- there are 70 faces to 
Post by alon on Jan 14, 2022 19:11:03 GMT -8
This Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Genesis 19:1-38
Haftara- Isaiah 17:14-18:7
Darash: If there is a theme to this parashah, I’d say it is “Salt and Light.”
Genesis 19:1-3 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.” But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
Recall God (preincarnate Yeshua) had come to Avraham in in daylight: “And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day” (Gen 18:1). However His malachim (messengers/angels) went to Lot at evening as it was getting dark. We also recall that God, Our Lovingkindness (Ps 144:2) wanted to stay with Avram because He needed to talk with him. However there may be another reason He stayed:
2 Corinthians 6:16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Adon Khol HaEretz, Lord God of All the Earth (Josh 3:13) only promised to abide amongst His own people. Sodom, synonymous with depravity would not have been a place Holy God would have wanted to go. The malachim were sent to the house of the only professing believer in the entire city. Would not his God want to be with this one man?
1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”
Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
The salt had lost its’ flavor, as evidenced in the passage where the malachim try to save his household:
Genesis 19:12-14 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
Genesis 19:15-17 As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.”
Told of the impending destruction, yet still Lot lingered. His family had to be seized by these heavenly messengers, and his household thought he was joking. Then as the city is destroyed, Lot’s wife looks back even though she knew the malachim had said not to. She is subsequently turned into a pillar of salt:
Genesis 19: Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
The term rendered “salt” is interesting; Hebrew “melach”: מֶלַח melach- properly powder, that is, (specifically) salt (as easily pulverized and dissolved): - salt ([-pit]). So this could have been “a salt,” not necessarily NaCl, sodium chloride, what we call “table salt.” Pure NaCl was a valuable commodity in the ancient world. It was often traded, used as currency, and used in a peculiar ritual making covenants. All parties would take a pinch from the salt pouch they kept with them and place this on a cloth. It would then be picked up by the corners and shaken. Each man would then take a pinch and place it back in his own pouch, swearing only if he could restore each grain to its original owner could he break the covenant before all obligations were completed.
This pillar is used as a foil against the messengers who were sent. “Messenger” in Hebrew is מַלְאָךְ mal’âk- to despatch as a deputy; a messenger (of God), that is, angel, prophet, priest teacher; ambassador, angel, king, messenger. His wife ignored the instructions of God’s holy malachim (pl. for malach) and was turned into a pillar of melach, possibly a type of salt not suited for consumption. There are many kinds of “salts.” (I need to be clear here that this is my conclusion, and I’ve seen no scholarly work suggesting this.)
We later see just how much Lot’s “salt” had lost its flavor. It had become polluted by the world, corrupted to the point Lot himself was easily debauched by his daughters: Genesis 19:36 Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. I used to drink heavily, (seven years in the Marines, sent to alcohol rehab twice, and alcohol cost me my career). But I cannot imagine being so drunk I could not recognize my own daughter, or not know it would be wrong to have relations with her. Lot may have been “out of it” (how the description in vss 30-35 reads to me), however he was aware enough to complete the act. So in my estimation there had to be some awareness of the iniquitous nature of what he was doing. His daughters certainly would have known, but they didn’t care. Lot may have, had he been sober, but a liberal dose of alcohol was all it took, not once but twice for him to loose all inhibitions and sense of morality.
Genesis 19:27-29 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. So it was that, … God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.
Avraham, who walked not sinless, but forgiven, and whose halacha was good- his “salt” was pure- stood in the light and watched the destruction. Symbolically he stood where he had been with his God the day before. Lot, whose salt had lost its flavor saw his family almost completely destroyed and himself was very close to the destruction:
Genesis 19:29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.
Lot was saved for the sake of Avraham. The unrighteous often prosper for the sake of the righteous. Recall last week Avraham asked God to spare Sodom for the sake of ten righteous men, and God agreed. However one other point stands out to me here:
Genesis 19:9 But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down.
Even though Lot had compromised himself to the point he was comfortable living in Sodom, and was one of them, a citizen of an unholy place, in the end they accused him for not being just like them. Whenever we take a stand against wickedness, the wicked see it as judgement against them; and in a spiritual sense it is. And they hate it; and they will hate those who do right. Being liked by men will in the end gain us nothing even in the temporal world unless we are willing to go all in. They will pressure us and try to destroy us and all we have in order to make us absolutely like them. Because if we maintain even a shred of good we are like one who accuses them before a court. And even the most vile know somewhere in their hearts they will one day stand in a court where they can not lie and where their Shofet, Judge (Ps 75:7) will be El-Shaddai, Almighty God (Gen 17:1). They fear this, because the demons to which they have sold out fear it. We are a reminder to them of their eventual fate. And anyone even marginally awake today can see this playing out before our very eyes in government, in the press, in our schools and in our communities.
Mekorot: All scripture from the ESV; JPS Study TNK; Warren Wiersbe: Dr ELi of the IBC; my father and others
Next Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Gen 20:1-18
Haftara- Is 61:1-10
Apostolic references will be given in the darashot
Parashah- Genesis 19:1-38
Haftara- Isaiah 17:14-18:7
Darash: If there is a theme to this parashah, I’d say it is “Salt and Light.”
Genesis 19:1-3 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.” But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
Recall God (preincarnate Yeshua) had come to Avraham in in daylight: “And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day” (Gen 18:1). However His malachim (messengers/angels) went to Lot at evening as it was getting dark. We also recall that God, Our Lovingkindness (Ps 144:2) wanted to stay with Avram because He needed to talk with him. However there may be another reason He stayed:
2 Corinthians 6:16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Adon Khol HaEretz, Lord God of All the Earth (Josh 3:13) only promised to abide amongst His own people. Sodom, synonymous with depravity would not have been a place Holy God would have wanted to go. The malachim were sent to the house of the only professing believer in the entire city. Would not his God want to be with this one man?
1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”
Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
The salt had lost its’ flavor, as evidenced in the passage where the malachim try to save his household:
Genesis 19:12-14 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
Genesis 19:15-17 As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.”
Told of the impending destruction, yet still Lot lingered. His family had to be seized by these heavenly messengers, and his household thought he was joking. Then as the city is destroyed, Lot’s wife looks back even though she knew the malachim had said not to. She is subsequently turned into a pillar of salt:
Genesis 19: Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
The term rendered “salt” is interesting; Hebrew “melach”: מֶלַח melach- properly powder, that is, (specifically) salt (as easily pulverized and dissolved): - salt ([-pit]). So this could have been “a salt,” not necessarily NaCl, sodium chloride, what we call “table salt.” Pure NaCl was a valuable commodity in the ancient world. It was often traded, used as currency, and used in a peculiar ritual making covenants. All parties would take a pinch from the salt pouch they kept with them and place this on a cloth. It would then be picked up by the corners and shaken. Each man would then take a pinch and place it back in his own pouch, swearing only if he could restore each grain to its original owner could he break the covenant before all obligations were completed.
This pillar is used as a foil against the messengers who were sent. “Messenger” in Hebrew is מַלְאָךְ mal’âk- to despatch as a deputy; a messenger (of God), that is, angel, prophet, priest teacher; ambassador, angel, king, messenger. His wife ignored the instructions of God’s holy malachim (pl. for malach) and was turned into a pillar of melach, possibly a type of salt not suited for consumption. There are many kinds of “salts.” (I need to be clear here that this is my conclusion, and I’ve seen no scholarly work suggesting this.)
We later see just how much Lot’s “salt” had lost its flavor. It had become polluted by the world, corrupted to the point Lot himself was easily debauched by his daughters: Genesis 19:36 Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. I used to drink heavily, (seven years in the Marines, sent to alcohol rehab twice, and alcohol cost me my career). But I cannot imagine being so drunk I could not recognize my own daughter, or not know it would be wrong to have relations with her. Lot may have been “out of it” (how the description in vss 30-35 reads to me), however he was aware enough to complete the act. So in my estimation there had to be some awareness of the iniquitous nature of what he was doing. His daughters certainly would have known, but they didn’t care. Lot may have, had he been sober, but a liberal dose of alcohol was all it took, not once but twice for him to loose all inhibitions and sense of morality.
Genesis 19:27-29 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. So it was that, … God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.
Avraham, who walked not sinless, but forgiven, and whose halacha was good- his “salt” was pure- stood in the light and watched the destruction. Symbolically he stood where he had been with his God the day before. Lot, whose salt had lost its flavor saw his family almost completely destroyed and himself was very close to the destruction:
Genesis 19:29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.
Lot was saved for the sake of Avraham. The unrighteous often prosper for the sake of the righteous. Recall last week Avraham asked God to spare Sodom for the sake of ten righteous men, and God agreed. However one other point stands out to me here:
Genesis 19:9 But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down.
Even though Lot had compromised himself to the point he was comfortable living in Sodom, and was one of them, a citizen of an unholy place, in the end they accused him for not being just like them. Whenever we take a stand against wickedness, the wicked see it as judgement against them; and in a spiritual sense it is. And they hate it; and they will hate those who do right. Being liked by men will in the end gain us nothing even in the temporal world unless we are willing to go all in. They will pressure us and try to destroy us and all we have in order to make us absolutely like them. Because if we maintain even a shred of good we are like one who accuses them before a court. And even the most vile know somewhere in their hearts they will one day stand in a court where they can not lie and where their Shofet, Judge (Ps 75:7) will be El-Shaddai, Almighty God (Gen 17:1). They fear this, because the demons to which they have sold out fear it. We are a reminder to them of their eventual fate. And anyone even marginally awake today can see this playing out before our very eyes in government, in the press, in our schools and in our communities.
Mekorot: All scripture from the ESV; JPS Study TNK; Warren Wiersbe: Dr ELi of the IBC; my father and others
Next Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Gen 20:1-18
Haftara- Is 61:1-10
Apostolic references will be given in the darashot
