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[Way Out]

Why was Zechariah so severely punished for asking “how will I know?” of Gabriel (Luke 1:18-20), but Abram left unpunished for the same by God in Genesis 15:8.

Seems that questioning the Will of God was the crux of Zechariah’s punishment. Why was Abram spared for questioning God’s Will?

[jimwalton]

We're not told, but scholars have some thoughts.

Hamilton, Vincent, Robertson, Davis: Abraham's was not an expression of doubt, but rather a desire for a confirmation. He wants reassurance. Zechariah, on the other hand, is demanding proof. Requests for signs were not unusual in Old Testament times. They were not so much to discover God's will or to doubt it as much as to confirm it.

David Dean: "It is only after Abram asks this that God responds with the formal covenant-cutting ceremony. Nothing suggests that his request is motivated by doubt; in fact, v. 6 argues the opposite. Abram is apparently already quite confident of the declarations that God had made in chaps. 12 and 13, though he is perhaps impatient to see them fulfilled. His question seems to be a request that God would formalize those promises by the conventions of covenant, and God willingly complies."

Keener: That Zechariah and not Abraham was struck dumb suggests only that this revelation is much greater than those which preceded it.

Zechariah, on the other hand, is full of doubt and demanding proof.