history - he had to understand all of the Torah in order to teach it. In some ways, Avraham didn't need to know as much as Moshe. But if Moshe's way is superior, then Avraham missed an opportunity to understand the Ratzon Hashem.

It's possible that Avraham's methods are superior and Moshe simply got further along through his derech than Avraham did with his. Perhaps Avraham's derech can only go so far until one must go further as Moshe apparently did. Or perhaps if Avraham were in the position of Moshe he could have negotiated the release of the Jews without the need for miracles (as most of his troubles were resolved without miracles).

I don't think there's any clear "winner" other than deferring to Moshe's superiority, but the Torah and chazal's treatment of the Akeidah leads me to conclude that they are not at odds, rather different styles of approaching the same goal.

Avraham sought to be in line with the Ratzon Hashem by following it as completely as he understood it.

Moshe sought to be in line with the Ratzon Hashem by questioning it completely until he understood it.

I don't think either are wrong, just different.