This is from the Torah Portion Vayera which means "He Appeared". I wanted to point out some things that people don't normally think or talk about when it comes to this section of scripture. When people talk about Abraham often times Faith comes to mind, and that would be accurate given that Abraham was the picture of faith. But I realized that not only did Abraham have a lot of faith but he passed so many tests. Starting in Genesis 18:17-19 we see something interesting play out. What happens in chapter 18 is why the portion is called "He Appeared", but what transpires in verse 17-33 is truly impactful! First let's start in chapter 18:1 where Abraham's testing starts, 3 messengers appeared before Abraham at his tent. Here is the test will Abraham be hospitable or will he tell them to move on? He immediately jumps at the opportunity to serve, in doing this he passed the first test which then opened the door to the second test. Moments later God decides to tell Abraham something that is really none of Abrahams business. However Yahweh didn't reveal what was about to happen to Abraham just because he was trust worthy, but because it was a test! Think about it, Abraham is being told that Yahweh is going to wipe the city that his relative lives in off the face of the earth! Abraham has every right to be concerned for his nephews welfare, even to be a little angry at Yahweh. But what does Abraham do? He doesn't even say a word about his nephew Lot, instead he asks Yahweh if for 50 righteous he will save the city! Now through his conversing with the God of the universe (which is a special privilege and Abraham knows) he eventually narrows it down to 10 righteous which is a small number if you think about it. The average church has well over 10 people in attendance, so the fact that there were really no more than 4 righteous (4 being the total number of the people in Lots family that left with him) is really appalling. Anyway Abraham had the opportunity to argue with God or try and interfere with the men that went to destroy the city, but he just went back home with complete and utter faith that Yahweh would provide for Lot and protect them. Even still he cared more that Yahweh wouldn't wipe the righteous away with the wicked than that his nephew would be ok. And I think for the current times that should be something to take to heart, with Israel and Hamas at war we should care about the righteous people that are possibly trapped in Gaza or taken hostage by Hamas.
Test 2
This test is not testing Abraham but Lot. And here we will see the differences between Abraham and Lot, when the same 3 men that met with Abraham came to Sodom Lot had a similar response as Abraham. He made a big feast for them, but then another test comes, all the men of the city come and tell lot to release the 3 men so that they can know them (this is not the "know" like having a conversation with someone mind you) this is an extremely evil act! Now Lot had a decision to make and at first he was right about what he did by protecting the men, but then giving his daughters up was not the smartest or most righteous move. After the 3 men pulled him inside and struck the men of the city with blindness they announced what was about to happen. Lot told his sons in law that were to marry his daughters that the city was about to be destroyed and they had no faith! They thought he was joking! His wife as they were leaving also didn't have faith and she looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. And yet again Lots 2 daughters also didn't have faith when they took matters into their own hands to try and preserve their offspring. So even though Lot may not be the most righteous person in the world he had faith even when the rest of his family didn't have faith. And I think this is something you can implement, if your whole family thinks your crazy for following the whole Bible and celebrating Shabbat, you need to have faith that you will be provided for, that your family will also come to understand. Even when it looks like following the whole Bible will hurt your career, or hurt your relationships, if you have faith and push forward you will be blessed. You may lose some friends or family members but Yahweh sees and will provide.
Test 3
In Chapter 22 is one of Yahweh's biggest tests for Abraham. This is the chapter where Yahweh asks Abraham to slaughter his son for a sacrifice, this has to make no sense to Abraham. However he has faith, he knows if he has to sacrifice his son Yahweh will give him another. Both Isaac and Abraham had complete and utter faith in Yahweh. Before Abraham could kill his son the angel of Yahweh stopped him and provided him a ram that was caught in a thicket. Because of the ram that Yahweh provided Abraham called the mountain "Yahweh will provide". And because of their faith Yahweh Blessed Abraham yet again! And again if we have faith like Abraham and Isaac Yahweh will provide! Especially if you are walking according to his will, He will provide!
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