Nimrod threatened Avraham in Ur Kasdim that if he didn’t bow to idols, he would throw him into a fiery furnace. Avraham passed this test. He refused to bow down to idols. He was thrown into the furnace and miraculously survived. This story isn't written in the Torah, and we wonder why not. According to many Rishonim, this episode isn't even counted among Avraham's ten primary tests in life, which is also surprising. The test of Ur Kasdim seems to be a very difficult test, harder than many of the others.
Meforshim answer that the difficulty of a test isn't measured solely by the situation and circumstance. It is also determined by the person's level during the test. When a person is on a high level, the greatest test can be easy for him to pass. The most difficult tests are when one is loyal to Hashem even when he falls from his levels and his emunah isn't so clear.
Avraham's ten tests happened at these times, when Hashem took away his high levels.
It states (22:4) המקום את וירא עיניו את אברהם וישא מרחוק , "Avraham lifted his eyes and saw the place [of the akeidah] from afar." The Zohar says that המקום alludes to Hashem (because Hashem is the עולם של מקומו). Avraham saw Hashem from a distance, representing the unclear emunah that Avraham Avinu felt at the time, which increased the test challenge immensely.
Rashi (22:12) writes, "Avraham said to Hashem, 'I will explain my complaint before You. Yesterday, You told me (21:12) ביצחק כי זרע לך יקרא , ‘for in Yitzchak will be called your seed.’ But then You retracted and said (21:2) בנך את נא קח ‘Take now your son [Yitzchak and sacrifice him]." Avraham suffered from questions and unclarities. Questions such as this one can challenge one's emunah. This is why the akeidah was a far greater test than Ur Kasdim. In Ur Kasdim, Avraham's Avinu's emunah was strong and clear. Therefore, according to many Rishonim, it isn't counted among Avraham Avinu's ten tests.
What did Avraham do? How did he pass the great test of the akeidah when his emunah was taken away from him, and he had questions about Hashem's ways? The answer is מרחוק, “from a distance.” Avraham distanced the questions from his mind to perform Hashem's will.
The Yesod HoAvodah writes, "A human mouth cannot express the high levels that Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov attained. There isn't a man in the world who can comprehend it. Even malachim cannot grasp their greatness. Nevertheless, they only passed the test of the akeidah thanks to their temimus and emunah peshutah." This is because at that time, Hashem took away their madreigos. The only way to pass the test was with emunah peshutah.
It states (22:4) עיניו את אברהם וישא השלישי ביום מרחק המקום את וירא , "On the third day, Avraham lifted his eyes and saw the place from afar." How did Avraham know that this was the place meant for the Akeidah? Rashi answers that he saw a cloud tied to the mountain. This was his sign that it was the place that Hashem wanted him to go to. We can explain that a cloud denotes concealment, when Hashem's presence isn't vivid. When Avraham saw the cloud over the mountain, he understood that this was the place of tests and the location of the akeidah.
We daven that Hashem shouldn't test us, but tests and questions arise, especially...
