Here’s a key point in Moshe’s talk with the second generation of Israel freed from Mitzraim (Egypt), as recorded in עקב Ekev/Eikev (“consequence,” Deut. 7:12-11:25): Teach the next generation how to be righteous, or they will slip into sin and corruption.
Discover how this is fundamental to Heaven’s mission through Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ), that the righteousness of One can save the many who have suffered since the sin of one, Adam.
The account of Lot is one of the most salacious tragedies in the Torah, but from it we can learn precious lessons about the things that can sneak up and destroy us when we’re not paying attention. We are told in the reading וַיֵּרָא Vayera (“he appeared,” Gen. 18:1–22:24) that he was a righteous man, but he was incapable of teaching his own wife, family and community how to walk uprightly with God and with their neighbors.
Abraham, on the other hand, was also a righteous man, but Abraham stood out in God’s eyes. Abraham was righteous and he also had the gift of teaching, and successfully taught his children how to choose to walk in righteousness and avoid evil. The zenith of this gift was in Isaac’s complete trust in Abraham as he prepared to sacrifice his son on an altar to God, because God asked him to do so.
This is why Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) taught that we must “remember Lot’s wife.”
Does God judge the nations based on what they don’t know? The Torah reading וירא Vayera (“he appeared,” Genesis 18-22) illustrates through Abraham’s dealings with Sodom-Gomorrah and Philistia that Heaven judges the Gentiles by their conduct, specifically on how they take care of other people, aka the Golden Rule.
Abraham and Lot offer the world concrete examples of radical hospitality. Both of them had an overflowing love for their fellow man that was stronger than the fear and “stranger danger” that holds most of us back from helping those in need.
Many focus on illicit behavior, but Sodom’s utter lack of hospitality and its culture of fear is why God wiped them off the map, destroying them so utterly that their lush valley is now an ocean of salt.
Torah reading וַיֵּרָא Vayera (“[and] he appeared,”) is a fair warning to us in our day. We must be careful when responding to the strangers in our midst with fear rather than love.
When you are called to move, what is your first question? Do I move to the next town, next state, across the country or to a foreign land? We usually want to know our exact destination before we move.
We also prefer to plan how we will transport ourselves? Will we go by car, train, bus or plane?
In the Torah section לֶךְ-לְךָ Lech Lecha (“get going,” Gen. 12:1-17:27), Abram was not given a destination. It’s a strange place to be when you don’t know where you’re going. It takes trust to make the first step. And this is the beginning of his journey to become Abraham, father of faith in God (Rom. 4:16-25).
We also learn through this Bible study why all cultures are not equal and what was truly the unforgivable problem in Sodom and Gomorrah.
God “shows up” all over the place in events recorded in the Bible and today, but He is not passive. Rather, the LORD is active in Earth’s affairs.
A pattern of behavior we see in the Torah reading וַיֵּרָא Vayera (“and He appeared”) is that when people are in “fight or flight” mode, they usually make very poor decisions. Lot’s “bright idea” to give his daughters to protect his guests from a vile mob, Lot’s daughter’s “bright idea” to get pregnant by their father a mere few days after they escaped from Sodom’s flames, and later Abraham and Sarah’s decision to lie to Abimelech about the extent of their kinship, all these poor decision had consequences.
We will see through the testimony of the words of God the interplay between the promised one, Yitskhak (Isaac), and the one born only through the flesh, Yishma’el (Ishmael).
Do we trust God in His promises? We can come up with all sorts of ideas about God. But if we don’t really trust Him and His leading, why bother following? These are questions tackled in this discussion on the Torah portion Vayera (“and He appeared”), covering Genesis 18-22. Abraham is shown to have trust issues up to his great test of faith. At that point, he sees something. This passage is all about the Promised One — the Mashiakh (Messiah) — represented by Abraham’s son Yitzkhak (Isaac).