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In today's lesson we learn more about Avraham, who, in the last Parashah, had learned he had been chosen to receive a covenant from YHWH, to be the father of a great, obedient nation. Despite the magnitude of this great honor, we learn that Avraham is but an ordinary man, a frail human, with all the associated human desires, and human erring and human lack of faith.
As the Parashah opens, Avraham recognizes YHWH approaching as "three men" (we can only guess that one was Yeshua and the other two were angels because two of them later left and went to Sodom [see Genesis 18:22 and 19:1]).
Genesis 18: 1 ADONAI appeared to Avraham by the oaks of Mamre as he sat at the entrance to the tent during the heat of the day. 2 He raised his eyes and looked, and there in front of him stood three men. On seeing them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, prostrated himself on the ground, 3 and said, "My lord, if I have found favor in your sight, please don't leave your servant.
Now, YHWH had promised that Avraham would be the father of a great nation (Genesis 17:4), so we see YHWH preparing Avraham for the coming birth of his son:
Genesis 18: 10 He said, "I will certainly return to you around this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son. "Sarah heard him from the entrance of the tent, behind him. 11 Avraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years; Sarah was past the age of childbearing. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, "I am old, and so is my lord; am I to have pleasure again?" 13 ADONAI said to Avraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and ask, 'Am I really going to bear a child when I am so old?' 14 Is anything too hard for ADONAI? At the time set for it, at this season next year, I will return to you; and Sarah will have a son."
Wasn't it typically human of Sarah to laugh when she heard that she was to bear a child in her old age? It had to be really embarrassing when she realized YHWH had heard her laugh and then, to make matters worse, she lied and tried to tell YHWH she hadn't laughed (vs. 15)....(Remember, Abraham and Sarah (then "Avram and Sarai") had "jumped the gun" by deciding to take matters into their own hands and have a child with Sarah's handmaiden, Hagar in Genesis 16 - even though YHWH had promised to give "this land" to Avram and his descendants! - Genesis 15:17-20)
Please re-read that last sentence: Is anything too hard for ADONAI? At the time set for it, at this season next year, I will return to you; and Sarah will have a son. When YHWH wills something, it will happen! In the meantime, He expect us to have faith in Him! How often have we humans decided not to wait on Him...and because of that, everything went awry?
Genesis 18:19 is powerful in that, here we learn once again that YHWH simply has our best interests at heart and will go to any lengths to get us to recognize why we need to obey Him:
Genesis 18: 19 For I have made myself known to him, so that he will give orders to his children and to his household after him to keep the way of ADONAI and to do what is right and just, so that ADONAI may bring about for Avraham what he has promised him."
All He ever asks of us is to be holy and set apart by keeping HIS ways. When we obey YHWH's commands, He causes our lives to run smoothly. But when we veer away from Torah, we're on our own!
Next the story turns to S'dom and 'Amora where find Avraham pleading with YHWH to spare the town if only 50 righteous were present. In Genesis 18:20, YHWH explains:
Genesis 18: 20 ADONAI said, "The outcry against S'dom and 'Amora is so great and their sin so serious 21 that I will now go down and see whether their deeds warrant the outcry that has reached me; if not, I will know." 22 The men turned away from there and went toward S'dom, but Avraham remained standing before ADONAI.
What was the "outcry" against S'dom and 'Amora that was so outrageous that YHWH had to investigate? We'll find the answer to that question in a moment, but first...
Avraham, being very bold, and perhaps testing YHWH a bit too much, pleads with Him not to punish the righteous with the wicked, even if just few were found:
Genesis 18: 23 Avraham approached and said, "Will you actually sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Maybe there are fifty righteous people in the city; will you actually sweep the place away, and not forgive it for the sake of the fifty righteous who are there? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing - to kill the righteous along with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! Far be it from you! Shouldn't the judge of all the earth do what is just?" 26 ADONAI said, "If I find in S'dom fifty who are righteous, then I will forgive the whole place for their sake." 27 Avraham answered, "Here now, I, who am but dust and ashes, have taken it upon myself to speak to Adonai.
28 What if there are five less than fifty righteous? "He said, "I won't destroy it if I find forty-five there." 29 He spoke to him yet again: "What if forty are found there?" He said, "For the sake of the forty I won't do it." 30 He said, "I hope Adonai won't be angry if I speak. What if thirty are found there?" He said, "I won't do it if I find thirty there." 31 He said, "Here now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to Adonai. What if twenty are found there?" He said, "For the sake of the twenty I won't destroy it." 32 He said, "I hope Adonai won't be angry if I speak just once more. What if ten are found there?" He said, "For the sake of the ten I won't destroy it." 33 ADONAI went on his way as soon as he had finished speaking to Avraham, and Avraham returned to his place.
Two observations: Moshe (who is writing this history), captures that Avraham was clearly pensive in his quest to save the righteous, even if it is only a very few. It is very obvious that Avraham and YHWH had some special relationship! Here was a mere man, conversing with the Creator, attempting to lead YHWH down a path of forgiveness, and we find YHWH, compassionate and caring, offering grace way before Christianity took over the concept as an "end all and be all" which they claim replaced the very Word!
But we find YHWH in complete control, for not only does He stop the discussion as Avraham reaches "10 righteous"; but because YHWH knows the truth of the goings-on in S'dom and 'Amora, and He cuts off Avraham's argument by departing from him.
At this point, however, we finally learn the truth of S'dom and 'Amora, the answer to our question above regarding the "outcry" of which YHWH was aware: The cities are so vile and wicked that the occupants were determined to have their way with the "men" who came to visit Lot:
Genesis 19: 4 But before they could go to bed, the men of the city surrounded the house - young and old, everyone from every neighborhood of S'dom. 5 They called Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to stay with you tonight? Bring them out to us! We want to have sex with them!"
Imagine the frenzy! Imagine humanity so depraved that any "new thing" in the city was a call to ferver and excitement. Isn't this just like today with the media frenzy over people like Lindsay Lohan and her many drug associated legal problems, and the hype over "oppressed gays at the hands of bullies" which is suddenly front and center in the news? (We are definitely not condoning the bullying of gays, or anyone else, for that matter, but isn't the insatiable appetite of our godless society for the "media event of the moment" similar to the debauchery of S'dom and 'Amora?)
"We want to have sex with them." People - this type of behavior is with us today! The Bible tells us that the Son of Man (Yeshua) would return when the world was once again as it was in the days of Noah (Matthew 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27)....Judging from everything that is happening today, it won't be long before Yeshua returns to snatch the world and its peoples out of the hands of Satan! This is why it is so important for people to "get themselves right with God" now....
Atheists love to use these particular passages to show that we have a "mean" God and that believers can be "perverts" because in Genesis 19:6-8 we see Lot offering his virgin daughters to the throng who demanded to have sex with the angels. "What kind of a man would offer his virgin daughters to a gang of sex-crazed men?" one lady wrote to The Refiner's Fire.
Our reply: The kind who feared God! This man, Lot, knew that the angels were holy beings, and that Lot and his entire household would be doomed forever if he allowed the angels to be sexually molested while under his roof. Even though it would have killed him to see his daughters defiled, maimed or even murdered, Lot's fear of, and respect for, YHWH overrode everything in this particular situation!
Moving on in Genesis 19, we find that YHWH spared Lot and his wife and two daughters by allowing them to leave Sodom, and He said they were not to look behind them once they left. Unfortunately, Lot's wife did, and she immediately turned into a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26).
Beginning in verse 30, we see Lot and his daughters living "in the hills in a cave" and shortly thereafter, we once again see human beings trying to take control of their own destinies, when Lot's daughters decide to have sex with their own father because they apparently didn't trust YHWH to bring them husbands, and they feared they would therefore, never bear children...This is also basically the last time we ever hear of the lineage of Lot!
Genesis 19: 29 But when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Avraham and sent Lot out, away from the destruction, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived. 30 Lot went up from Tzo'ar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, because he was afraid to stay in Tzo'ar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. 31 The firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there isn't a man on earth to come in to us in the manner customary in the world. 32 Come, let's have our father drink wine; then we'll sleep with him, and that way we'll enable our father to have descendants."
33 So they plied their father with wine that night, and the older one went in and slept with her father; he didn't know when she lay down or when she got up. 34 The following day, the older said to the younger, "Here, I slept last night with my father. Let's make him drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him, and that way we'll enable our father to have descendants." 35 They plied their father with wine that night also, and the younger one got up and slept with him, and he didn't know when she lay down or when she got up. 36 Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37 The older one gave birth to a son and called him Mo'av; he is the ancestor of Mo'av to this day. 38 The younger also gave birth to a son, and she called him Ben-'Ammi; he is the ancestor of the people of 'Amon to this day.
Note the last two verses in Genesis 19 that reveals Lot's daughters had sons, but ultimately their lineage died out, probably because of the incest. We do see them mentioned again in Deuteronomy, where YHWH assigns a portion of land to each of the sons of Lot:
Deuteronomy 2: 9 ADONAI said to me, 'Don't be hostile toward Mo'av or fight with them, because I will not give you any of their land to possess, since I have already given 'Ar to the descendants of Lot as their territory.'" 10 (The Emim used to live there, a great and numerous people as tall as the 'Anakim.
Deuteronomy 2: 19 When you approach the descendants of 'Amon, don't bother them or fight with them, for I will not give you any of the territory of the people of 'Amon to possess, since I have given it to the descendants of Lot as their territory.'"
The above is a good example of how quickly we can leave God's Path. Although, until the Book of Leviticus, we don't really see the command not to have sex with our own close relatives; however, it still seemed to have been "an unwritten rule" as the years flew by and man's perfect DNA eventually broke down. (As you know, sexual relations between close relatives can result in all kinds of birth defects and problems....)
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