It is customary for religiously practicing Jews to read from an annual cycle of weekly Old Testament readings called Torah Portions. This is said to be the same reading schedule that was taught every Sabbath in the Synagogues during the times of Jesus in the first century.

As Christians exploring the Torah portion cycle we must maintain a balance of including the Old Testament, the prophets, and the gospels in our weekly bible study.

Torah Portion Name and Readings-

Vayera is the Hebrew word for “and He appeared”, this is the name for the weekly Torah Portion reading for the Genesis starting in chapter 18 verse 1 and going through chapter 22 and verse 24.

Prophets and New Testament-

It is also important to point out that along with the Torah portion readings and teachings, there are what are called Haftarah portions which are readings from the Bible in the books of the prophets. This week’s haftarah readings come from the book of 2 Kings in chapter 4 verse 1 through verse 37.

The gospel readings incorporated with the weekly Torah portion readings come from the book of Luke in chapter 17 with verses 28 through 37.

Torah Portion Overview-

This week we have another action packed Torah portion! First, Yahweh appears to Abraham as a man with three angels and warns him of coming destruction to Sodom and Gomorrah. Then God judges the cities and rescues Lot and his family. Sadly, Lot’s daughters have inappropriate relations with their father, and king Abimelech is deceived by Abraham and punished and then healed. Isaac is born and God provides for Ishmael who is sent away. Abraham makes a covenant with a king and God tests Abraham’s faith by asking him to sacrifice Isaac. There is so much we could cover here, but today I want to dig into Abraham’s intercession for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The story starts with Abraham offering hospitality to Yahweh who appears as a man with two other angels. This is meant to be compared with the city of Sodom, who tries to rape and murder the same angels. Abraham’s hospitality is immediately compared against the great lack of it at Sodom. Whereas Abraham goes out of his way to feast guests he has just met, Sodom would do the opposite.

The hospitality of Abraham is rewarded by great news, he is going to have a son! Of course this news, that a woman well past the years of childbearing would have a son, is so unbelievable that it causes Sarah to laugh in shock and disbelief. It had been prophesied the chapter before that Abraham’s son would be named Isaac, meaning laughter, and now we see perhaps why. Was the name Isaac a reflection on Sarah’s laughter? Was it to be a reminder, that God keeps His word, even when it is so unbelievable it makes us laugh?

As they are leaving Yahweh asks a question of the two angels. But wait, why would He do this? Why would Yahweh ask a question or get advice? He is all knowing and does not need for any man or angel to offer advice or answer questions. So why the question? I believe this is not about Yahweh asking a question, instead, it is identifying the angels. These are not just messengers, they are members of the divine council. Indeed, it is the two angels that strike the city men with blindness, and who seem to fully know not only of the coming judgment, but when it will occur. We cannot be certain, but I believe these angels are members of the divine council who are there to provide justice, as the second and third witness of the crimes and sins of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Once Abraham hears of this coming judgment he immediately enters into intercession. It is clear from the text that he is afraid, and sees what he is doing as possibly angering Yahweh, yet he undertakes to negotiate down to ten righteous men.

Genesis 18:22-33 (ESV)

“So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD. Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” And the LORD said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” And the LORD went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.”

But what does this story mean to us today? Sodom became a word used to describe wicked and evil cities (Isaiah 1:9, 13:19, Jeremiah 23:14, Revelation 11:8) and people. Today, we too have a Sodom and Gomorrah, it is our own country. Indeed, the wickedness of those cities is mirrored by our own cities. We are surrounded by evil on all sides! It seems that wickedness increases with no end! As the church it is all to easy to focus on the evil around us and grow angry with the world! How evil can it get?!

Yet this is the question that I have, do we weep for Sodom, do we intercede for Gomorrah? All too often it is easy to judge, to cry out for those who behave so wickedly to be judged. Oh God, end this wickedness! But that is not what Abraham did! He did not ask for judgment, he asked for mercy! When the judgment of God came up before him he risked everything to come before the Almighty Judge and ask for mercy! He did not ask for God to judge the people, he did not ask God to end the wickedness, instead, he asked God to show mercy to the wicked because of the few righteous. How often does God look to the few righteous and extend mercy? As a friend recently pointed out to me, how often does He look to the little righteousness we have and extend mercy to us with all our wickedness? Indeed, if we added up all our sins, would we be as Sodom and Gomorrah? Yes, I think so. How can I say this? Because we have the Holy Spirit, we have the cross, we have the Bible. Yet we still sin, we still struggle! Everyone does, but this is the point. We must look at our own sin, and see that we are worthy of judgment. We deserve death. Understanding this, let us seek mercy and plea for the world around us. Do not look to judgment, but request for mercy and forgiveness. Those we are tempted to look down on are those whom Christ Jesus was tortured to death to save! Those we would not have at our table are those whom Jesus would invite into His home to dine with. Perhaps they are not good enough for you, but they are good enough for Him! And so let us seek mercy, let us seek love, to love those we call sinners, those whom Christ calls His children, whom He died for and was tortured for. When we see Sodom, let us cry out to God for mercy!

Matthew 9:13 (ESV)

“Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Torah Portion Scriptural Highlights-

• Genesis 18:1 Yahweh appears to Abraham as a man with two other angels and tells him he will have a son

• Genesis 18:17 God is going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and Abraham intercedes

• Genesis 19:1 Two angels rescue Lot

• Genesis 19:24 Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed

• Genesis 19:30 Lot’s daughters have inappropriate relations with him while is drunk

• Genesis 20:1 The king Abimelech is deceived by Abraham and is punished for taking Sarah and then is healed

• Genesis 21:1 Isaac is conceived and born to Sarah and Abraham

• Genesis 21:8 God protects and provides for Ishmael and his mother

• Genesis 21:22 Abraham makes a covenant with a Philistine king

• Genesis 22:1 God tests Abraham’s faith by asking him to sacrifice Isaac

• Genesis 22:20 Abraham learns of extended family

Haftarah (Prophets) Scriptural Highlights-

• 2 Kings 4:1 Elisha performs a miracle of oil

• 2 Kings 4:8 Elisha prophesied that a woman will have a son, he dies and Elisha raises him from the dead

Brit (Gospel) Scriptural Highlights-

• Luke 17:28 The return of Jesus will be like the days of Lot

Bibliography

To Watch an overview of this week’s Torah Portion CLICK HERE