When morning came, the angels were still urging Lot to leave the city. Why was Lot still hesitant? Was he hoping that his two future sons-in-law would change their minds and come with them out of the city? But the angels wouldn’t wait any longer. They said, “Get up and take your wife and your two daughters that you have, and get out, so you are not destroyed by the lawless acts of the city.” (19:15). But not all arrived in safety.
Continue readingEveryone has heard of Sodom and Gomorrah. Was it an actual event or just a metaphor? Was it about the sin of homosexuality or the absence of hospitality? Everyone has an opinion about what it is all about. You can read the story without interruption in Genesis. But here, we’ll break down the elements of what is happening and throw in some archeological evidence.
Continue readingAfter telling Abraham and Sarah that they would be parents in one year, God turns to leave and contemplates whether to tell Abraham what He is about to do to Sodom and Gomorrah. Other than the fact that Lot lives in Sodom, why should God inform Abraham about the judgment to come? It may have more to do than just with Abraham’s nephew Lot.
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Tagged angels, Dead Sea, destruction, God, Gomorrah, Hebron, Lot, Mamre, Sodom
This Torah Portion is filled with some well-known stories. It begins with Abraham negotiating with God to spare Sodom for the sake of the righteous. Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed anyway, and Lot and his daughters escape to the mountains. This portion also contains the story of the second time Abraham tells Sarah to say she is his sister and the birth of Isaac. Hagar and Ishmael are sent away from Abraham’s house and the portion ends with the story of the sacrifice of Isaac. That’s a lot crammed in five chapters.
Most of these stories are so recognizable that there is no need to summarize them here. Let’s just jump into each section.
First off, we need to point out that the sons of God and the Nephilim are two different things. Sometimes people conflate the two, but they are separate. I’ll start by providing the three viewpoints of what is going on in the passage of Genesis chapter 6 and then talk about each one.
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Tagged angels, daughters of men, fallen angels, giants, judgment, men of renown, mythology, sexual sin, sin, sons of god, wickedness