Torah Portion Vayera - I Have Known Him

Reading – Genesis 18:1-19:3

The video version is available at https://youtu.be/2j2en2URo0Q

In the last Torah portion, God appeared to Abraham to announce that He was establishing a covenant with him. This covenant promised that Abraham and Sarah would be the father and mother of many nations. The descendants of Abraham, born from his wife Sarah, would be given all the land of the Canaanites for their possession. The birth of Abraham’s son through Sarah would occur within the year. As a sign of this covenant, God told Abraham to circumcise himself and all the males of his household. This Torah portion picks up as Abraham and his household are recovering from this circumcision.

Genesis 18:1 NKJV 1 Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day.

The purpose of God’s visit is to reaffirm the promise that Sarah would have a child through whom God’s covenant to Abraham would be fulfilled and to inform Abraham of the judgment that was coming on Sodom and the other cities of the plain. God, also, wanted to test Abraham’s commitment to walking in His ways.

Let’s paint the picture that this first verse of our Torah portion reveals. Abraham’s tent is pitched close to a terebinth tree. The terebinth tree is a type of oak with broad sweeping branches creating a shelter from the sun and the rain. As Abraham is sitting at the door of his tent enjoying the shade of the tree, the LORD appeared to Him.

Genesis 18:2-3 NKJV 2 So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, 3 and said, "My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant.

In the traditional Christian understanding of this situation, we interpret the LORD appearing to Abraham as the LORD being one of the three men. In support of this position, when the three men leave, only two, who are identified as angels, actually go to Sodom. It seems that one of the men stays behind to continue to talk to Abraham and is identified as the LORD.

Genesis 18:22 NKJV 22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD.

In the Judaic understanding, the LORD appeared to Abraham before the three men arrived. AT the time of their arrival, Abraham was enjoying the presence of the LORD. Abraham thinks nothing of leaving God’s presence to jump up and run to meet the strangers! Remember, Abraham was still recovering from his circumcision!

Whether the LORD was already with Abraham when the men appear or whether He is one of the strangers appearing as the Angel of the LORD, Abraham treats all three as honored guests. He and Sarah prepare a meal for the strangers. When the meal is ready, he serves it to the men.

Genesis 18:6-8 NKJV 6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, "Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes." 7 And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it. 8 So he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate.

As the men are eating, they repeat the message that Abraham had received from the LORD just a few days earlier. One of the strangers or was it the LORD addresses Abraham. Notice that it isn’t the men who speak, but He, in the singular, who speaks.

Genesis 18:10 NKJV 10a And He said, "I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son."

He would return at the appointed time and, as a result of that visit, Sarah would conceive and have a son. This visitation would occur after an interesting encounter between Abraham and Abimelech king of Gerar. Abraham introduced Sarah to Abimelech as his sister just like he did with Pharoah in Egypt. Abraham gives his reason for doing so later in the story. He saw that the people of Gerar did not fear the LORD, so he expected them to act in the way of the people from before the flood taking any beautiful woman they wanted as their wife.

Genesis 20:11 NKJV 11 And Abraham said, "Because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will kill me on account of my wife.

Just like God intervened to protect Sarah from Pharoah, God acted to protect Sarah from Abimelech. With Pharoah, God sent plagues, but with Abimelech, He closed the wombs of the women of Abimelech’s household. Their wombs were only opened after Abimelech returned Sarah to Abraham and allowed Abraham to pray for him.

Genesis 20:7 NKJV 7 "Now therefore, restore the man's wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours."

Abimelech returned Sarah and gave Abraham gifts of sheep, oxen, and servants. Then Abraham prayed that God would heal Abimelech and open the wombs of the women of his household.

Genesis 20:17-18 NKJV 17 So Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children; 18 for the LORD had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

Immediately after this, we learn that the LORD visited Sarah as He said He would and opened her womb.

Genesis 21:1-2 NKJV 1 And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken. 2 For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

This account closely follows the account of Mary’s conception of Yeshua. Like with Sarah and Isaac, Yeshua’s name was given to Him before He was conceived.

Luke 1:30-31 NKJV 30 Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS.

The angel Gabriel announced that the Holy Spirit would visit her, and she would have a child.

Luke 1:35 NKJV 35 And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

The first purpose affirming that Sarah would have a son was accomplished. As the men were leaving, the LORD declared that Abraham passed the test of walking in His ways.

Genesis 18:17-19 NKJV 17 And the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, 18 "since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 "For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him."

Abraham demonstrated his commitment to walking in the way of the LORD by the way he treated the strangers. Now, the LORD knew that Abraham would keep the way of the LORD by acting in righteousness and justice, and he would teach his children to do the same. Notice that that way of the LORD was known to Abraham well before God spelled out the Commandments at Mt. Sinai.

The final purpose of the visit of the three men is now revealed. God would allow Abraham to participate in the judgment of Sodom and the other cities of the plain. The LORD told Abraham that He was going to visit the city to learn the truth about their sins.

Genesis 18:20-21 NKJV 20 And the LORD said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, 21 "I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know."

As a man God trusted to do righteousness and justice, the LORD presented the case against Sodom before Abraham to see what he would do. Abraham pleaded with God not to destroy the righteous with the wicked. He negotiated with God to spare the city if there were even ten righteous men in it.

Genesis 18:32 NKJV 32 Then he said, "Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?" And He said, "I will not destroy it for the sake of ten."

So, the LORD visited Sodom and to see how He was greeted there. Would they be greeted the way that Abraham had greeted them? Would they be offered a meal and a place to rest? Would there be ten righteous men? God sent His presence in the form of two angels. Abraham’s nephew Lot greeted them with the same hospitality that Abraham did demonstrating his righteousness. He even invited them into his home to spend the night.

Genesis 19:1-2 NKJV 1 Now 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 he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. 2 And he said, "Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant's house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way." And they said, "No, but we will spend the night in the open square."

However, the rest of the inhabitants of the city did not exhibit righteousness and justice to two apparent strangers visiting their city. They demanded that Lot turn the men over to them to do with them as they chose.

Genesis 19:4-5 NKJV 4 Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. 5 And they called to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally."

These men of Sodom acted like Abraham feared that Abimelech would act. They had no fear of the LORD and habitually took whatever they wanted. Abraham feared that Abimelech would kill him and take Sarah. The men of Sodom were ready to kill Lot and take the two men to do with them as they chose. We associate Sodom with the sin of sex between two males. However, the sin goes way beyond that. The men of Sodom were intent on rape. Rape is more about exerting power over the victim than it is about sexual desire. It is the ultimate display of dominance to rape someone’s body. In contrast, sexual union between a man and a woman is intended to be God’s gift to the husband and wife to honorably join them together in one flesh. Rape is the ultimate perversion of this gift. Ezekiel describes the fullness of Sodom’s sin.

Ezekiel 16:49-50 NKJV 49 "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. 50 "And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.

The sin of Sodom was not just sexual perversion; it was their entire way of life. There was no justice or righteousness in the city. Even years earlier when Lot first went to dwell in Sodom, the Bible describes the men of Sodom as wicked.

Genesis 13:12-13 NKJV 12 Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. 13 But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the LORD.

Lot had probably lived in Sodom for as many as twenty years. Yet his presence in the city and his practice of righteousness did not have any effect on the men of Sodom. They were just as wicked, if not more so, twenty years later when God sent His angels to determine the extent of their wickedness. Peter declared that Lot was a righteousness man whose example did not influence the behavior of the men of that city to turn to righteousness.

2 Peter 2:7-8 NKJV 7 and (God) delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)    

The men of Sodom observed Lot’s righteousness and justice but regarded it scornfully. They knew the way of righteousness but chose not to follow it!

Genesis 19:9 NKJV 9 And they said, "Stand back!" Then they said, "This one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them." So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door.         

The residents of Sodom greeted the messengers of the LORD with evil intent continuing in their wickedness and sin against the LORD. Lot’s presence in Sodom did not bear any fruit, and God sent His judgment on Sodom and her sister cities. God found only one righteous man in the city.

In contrast, Abraham’s relationship with Abimelech, though it began in distrust, ended with Abimelech acknowledging that God was with Abraham. Abraham and Abimelech made a covenant to deal fairly with one another.

Genesis 21:32-34 NKJV 32 Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba. So Abimelech rose with Phichol, the commander of his army, and they returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God. 34 And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines many days.

In a situation similar to God sending angels to visit Abraham and Sodom, Yeshua sent out messengers in pairs to visit the cities of Israel. This occurred just before Yeshua’s final journey to Jerusalem. He sent seventy disciples, thirty-five pairs, ahead of His own visit to those cities.

Luke 10:1 NKJV 1 After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.

Just like the two angels judged Sodom based on how they were received, the disciples were to judge the cities and homes they visited based on how they were received.

Luke 10:8-12 NKJV 8 "Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. 9 "And heal the sick there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' 10 "But whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, 11 'The very dust of your city which clings to us we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you.' 12 "But I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that Day for Sodom than for that city.

The scriptures don’t record what happened when Yeshua visited these same cities. However, we know of one man who greeted Yeshua just like Lot greeted the two angels. When Yeshua entered Jericho, Zacchaeus desired to see Yeshua but he was too short to see him over the crowd, so he climbed a tree. When Yeshua reached the tree, he looked up and saw the desire of Zacchaeus’ heart.

Luke 19:5-6 NKJV 5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house." 6 So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully.  

The LORD visited Abraham to confirm His promise that Abraham would have a son through his wife Sarah. Secondly, God confirmed that Abraham had a heart to follow in God’s ways. He, then, trusted Abraham to pronounce judgment on Sodom and the other cities of the plain. Abraham’s judgment was that if there were even ten righteous men in the city, the city would be spared. First came the promise of the son, then comes testing of the heart. Afterwards, comes judgment. God, when judging this world, follows this same pattern. First comes the promise of the coming of His son.

John 3:16-17 NKJV 16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Next comes testing of the heart.

John 1:12 NKJV 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

Finally, the Son, the righteous seed of Abraham, is entrusted with the judgment of the world.

John 5:30 NKJV 30 "I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

The message to us is two-fold. How will we receive the visitation of the LORD in our lives? Will we receive the Son that God sent with welcome and hospitality? Will we exhibit righteousness and justice by the way we treat God and people? Will the LORD testify that He has known us and that we will walk in His ways? Yeshua said that all the Torah is summed up by two principles: Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.

Study Questions:

Teaching Questions

 

1.      How does Abraham’s reception of the strangers demonstrate more than just hospitality? How does Abraham demonstrate the two greatest commandments to love God and to love man? How does Zacchaeus demonstrate these qualities?

 

2.      How is the judgment on Sodom a foreshadow of the judgment that will come at the end of this age?

 

3.      After His transfiguration (Luke (9:27-36), Yeshua set His face for the final journey to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51-53). To prepare for His journey, he sent out seventy disciples to prepare the cities of Israel for His visit (Luke 10:1-2; Luke 13:22).  In light of this teaching, what was the purpose of Yeshua’s visit to these cities?

 General Portion Questions

 

4.      The title of this teaching is “I Have Known Him” from Genesis 18:19. God knows everyone and everything, so what does God mean when He states the He has known Abraham?  Consider all the events included in this Torah portion in your answer.

 

5.      This Torah portion concludes with God asking Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering. How does the progression of the events of the Torah portion as we have presented them in this teaching lead to this climactic event?

 

6.      What other insights did you gain from this teaching? What indicators are there in this Torah Portion that point to Messiah Yeshua?

 

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