[Avodah] Question about Avraham and Sarah at Avimelech's House

[Sholom Simon]

>A friend of mine had a question about the narrative in last week's 
>*Parsha, Veyara*. In *Lech Lecha *Avram forms an army and fights the 
>armies of the
>Four Kings to free his nephew Lot from captivity.
>
>However, in *Veyara* when Sarah is taken by Avimelech Avraham acts 
>passively and lets Avimelech's soldiers take Sarah. If when his 
>nephew was captured Avraham takes up arms, why does he not do the 
>same when Sarah is taken?

Great question.  I don't have any specific sources, but lots of 
questions about Avraham in the parsha end up getting answered along 
the lines of: "Avraham knew that Sarah was on such a high madreiga 
she'd be protected."  If one accepts that, then certainly it could 
also apply here, where, certainly, Sarah was not on the same level of Lot.

FWIW,

-- Sholom