By Raphael ben Levi
VAYERA (And He Appeared) Gen18:1–22:24; 2 Kings 4:1–37; Luke 2:1–38
CH.18. Abram’s 3 visitors promise of son. Sodom & Gom. 10 righteous
CH.19. Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed
CH.20. Abram in Egypt
CH.21 Sarai (mockery or barren) bears son Isaac when Abram was 100, 14 yrs after Hagar bore son, Ishmael.
CH.22. Binding of Isaac (Akedah) Abram’s ultimate test for trusting God.
“The LORD appeared [vayera] to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.” (Gen.18:1)
The ‘great trees of Mamre’ were oak trees situated in Hebron, and refer to a Canaanite pagan shrine dedicated to their sky god named, ‘Elyon.’ The oak is a symbol in Scripture of strength and a long life, but here is something different. God commands us to separate ourselves from everything counterfeit. The Amorites’ principal god, “ELYON” was a distortion of the One true and Most High God!
Both names are identical (Elyon – Elyon) yet each are fundamentally different – Elyon, the Most High God, contrasted with a pagan imitation who was supposedly the god of the sky. Satan appears as an “Angel of Light” so we was believers need to separate between the true and the false particularly when the counterfeit can appear outwardly appealing. Here is a clue. The fact that Abraham was sitting close to these trees reveals that he had removed himself from something he had once been associated with. Abraham replaced the false god ELYON who the pagans worshipped as god of the sky with the one true God, ELYON of the same name. Paul instructs us in 1Thess.5:21-22 to “…Take a close look at everything, test it, then cling to what is good.” And in 1Jn.4:1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
The closer we walk with God the easier it becomes to differentiate between truth and deception because His Holy Spirit leads us into all truth! (Jn.16:13) The more embedded we are in God’s Word, the better equipped we will be to rightly divide Scripture. This is the second point.
In addition, the Holy Spirit helps us to identify and expose everything that is counterfeit through the weapons of warfare which He provides us with: “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”. (2 Cor.10:4,5) – walking close to God; dividing the Word of God correctly and putting on the whole armour of God – three important ways to avoid being deceived by Satan in these end days where the level of deception is so high.
Abraham met with three people but although the word used in Hebrew is ‘anashim’ (men), it is clear from the context that two are angels and one who was the spokesman was the Lord. The first message they shared was a promise regarding his offspring. The second, was his intention to destroy the wicked people of Sodom and Gomorrah. The first promise highlighted God’s faithfulness; the second of God’s impending wrath against Sodom and Gomorrah whose wickedness had risen to an all time high.
God’s mercy was reflected in the incredible way in which He allowed Abram to test the boundaries of His merciful nature. In ch.18:23-25 Abram had the chutzpa to challenge Him: “Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you really sweep away and not spare the place for the sake of fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from You to do such a thing—to cause the righteous to die with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked share the same fate! Far be it from You! Shall the Judge of the whole world not exercise justice?”
Abram bargained with God until he had whittled it down from 50 to just 10 where he stopped. The Talmud mentions that there are 10 different Hebrew words for idols. Therefore, 10 “righteous people” was the minimum number needed to counteract the different types of idolatry that were represented in Sodom and Gomorrah.
The statistics here are amazing. The Bible says in Deut. 32:30, “one man will chase a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight”. This is the principle of 10 for those who declare in faith, “If God be for us who can be against us” (Rom.8) no matter how bleak the odds may appear a statement which is a bridal identifier of the overcomer. (Ps.46)
And here is something interesting regarding the character of Abram. Three times Noah “did as God commanded him” (Gen.6:22; 7:5; 7:9) and simply accepted God’s verdict upon humanity but Abraham challenged it because he understood the principle of collective responsibility that’s embedded in Judaism. All of a community is held responsible should just one person within it fail. But Abram took collective responsibility for two entire pagan cities who were completely disconnected from the Hebrew people with the exception of his nephew Lot and his family who resided there. Abram bargained hard for God to preserve them all for the sake of his one nephew.
Abram extended great hospitality towards the 3 messengers because this was the custom of the time – no differentiation between strangers whether they be of high status or not. This is something the Book of James strongly addresses.
Abraham knew that to live the life of faith is to see the fingerprints of God in the face of the stranger. To treat two people, one who has status and another who has none is like a slap in the face of God. It is relatively easy to receive God when He appears as God. What is difficult is to sense His presence when He comes disguised as was the case with Abram, as one of three anonymous passers-by. And from this he understood that serving God and offering hospitality to strangers were not two things but one. As instructed in Heb.13:2-4, we are “…not (to) forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels (maybe even Yeshua Himself.)”
Here is an account from a rabbi who described a specific incident in his life which illustrates this point:
“My father was a regal man. He was the type who wouldn’t walk to the corner without wearing a tie and jacket, without combing his beard. He was truly a prince from head to toe.
How do most people treat a shlepper (person of low estate, loser)? Most treat him as an inferior.
Whenever a person, any person, even the lowest shlepper, came to see my father, he would first put on a tie and jacket, comb his beard and then greet the person. He would always say, ‘How wonderful it is to see you!’
Once a thief came under the guise of collecting for a yeshiva. My father greeted him in his accustomed manner. After the thief left, I asked my father, ‘Aren’t you overdoing it, treating a known thief in such a manner?’
He answered, ‘All the kavod (honour) in the world is not enough for the lowest person in the world.’”
Serving God and offering hospitality to strangers under the direction of Holy Spirit is the same that we learn when we see others through God’s lens not our own.
This Torah portion is ‘named Va’era’ (and He appeared). God can speak to us in an infinite variety of ways, from His creation, through other people – a friend or a stranger, through circumstance directly or indirectly, through dreams and visions, through a Rhema word in Scripture. He can utilise any means crafted in ways that may be unexpected such as in a rushing wind or a still small voice. God never deals us a poor hand and He never short-changes us. At every moment in time He remains faithful and true to His word.
For example, Sarah was barren: no child, no inheritance, no hope. The world condemned her as a dismal failure. And yet God demonstrated His faithfulness to His covenant promise despite her unbelief with a promise and gave them a child who she named, ‘Isaac (‘laughter’) She bore a son when Abram was aged 100, 14 yrs after Hagar had borne him a son, Ishmael. (2 x 7)
It is sometimes easier to trust God for a promise than to wait patiently for the fulfilment of that promise. And so we may attempt to manipulate or interfere in God’s perfect timings as Abram and Sarai did (i.e., give Him a helping hand!) and consequently face many Ishmael’s in our life.
God is so faithful! That is why three out of the four matriarchs found themselves unable to conceive except through a miracle of Divine intervention rather than the natural outcome of a biological process. “Taste and see that God is good.”
But there was more to follow. We cherish what we wait for and what we most risk losing. Believing God for His promise to bear him a child was one thing. But the climax of Abram’s life and the supreme test of his faith would come around 35 years later in the incident known as the “Akedah” (the binding of Isaac). We cherish what we most risk losing and in this case Abraham in a very real sense believed that God might be taking from him the greatest treasure he possessed on earth. The things that must have gone through his mind! “Surely God would never have told me to call this child Isaac, (meaning “he will laugh”) if His intention was to make me weep and mourn inconsolably?”
Why would Abraham, who had challenged God on the fate of Sodom, now make no protest to that which he cherished above all earthly things in his life? In context, we see that throughout the Tanakh, the gravest sin was child sacrifice – offering innocent babies to the god Molech. This is an important consideration. Everything appeared chaotic and confusing to Abram, known in Hebrew as a “chok,” something which defies reason or explanation. Yet, to recognise that we are simply guardians of our children on God’s behalf provides us with a glimmer of light because God didn’t want Abraham to sacrifice his child but to renounce ownership because God had entrusted Isaac to him as his guardian not his owner. So when the angel intervened at the moment of sacrifice, he told Abraham “You have not withheld from Me your son, your only one.” This is why the Torah sometimes includes chukim alongside God’s judgments/commands (mishpatim). Chukim are statutes that are impossible to understand and impenetrable to reason like the ashes of a red heifer that made those who were defiled pure and defiled the pure.
God creates us with a legal space – one that exists between between parent and child that He alone can fill. It is when we allow Him this space that we form an unbreakable chain. Scripture uses this imagery regarding marriage as we read in Eccles.4:12: “…though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—but a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”
Abraham was a father who learned that he did not own his child but was a custodian with no less responsibility and accountability and it was this that qualified him to become the ‘Father of many Nations,’ – Avraham.
Two things were at play: faith and obedience. If Abraham had chosen against placing his full trust in God, his future path in life would have been crooked rather than straight and this would have provided God with a big problem.
God has given each of us the potential to change the world when we place our trust in Him unconditionally. Never underestimate your destiny. God can change us the same way He changed an Abram into an Abraham and a Sarai into a Sarah!
In Judaism, observant Jews recite two short prayers every morning known as the ‘Akedah’. It is a reminder of both the mercy and judgment of God. “Remember in our favour, O Lord our God, the oath which You swore to our father Abraham on Mount Moriah; consider the binding of his son Isaac upon the altar when he suppressed his love in order to do Thy will with a whole heart! Thus may Your love suppress Your wrath against us, and through Your great goodness may the heat of Your anger be turned away from Your people, Your city, and Your heritage! . . . Remember to-day in mercy in favour of his seed the binding of Isaac.”
There is a story where there was a group of chassidim (pious ones) who served the Baal Shem Tov, founder of the Chassidic movement. One night they raised a question among themselves. “What was so special about the test of the Akedah (binding)? If God had revealed Himself to us and commanded us to sacrifice our only son, how would we have responded?”
The first one replied: “If God told me to sacrifice my only son, I would delay my doing so for a while, to keep him with me for a few days. Abraham’s greatness lay in that he arose early in the morning to immediately fulfil the Divine command.”
The second one said: “If God told me to sacrifice my only son, I too would waste not a moment to carry out His command. But I would do so with a heavy heart. Abraham’s greatness lay in that he went to the akedah with a heart full of joy over the opportunity to fulfil God’s will.”
Said the third: “I, too, would carry out God’s will with joy. I think that Abraham’s uniqueness lies in his reaction upon finding out that it was all a test. When God commanded him, ‘Do not touch the child, and do nothing to him,’ Abraham was overjoyed—not because his only child would not die, but because he was being given the opportunity to carry out another command of God.”
Maimonides suggested that God did not need Abraham to prove his love for Him. Rather the test was meant to establish how far his fear and love for God could be extended? As with Abraham, so too for us – to love God beyond all our hearts…
The binding of Isaac was a full expression of faith, obedience and devotion to God in action and through it Abram became a hero of faith just as He calls us to be.
For us as believers the Akedah represents a perfect illustration of Yeshua’s sacrifice for us:
- Isaac carried the wood for the sacrifice – Yeshua carried the cross-beam to the place of His sacrifice:
- Isaac cried out to his father – Yeshua cried out to His father
- Isaac escaped death after 3 days (22:4) – Yeshua was raise from the dead after the 3rd day
- Abraham indicated that God would provide a lamb for Isaac – Yeshua became the Lamb of God for us
- The ram was caught in a thicket of thorns – Yeshua wore a crown of thorns
2 Chron 3:1 refers to Mt. Moriah being the mountain on which the Temple was built, and further explains the site of the Temple in Jerusalem. By building the Temple in that exact place reminds the Jewish people that God remembers Abraham’s faithfulness to His eternal covenant towards them. The sounding of the shofar, (representative of the goat caught in the thicket) is also meant to bring to remembrance of this as linked to the Akedah prayer. And here we see an amazing parallel: Abraham came to offer a sacrifice on Mt. Moriah – Yeshua was crucified outside the city walls in the same place, on the same mountain where Abraham offered up Isaac.
This weeks Haftarah portion (Prophets) is from 2Kings.4:1–37 that mirrors in many ways the story of Abraham and Isaac. God used Elisha to bring life and hope to a woman placed in a hopeless predicament. She was a widow of one of Israel’s prophets, who had lived a godly life and was reduced to nothing and at the point of starvation with her creditors ready to take her two children as slaves. She served God without seeking reward, yet now she was at the point where God seemed to be punishing her instead. Many people cruelly criticised her by saying that her situation was the result of sin in her life,
As with Abraham and Sarah, the woman felt utterly worthless. Everyone condemned her for being barren, then God miraculously gave her a son. Then suddenly out of the blue her husband fell ill and died. Going from a place of happiness and purpose to one where the bottom has fallen out of your world is tough. We find the story in (2Kings 4:4-7)
At the time, Elisha visited the woman and told him: “Did I ask for a son from my lord? Did I not say, ‘Do not give me false hope’?” 2 Kings 4:28 Long story short, God raised the child from the dead, the first example of raising from the dead recorded in the Bible.
The woman experienced the death of an only son given to her by God after being barren at an age well beyond the age of child bearing. Yet God raised him from the dead. God Himself, understands extreme loss, even as He Himself sacrificed His only begotten son for us. (Jn.3:16). But, He is also the God who is the Resurrection and the Life as we see demonstrated so powerfully with both Abram and Sarai, and the Shunnamite woman.
God supplies our needs most powerfully when we recognise our weakness compared to His omnipotence. And when we cooperate with Him in faith and obedience, even when times are tough, we will experience a godly “great reset” instead of a demonic counterfeit which the global elite seeks to impose upon us in these end times.
Here is a testimony that arose out of the ashes of the recent pogrom in Amsterdam that beautifully illustrates the principal of cause and effect when we place God before our personal preferences.
“It’s impossible to describe how much caring and loving-kindness we have witnessed here since the violent attacks on the Jewish soccer fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv. But the following story stands out among the rest.
One of the women in the Jewish community here had an important job interview scheduled for Friday morning. Like all of us, she awoke on Friday to a flood of concerning announcements about what had happened the previous night. Wanting to help, she got in her car and rode to the center of Amsterdam in order to bring an Israeli family that she had never met back to her home. They would stay there until they could find another flight back to Israel.
The hour of her interview arrived and she was still in the middle of her mission. When they called her from the office where she was to be interviewed, she explained that she was busy in extending care to those who urgently needed her help. She was asked if she had considered that she could lose this highly sought job for not coming in for the interview. She answered that, from her perspective, she was doing what was most important since this was an emergency, as her brothers and sisters were in danger.
She ended the call, but this was not the end of the matter. After several hours she received another call from the same office. The boss of the company, a Jew without much connection to the local community, heard the story and told her that she had gotten the job. Without any meeting or interview. If she was so devoted to her people, he said, she absolutely had to work for him.”
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart….(Prov.3) The hour is late. The first words of God to Abraham were: “Go out from your land, your birthplace, and your father’s house . . . And I will make you a great nation . . .”
His last words were, “Well done thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord,”
May those same words from God greet us on that day when we see Him face to face in the fullness of time!
