Abraham, again, creates a mess by “fibbing” in claiming that his half-sister and wife Sarah is just his sister. Again the royalty that claims Sarah for suffers a judgment for doing so. Why does God call such a seemingly short-sighted man like Abraham a prophet?
Some think that Sodom and its neighbors met with heavenly holocaust for sexual depravity. Others claim the primary offense was inhospitality. Yet Israel is warned many times throughout the Bible not to become like Sodom and look for salvation.
Genesis 19 is one of the most disturbing passages in the Bible, with a righteous man offering his daughters to a rape mob to protect two strangers, God’s destruction of a whole valley and those daughters committing incest with their father. Why is this passage recorded?
The LORD and two heavenly messengers visit Abraham and Sarah for lunch. The LORD reveals that Sarah will have a son and Sodom and Gomorra will have a holocaust. Abraham bargains for mercy on the cities.
Circumcision has been a misunderstood “sign” of the deal El Shaddai, literally God Who Has the Power to Destroy Anything, “cut” with Abraham to create a great people and bless the world, ultimately seen in Messiah Yeshua. Can anyone become “blameless” before God?
A common perception of an “angel” is a cute winged chubby baby, something as innocuous as a fairy, or a passive messenger. “The angel of the LORD” — Malakh YHWH in Hebrew — is a quite different figure that shows up throughout the Bible with massive power and authority. Who is he?
This chapter is our introduction to Hagar, Sarai’s Egyptian maidservant. We see how Hagar was exalted and then brought down. When Hagar fled and was at her lowest point, we discover God had His eyes on Hagar and had a purpose for her and her unborn son.