Torah Pearls #4 – Vayeira (Genesis 18:1-22:24)

Concerning the 3 men, you may find this worth your consideration. Deut 18:15-22 shows us how to determine if a Prophet is/was sent by Yehovah. Moshe, writing in retrospect, knows that these mortal men were indeed sent by Yehovah due to the fact that their prophecy concerning Sodom did indeed happen. This fits the requirements of Deut 18 so Moshe can write ‘Yehovah said’ because it is Yehovah speaking, albeit thru a mortal human being.

Is Shem the one recorded speaking first person for Yehovah? Ge 10:21 describes him as the father-priest of all the sons of Eber. Could the 3 have been Shem, Eber and Shelah? Personally, I believe it was Shem, but it doesn’t matter who they were, the text is showing me that Abraham realized that they were indeed speaking for Yehovah when he saw what happened to Sodom the next day, It confirmed to him that yes, his 90 year old wife Sarah would indeed bear a child in her old age. This reasoning also helps explain why Sarah would laugh. Can you imagine? Shem, some 500 years old or so by this time, prophesying such an outlandish thing. I can see how Sarah might chuckle, but when Sodom was indeed destroyed as prophesied, she probably starting knitting baby clothes.

Notice also how many times enoshym (Strongs h582) is used in Ge 18 & 19, it is as if the text is going out of its way to show us how these 3 were indeed mortal humans, just as in the Sodom account.

Not only does his account show me how Abraham recognized it was Yehovah speaking to him, it should also show us how to recognize when Yehovah is speaking to us. Shema Israel! Hear o Israel! If we are waiting for ‘angelic beings’ to hear and see Yehovah, we may miss the many times Yehovah has spoken and appeared to us. Let us be more like Abraham.

Christian religion is false.

Having gone back to study this several times over the years since Torah Pearls first brought it to my attention, I can say that I find it more complicated than presented in the lesson. Please read the conversation here between Leilani and myself and let me (us, all) know your thoughts.

Another fascinating study that reveals what the scriptures really say. So, Ishmael was a pedophile and that’s why he was removed from the home.

Wow… Speechless…This is why everyone should bring a Karite to their bible studies…

Do you somehow see that in the Ezekiel passage (Ezekiel 16:49-50)?

I think that the sin Sodom was committing comes down to hospitality to your fellow man, and it starts with Abrams hospitality to the Messengers. Then while in the city only Lot was hospitable to them, while the Men of Sodom wanted to violate them, in my perception the cruel disposable treatment to your Fellow is much worse a sin then Homosexuality. The sin Sodom committed was their bad treatment to a traveler

I think that you could be right but also in the NT I believe in Hebrews the writer said that Abraham believed that Yehovah was the God of the living and that he would certainly raise Isaac from the dead

Shalom, just there is an error when you reference to Exode 22:15, probably you want say Berechit not Exode… (it’s about YHWH called out Abraham a second Time)

Thank’s for your job, bless you and your family.

Nice, searching for the right angle to be grafted “in”

For about 5+ years, I was in a rare faith called messianic Orthodox Judaism centered in Yeshua Messiah where we practiced several rabbinic traditions.

What I had learned from the rabbinic sources/sages about the verses for “don’t boil a kid in it’s mother’s milk” (Exo 23:34; Deut 14) were a few explanations below. However, I do not support these anymore:

(1) According to some rabbinic teachings, the primary angle of the verse was that it’s about putting death & life on the same plate. Milk represents the life to a youngling, whether human or animal. Meat is death, the dead animal. Mixing dairy and fish were not considered a problem because in rabbinic Judaism, fish is not considered meat. … Another teaching was that it would be inhumane to slaughter & consume the family (mother & kid). … The death & life on the same plate concept explains the reason to not mix (for example) the dairy of a cow or goat mixed with the meat of a chicken or sheep.

(2) If we apply some logic and context, the dairy would have been served first as an appetizer, hours earlier than the meat, which fits the rabbinic traditions of waiting 1, 3, or 5 hours before consuming meat after dairy. Think of how long it would have taken Sarah to slaughter, prepare and cook the fatted calf?

Why couldn’t Sarah’s jealousy be the reason for throwing Ishmael out? We have many examples, even today, of “step mothers” throwing out their husband’s children from a former marriage. Just a thought tff he at this also could be a possibility.
May Yéhovah bless you.

Sodom n 3 or 4 other cities were gonna be destroyed whether Lot met these destroyers or not, pointless seeking the sin against the messengers/Lot/daughters cuz that was just the final chance to find 10 righteous, not THE reason the cities were destroyed…js

I respectfully suggest that Avraham did indeed know that the command of God to sacrifice his son, was a test. Here is why.
1. SEVEN distinctly different times Yehovah appeared to Avraham and made a covenant regarding Avraham and “your descendants,” “from your body” (Gen 12:2-3; 12:7; 13:15-16; 15:4-6; 15:13-16; 15: 18–19; and 17:2-14).
2. SEVEN times during the encounter of Gen 17:2–14, Yehovah refers to “your descendants.”
3. THREE distinctly different times Yehovah appeared to Avraham and said SPECIFICALLY that the covenant and promises would be fulfilled “WITH and THROUGH Isaac.”
4. Significantly, in Gen 15:4–6 when Yehovah says “from your body,” it is reported that “Avraham BELIEVED…and it was credited it to him as righteousness.”
Since he BELIEVED:
5. Avraham confidently told the servants, “I and the boy will go… and will RETURN to you.”
6. Avraham confidently told Isaac, on the way up the mountain, that “Yehovah would provide himself a LAMB for the sacrifice.”
7. In light of all this, Avraham had to be aware that to “the God who doesn’t change” (Num 23:19; Mal 3:6) human sacrifices of the surrounding nations were detestable. (“a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, NOR DID IT EVER ENTER MY MIND.” (Jer 7:31; 19:5)

Thus, it seems, Avraham KNEW it was a TEST. However, that didn’t make the test any easier. Avraham (and Isaac) didn’t know at what point the lamb would be provided. If the promises and covenant were to be fulfilled through Isaac: would the lamb be provided BEFORE Avraham had to kill Isaac, or would he have to kill Isaac, and THEN Yehovah would RAISE him from the dead?
I think the final and greatest test of all: was Avraham and Isaac’s belief and trust in the covenants and promises of Yehovah great enough to trust that, if Avraham really did end up having to kill Isaac, Yehovah would indeed raise him to life again? … and before Avraham had to face Sarah?

I appreciate your comments Neville. I do thind Ishmael was mocking Isaac, maybe suggesting that they would inherit together, see v10. Maybe that Isaac would need his counsel to carry out the promise. I do think Sarah saw something in Hagar and Ishmael that she felt threatened, and therefore was protecting Isaac from them.

Clearly, *something* was known (whether written down or not). Are we to believe that Yehovah wiped out almost the entire population of the world (the Flood) for evil/sin that they were unaware was sin? That God held them accountable for something he had never told them about?

We see the same thing with the people(s) of Canaan. Scripture tells us that they were vomited out of the land for the very sins that are commanded to/through Moses.

I don’t understand God as an entity who would say “Ugh! I thought they would figure out this sin thing on their own, but they didn’t, so I’m going to kill them all off.

Leilan, I believe you may be right. When the word usage was first pointed out to me, I presumed it was used here in the same way as with Isaac/Rebecca and with Joseph and Potiphar’s wife.

However, I have had a hard time understanding how Sarah could have such a subdued reaction to seeing her son being sexually violated. It is hard to imagine any mother not rushing to grab up her young son to protect him, or demanding that her husband do so.

As you pointed out, the word is more rich than that. While the context of the Joseph story is quite clear and we are on safe ground treating the word there as overt physical sexual gratification, it need not be so in the Isaac/Rebecca example.

Abimelech need not have witnessed them having sex. There are things we might see opposite-gender grownups doing that would imply such a relationship but between children would just be normal and acceptable activities (e.g. play wrestling).

Even given your posited extreme of just laughing, there is plenty of room for innocent laughter and interplay between children that in adults would be considered suggestive of a completely different kind of intimate relationship.

So, this is our 3rd time going through the Torah portion with these guys. Always get something new!
We’ve heard the tradition, not just from Nehemia, that says Ishmael was “sporting” with his brother.

However today we noticed that the context gives us the reason Sarah wanted Ishmael gone, “…the son of this bondwoman must not inherit with my son with Isaac.” Then when we were looking at the Hebrew (we are just learning to read and understand Hebrew) we noticed in the QBible that maybe there is a Hebrew word pun in play.

“And the child grew, and was weaned,—and Abraham made a great banquet, on the day of the weaning of Isaac/yitz’chaq.
And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian woman whom she had borne to Abraham laughing/m’tzacheq!
So she said to Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son,—for the son of this bondwoman must not inherit with my son with Isaac/yitz’chaq.” (Gen 21:8-10)

Could it just have been a mocking laugh? Sarah had issues with Hagar from the moment she gave her to Abraham, Gen 16:5. Ishmael was 1st born and all that goes with that. Maybe Sarah was like a lot of wives and mothers, wanting the best for her son, she also had the promise from Jehovah that Isaac would be the inheritor. Maybe it was a lot of little things, building up over the years that caused her to demand he be sent away.

If the Law wasn’t written down or known, how was Abram a righteous man.

Never knew that Ismael was a pedophile with his brother.

What translation are you reading? Many misunderstand His distinguishing Himself from the “Father” (an important metaphor) as not being Elohim. This is only lack of understanding Elohim. Only God Himself is the “I Am,” Creator, Redeemer, Savior, Rock, King of Kings, and First and Last, (all of which can be traced to YHVH), yet He claimed and we are told He is all of these in the Apostolic Scriptures (NT). What did they charge and find Him guilty of – blasphemy, or equating Himself with God. You also seem to misunderstand the word malak, or messenger. There are numerous passages wherein “the messenger of YHVH” is worshipped and He does not stop the person)s) from doing so, yet mere “angels” or “a messenger of YHVH” always tells people not to do so because they are not to be worshipped. There are many other clues to Yeshua’s identity as Elohim incarnate, if one cares to see them (wrestling with Jacob, meeting with Abraham, Moses seeing Him yet not able to see Him or die, etc.). Study it out specifically after prayer for the Spirit to reveal this to you.

Interesting what was pointed out concerning GOD using intermediaries. Nowhere in the New Testament did Yeshua claim to be GOD! But he is said to be the 1st of many to be granted immortality. These days, one might even say of him that he is a sin eater! ? I love getting the Jewish perspective on these ancient Scriptures. (Shame on Ishmael! that dessert dog!) Thanks for all your insight guys! Shalom. ✡️

Yes Nehemia love that you pointed out how they didn’t value women! Thank you for pointing out the atrocity of the act of rape regardless of who it is perpetrated on. I was so happy that you said that!

Don’t you think that you need to consider the situation of Sodom in light of what occurred to Sodom in previous chapters? The people had been taken away by the 4 kings. They may have been betrayed by visitors to their city at that time. Now, they are wanting to dominate anyone who comes to them to feel secure. Rape is definitely not about having sexual pleasure. It is about domination and humiliation. These men were indeed violating the code of hospitality. They perverted that code. Abraham showed the righteous form of hospitality. Lot exhibited a mixture of the righteous with the perverted unrighteous.

Nehemia, Keith, Jonah – You didn;’t say anything about this. Is it “possible” that the Abraham/Isaac sacrifice was a foreshadow of what was to come? The Father sending Yeshua to be offered up for the sins of mankind? After all, since Abraham proved Himself willing to go all the way, how could the Father not be willing to? Man cannot ever prove himself greater than God.

I was curious about the 2 interpretations of early Gen 18, when Nehemia commented the 2nd way to look at it, that Abraham may have told the LORD, “Don’t go away, while I deal with these other two or three guys.

I found that interpretation rather peculiar, curious, and somewhat funny. Let’s say Yehovah called us on the telephone, and someone else was ringing/calling in, who among us is going to tell Yehovah, “hang on for a moment please. Someone else is trying to get through.” That’s basically what my mind thought when I heard this interpretation.

I, myself, would hope to be smart enough to IGNORE anything and anybody else, figuring that what the Master of Universe had to say, IF He was going to speak to me, HAD to galaxies more important that what anyone else had to say. While caring for others is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, shame on me if I thought God should be put on hold while I tended to the needs of others.

Amen. I once asked a rabbi about this sin of homosexuality based on the Hebrew word yâda‛ for “know.” Adam yâda‛ his wife and she conceived.and bore Cain; Cain yâda‛ his wife and she conceived and bore. The men of Sodom sought to yâda‛ these angels in the form of men, the Benjaminites wanted to yâda‛ the Levite, etc… The rabbi pointed out that it wasn’t just homosexuality as the sin, but referred me to EZ 16:49-50, as G-d revealed what Sodom’s sin or iniquity was. The abomination of homosexuality was just ONE of the reasons. As I was taught many years ago, let scripture interpret scripture, and I obviously had not done my homework.

Oddly, the Book of Jasher, (mentioned in Josh 10:13 and 2Sam 1:18,) though considered Jewish “legend,” claims that Ishmael sat across from Isaac and was going to kill Isaac with his bow and arrow. Jasher 21: 13-15

13 And when Isaac was five years old he was sitting with Ishmael at the door of the tent.

14 And Ishmael came to Isaac and seated himself opposite to him, and he took the bow and drew it and put the arrow in it, and intended to slay Isaac

15 And Sarah saw the act which Ishmael desired to do to her son Isaac, and it grieved her exceedingly on account of her son, and she sent for Abraham, and said to him, Cast out this bondwoman and her son, for her son shall not be heir with my son, for thus did he seek to do unto him this day.

Since Ishmael was 14 when Isaac was born, he would have been 19 when Isaac was just 5.

Like any other teen caught doing something like this, Ishmael likely said, “I was just fooling around.” Could this be the actual definition of “mocking.” in this instance?

What kind of embarrasment do you suppose Sarah was experiencing in that laugh; or Avraham, when he fell on his face and laughed! (I tend to think that it was “nervous laughter” with regard for the One who was promising it. Seems He is known for being serious about His Word and promises.) Isaac was not named laughter because he was a joke; moreover because he was a “miracle”! Think it through all the way and it won’t seem that we’re making too much out of it; probably the contrary.

I thought Moses asks to see Yehovah”s “glory”, not His face

I heard a reporter’s testimony on The Prophesy Club which stated That God told him He would not let man see His face because He is Pure Love and He would not let that happen because to see His face would make that person fall so deeply in love with Him that to go away from Him would BREAK that person’s heart so bad that he would not be able to live bring separated from Him , So He would not break a persons heart that way . He said That God told Him when a man refuses Him and stands in the judgement that the man will fall so deeply in love with Him He will never want to depart from His presence and when He tells that person he cannot be with Him and has to depart then that mans torment will start for His heart will be so broken because he will have to depart from the one who he just fell so deeply in love with
That is so sad when He gives man EVERY opportunity to believe Him love Him live for
Him and give themselves to Him and they refuse and are told to depart
We are His creation !!!!!!!
What Creator does not love His Creation ??????

I think the major difference between Abraham and Lot is found in Genesis 18 : 17 – 19 :

17And Yehovah said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;
18Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
19For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of Yehovah , to do justice and judgment; that Yehovah may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

When Abraham pleaded for non destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah if ten righteous men are found there , he would have assumed that Lot would have imbibed into his household to keep the way of Yehovah . Lot allowed his family to be sycrentised into the way of Sodom and Gomorrah instead of imbibing into them the way of Yehovah . Personally Lot was a righteous person but he was unable to command his children or household : This becomes obivioys when we read Genesis 19 : 14

– 14¶And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.

Rahab the Whore from Jericho was able to command her household to come into beer house to escape the destruction of Jerico.

Is it possible that you are making more to Ishmael’s “mocking” than really exists. Isn’t Isaac’s name from the same root? He was named that, because Sarah and Abraham laughed at God’s promise. Certainly Sarah’s laughing was not of a sexual connotation?

A hidden gem in judges 19 verse 27:
“And her master rose up in the morning, and when he opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, behold, there was his concubine lying at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold.“
“ with her hands on the threshold”.
The woman is telling the master of the house, shame on you…..you violated our ancient tradition (Threshold Covenant) and did not protect me,

May Yehovah bless you three for your wonderful insights of the scripture .
May He bless also all those who took time out to listen to this .
Personally my preparation for Sabbath is listening to the Torah pearls and prophet pearls on the afternoon of Friday before Sabbath . Yehovah has blessed me most wonderfully from the time I started keeping the Sabbath . I may not be keeping the Sabbath perfectly but am enabled to do it to the best of my ability .

Shallom
HalleluYAH

This study of the parasha with Nehemia and the 2 Christian Pastors is a blessing to us. We have learned so much. Thank you for doing this The Eternal Father continúe blessing you ,Nehemia!

Ezekiel does not leave Sodom’s sin to our imaginations. He lists them:

Eze 16:49-50 TLV Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, gluttony, and careless ease—so had she and her daughters—and she did not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. (50) So they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I removed them when I saw it.

Also, keep in mind that Yehovah carved out land for the children of Lot (Moabites and Ammonites) right smack in the middle of the land that He had promised Abraham, even though they had no “legal” claim on it, as they were not Abraham’s descendants. That would be at least a bit surprising if they (the descendants of Lot) were the spawn of an abomination.

I agree with you, except for your use of the word “sick”. Don’t respond too quickly to what I have to say here. Please hear me out. Applying the term “sick” to Lot’s daughters’ liasons with their father is to hold them to a standard of behavior that we know is wrong (from the Leviticus 18) but they might not have been subject to that law.

It seems clear to me that there was definitely some understanding of sin (vs. righteousness) prior to the Great Flood, as I do not believe Yehovah would condemn the people of the world for doing what they did not know was sin. I also assume that Noah and (at least some of) his family passed that information along to their descendants. But we have no proof from the Tanakh that anyone was given the spirit, letter, or gist of Lev. 18 until Yehovah had Moses write it down.

Ham or Canaan may have violated 18:7-8, Abram appears to have violated 18:6(probably),9,&11 , and Jacob violated 18:18 . Lot may have (unwittingly) violated 18:6, as it would seem that they were pretty “near kin”.

However, not a single one of these unions was ever condemned in the scripture’s original telling of their stories or the myriad later references. Thus, I would say that referring to Lot’s (apparently unwitting) unions with his daughters as “sick” is a case of applying our own cultural norms to people who had seem to have had no reason to abide by our norms.

When Lots daughters slept with their father, it was sick, but to shed some light of sensibility to the issue, this was not just Jerry springer……in Hebrew culture to have your seed cutoff was was sortof a fate worse than death…and so these girls truly seem to have felt that with their mother having been turned to salt and the rest of their family clearly burned up….this was the only way they saw of preserving their Fathers seed, and this is not a defense of course, but just to bring deeper understanding.

and incidentally, as Nehemia pointed out, the society was very mysoginistic at the time, and the women were not as valuable to them, sadly…..again reflecting the true sin being how they treated others, patrticularly those who were weaker or in need. Anoher interesting point to be raised about the concubine in Judges 19 is she has fled in the first place because she had obstensibly committed adultery, so she was a woman, a concubine (versus a legal wife) and an adulteress as well so 3 strikes agsinst her there…..

Amen!!! They were patricularly creul to anyone in need, esp strangers passing thru!!!

The true sin was how they witheld and illtreated ‘tourists’ so to speak, the book of Jasher, authentic or not, gives greater detail about this. Rape is seldom about the sex it is almost always a dominance thing. They literally wanted to dominate these ‘strangers’ As for Lot offering his daughters, in middle eastern culture by offering accomnodation, and esp. food to a traveler, you are also offering your protection, and it would actually be a huge disgrace for such invited guests to be raped, but certainly it seems Lot knew the issue was not that this mob of perverts wanted sex, he thus offered his daughters to (ironicallly) display his good character to these messengers. He was showing them his commitment to protecting them, on his honor.

I never made this connection before, Janice. Wonder how it came down through the ages to us?

Janice, you wrote: “So even if Ishmael were the 1st born, both his mom and he, violated covenant behavior and disqualified”.

Can you explain what these violations were? I don’t follow you.

If you believe Peter (a Jew), his perspective of Lot is that he is righteous. Therefore, Lot either knew the men of Sodom would not accept his daughters or the messengers could and would intervene if they did, just like the messengers intervened anyway.

Is it possible that Lot knew the guys would not accept his daughters and that is the only reason he made the offer? Basically to diffuse the situation rather than to give his children as another possibility? I mean if the problem(sin) of Sodom is “rape”, then the men would have been willing to rape anyone wouldn’t they? Therefore they would have accepted the daughters.

Lot was like a prodical son, who took his inheritance and sqandered it in the ,big city where there is always more graft and corruption. However, we don’t see he ever realized his error and repented, He choose to be assimulated, was kidnapped, and rescued by Abraham. Even then we do not hear any admission of error to Abraham, and we do not see him in the TaNaK ever again. Perhaps he turned away again. He brought shame on his uncle/father the family and Yehovah.

The people of Soddom was interested in the messengers that was Lot. Although Lot offered his daughters, the Soddomites didn’t show interest in them.

The Scriptures are clear regarding perversion. The Soddomites displayed one version of perversion, and Lot another.

When Abraham served the guests why he did not serve the cakes made by Sarah ? Genesis 18. : 6 ?

What was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah? Their sexual perversion is what always comes to mind. Yet in Ezekiel 16:49-50 NKJV, Yehovah says, “Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: she and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.”

That could probably be said of most, if not all, of our big cities today.

Is it possible there are 4 persons. Yehovah then 3 men standing by him. but then why only 2 went to Sodom. but here it says 3 men. then says 2 angles. so that is not same men.

Thank all of you. Love listening to the conversation makes me want to get friends together and people I may not see as friends but study the word to build closer relationships as we all grow closer to our Father. love the insite that you Nehemia bring with meaning of the words we just read over with preconceived ideas and never really understood what was really going on. The way im looking at scripture is so different now. now when something just don’t seem right or why. I look up words in concordance. Im limited to what study helps I have and using strongs but not satisfied. Just llke word for mocking. In strongs doesn’t give good definition but you can see it is same word used later and can see there is more to what is happening. If not for your ministry I would have never known or looked at it like that. Just like with Ham and Noach. who would ever thought but makes sense. Where that is what happened or not it is awesome to have been given a new way to look and search for truth in Torah. Thank you and Keith and others that have worked with you. awesome to hear as I watch and listen to you both grow closer as friends. Can hear it in the way you talk to each other. its amazing. I thank Yehovah our Father in heaven for you and your ministry and ministry partners. Thank you for our obedient service so we all can grow as Yehovah uses you to give us wisdom revelation and knowledge of our Fathers will and ways.

Oops! Sorry, that should say, “for now I know”…

Thanks.

I’ve just started listening to these, and I’m enjoying them. I’ve found many pearls just within the 1st 4 broadcasts.

Specifically in this broadcast, the point that has caused me to offer a comment is the sacrifice test of Abraham. My mom and I study on Shabbat frequently, and have both tried to understand the reason that YHWH would ask such a thing when it is completely wrong. We’ve even said to ourselves that if this was to be something we would here (today), we would think it is from “The Adversary”, which though we both differ on who/what “The Adversary” is, we both do not apply the typical view we find in Christian churches. We ourselves don’t claim to be Christian, but that point is digressing.

In trying to understand this verse, until it was explained in this broadcast, the ONLY way I could reconcile this was to say that Abraham, being in the midst of nations that offered their children in the fire, misunderstood the command from YHWH. I could ONLY reconcile by understanding that to offer a child in sacrifice is basically committing them completely in the service to YHWH, and it seems to me there are stories in the Tanakh that give that impression/understanding of the text.

The other question that has come up between my mom and me is, if YHWH knows all, then why does it say, “And know I know…” Gen 22:12. This has caused my mom to believe YHWH does not know everything.

I very much appreciate the lovely art work shown. Thank you. Also Why do we only look for one sin? Would Yehova wipe out entire cities for one sin? So even if Ishmael were the 1st born, both his mom and he, violated covenant behavior and disualified; like Reuven from being the inherited one.

Hello Nehemina, its Eva from Hesperia I love your teaching. I love the way you teach keep up the good work and know you’re in my prayers. Many many blessing to you and all you do!!!:)

It is interesting that this Torah Portion sometimes comes the week of Haloween; so these sodomites come to Lot’s home, knock on the door, and say” trick or treat”.

Nehemia and I disagree on the possible motive of Lot in this commentary. I am wondering if Lot didm’t understand the importance of these 3 men and was willing to sacrifice his daughters to protect them.

Any other ideas/comments/suggestions?

I also wanted to mention that in 2 Peter Lot was called Righteous and also that he met these messengers at the gate of the city and bowed postdate to them… definitely a sign he know these guys were special. All times men see angels scripturally, they seem to bow to them…

Excellent!! I am delighted to find this. I had really missed Torah Pearls. So wonderful that I can list to both now.

This isn’t an angel is it?
*[[Exo 24:10]] KJV* And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.