Tag: Sodom

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

Open your heart to those who don’t know what time it is (Genesis 18–19; Romans 1–2)

Open your heart to those who don't know what time it is (Genesis 18-19; Romans 1-2)

We look on in dismay at how degenerative American culture and politics have become, fret how so many of our fellow Americans vote for politicians and laws that accelerate that decline. It’s very tempting to harden our hearts against such people.

But via the Torah reading Vayera וַיֵּרָא Vayera (“he appeared,” Genesis 18–22), God calls us to be like Abraham, who walked in faith, depending completely on God’s mercy yet acknowledging God’s justice as he watched Sodom and her neighboring cities go up in flames. Abraham’s heart was so sensitive that he implored God to save them all — even the most wicked of them — if only 10 of her citizens were righteous before God.

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Discussions Torah

Watch for dangers lurking in our spiritual blindspots (Genesis 19)

Watch for dangers lurking in our spiritual blind spots (Genesis 19)

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.”

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Discussions Torah

Oppressing others oppresses your soul (Genesis 13–14)

Oppressing others oppresses your soul (Genesis 13-14)

The Torah reading לֶךְ-לְךָ Lech Lecha (“go forth,” Genesis 12:1–17:27) introduces us to Abram, a descendant of Shem, who God calls to leave his homeland in Ur of the Chaldeans and to emigrate to Canaan. This is the start of the Abraham, Isaac and Jacob historical trilogy.

This trilogy is so important to the understanding of the Torah that God introduces Himself to future generations as the “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” And Yeshua (Jesus) taught that this name for the Almighty is a key witness of the resurrection to come.

And Lech Lecha also introduces us to the evils of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 13-14), which may have more to do with inhospitality than other offenses.

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Discussions Torah

How the righteous can preserve a wayward nation (Genesis 18–22)

How the righteous can preserve a wayward nation (Genesis 18-22)

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.

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Discussions Torah

Genesis 18–19: How to show hospitality in an hostile world

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.

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Discussions Torah

Genesis 12:1–17:27: Why God cannot be bribed

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.

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Discussions Torah

Genesis 18–22: Open your eyes when God ‘shows up’

Banner photo by Adam Jacksons/Freeimages.com.

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).