11/04/2022

Parashat 4 – (Vayerah) Portion 16 Ber 19:1-38 Yesh 17:14-18:7 Judges 19:16-24 +20:27

Bless YHVH the blessed One; Blessed is YHVH, the blessed One for all eternity. Blessed are you, YHVH, our Elohim, King of the Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us your Torah. Blessed are you, YHVH, giver of the Torah. Amein.

ויבאו שׁני

"and there came two …..’’ We continue with parashat ‘’Vayera’’ – Here we see that YHVH confirms His presence and His coming judgment with two witnesses.

We see similar events repeated in Rev 11 – with the two end-time witness’s vs 8…. ‘’in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Seḏom and Mitsrayim, where also our Master was impaled’’

Deu 19:15  “One witness does not rise up against a man concerning any crookedness or any sin that he commits. At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses(credible witnesses) a matter is established. – (Repeated in 2 Cor 13:1)

Gen 19:1  And the two messengers came to Seḏom (Canaanite city meaning ‘’burning’’) in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Seḏom. And when Lot saw them, he rose up to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground, 

Gen 19:2  and he said, “Look, please my masters, please turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet, and rise early and go your way.” And they said, “No, but let us spend the night in the open square.” 

Gen 19:3  But he urged them strongly, and they turned in to him and came into his house. And he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 

Gen 19:4  Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Seḏom, both old and young, all the people from every part, surrounded the house. 

Gen 19:5  And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, and let us ‘know’ them.” 

Gen 19:6  So Lot went out to them through the doorway, and shut the door behind him, 

Gen 19:7  and said, “Please, my brothers, do not do evil! 

Gen 19:8  “Look, please, I have two daughters who have not known a man. Please, let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you wish, only do no deed to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof.” 

Gen 19:9  But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This one came in to sojourn, and should he always judge? Now we are going to treat you worse than them.” So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door. 

Gen 19:10  But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. 

Gen 19:11  Then they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, and they wearied themselves to find the door. 

Gen 19:12  And the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city – bring them out of this place! 

Gen 19:13  “For we are going to destroy this place, because the cry against them has grown great before the face of יהוה, and יהוה has sent us to destroy it.” 

Gen 19:14  And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Get up, get out of this place, for יהוה is going to destroy this city!” But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be as one joking. 

Gen 19:15  And when morning dawned, the messengers urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.” 

Gen 19:16  And while he loitered, the men took hold of his hand, and his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, יהוה having compassion on him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 

Gen 19:17  And it came to be, when they had brought them outside, that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed.” 

Gen 19:18  And Lot said to them, “Oh no, יהוה

Gen 19:19  “Look, please, your servant has found favour in your eyes, and you have increased your loving-commitment which you have shown me by saving my life, but I am unable to escape to the mountains, lest calamity overtake me and I die. 

Gen 19:20  “Look, please, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please let me escape there – is it not a small matter – and let my life be saved?” 

Gen 19:21  And He said to him, “Look, I have favoured you concerning this matter also, without overthrowing this city for which you have spoken. 

Gen 19:22  “Hurry, escape there. For I am not able to do any deed until you arrive there.” So the name of the city was called Tso‛ar. (Heb – insignificant)

YHVH Destroys Sodom

Gen 19:23  The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Tso‛ar. 

Gen 19:24  And יהוה rained sulphur and fire on Seḏom and Amorah, from יהוה out of the heavens. 

Gen 19:25  So He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 

Gen 19:26  But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a post of salt. 

Gen 19:27  And Aḇraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before יהוה

Gen 19:28  and he looked toward Seḏom and Amorah, and toward all the land of the plain. And he looked and saw the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace. 

Gen 19:29  Thus it came to be, when Elohim destroyed the cities of the plain, that Elohim remembered Aḇraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt. 

Lot and His Daughters

Gen 19:30  And Lot went up out of Tso‛ar and dwelt in the mountains, and his two daughters were with him, for he was afraid to dwell in Tso‛ar. And he and his two daughters dwelt in a cave. 

Gen 19:31  And the first-born said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man on the earth to come in to us, as is the way of all the earth. 

Gen 19:32  "Come, let us make our father drink wine and lie with him, so that we preserve the seed of our father.” 

Gen 19:33  So they made their father drink wine that night. And the first-born went in and lay with her father, and he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she arose. 

Gen 19:34  And it came to be on the next day that the first-born said to the younger, “See, I lay with my father last night. Let us make him drink wine tonight as well, and you go in and lie with him, so that we keep the seed of our father.” 

Gen 19:35  So they made their father drink wine that night as well. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she arose. 

Gen 19:36  Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 

Gen 19:37  And the first-born bore a son and called his name Mo’aḇ, he is the father of the Mo’aḇites to this day. 

Gen 19:38  And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi, he is the father of the children of Ammon to this day. 

PARDES - is an acronym formed from the initial letters of the following four approaches when studying the Torah:

·      Peshat  (פְּשָׁט) – "surface" ("straight") or the literal (direct) meaning.

·        Remez (רֶמֶז) – "hints" or the deep (allegoric: hidden or symbolic) meaning beyond just the literal sense.

·        Derash (דְּרַשׁ) – from Hebrew darash: "inquire" ("seek") – the comparative (midrashic) meaning, as given through similar occurrences.

·        Sod (סוֹד) (pronounced with a long O as in 'lore') – "secret" ("mystery") or the esoteric/mystical meaning, as given through inspiration or revelation

"Peshat’’

On the surface we see YHVH providing a way of escape for His people and will judge all unrepentant people. 

2Pe 2:7  and rescued righteous Lot, who was oppressed with the indecent behaviour of the lawless[c] Footnote: cThe Greek word here, and in 2Pe_3:17, is athesmos (not the usual one, anomos) but it also means “lawless.” 2Pe 2:8  (for day after day that righteous man, dwelling among them, tortured his righteous being by seeing and hearing their lawless works), 2Pe 2:9  then יהוה knows how to rescue the reverent ones from trial and to keep the unrighteous unto the day of judgment, to be punished, 

We also see a violation of YHVH’s instruction regarding sexual conduct amongst His own people.

Lev 18:6  ‘No one is to approach anyone of his own flesh to uncover his nakedness. I am יהוהLev 18:7  ‘The nakedness of your father or the nakedness of your mother you do not uncover. She is your mother, you do not uncover her nakedness

Lev 18:29  ‘For whoever does any of these abominations, those beings who do them shall be cut off from among their people. 

Remez (רֶמֶז) – "hints" or the deep (allegoric: hidden or symbolic) meaning beyond just the literal sense.

In the last days YHVH will again remove His people before His FINAL judgment. Is 46:10

Rev 12:6  And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by Elohim, to be nourished there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. 

Hos 2:14  “Therefore, see, I am alluring her, and shall lead her into the wilderness, and shall speak to her heart, 

Luk 17:26  “And as it came to be in the days of Noaḥ, so also shall it be in the days of the Son of Aḏam: Luk 17:27  “They were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noaḥ went into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Luk 17:28  “And likewise, as it came to be in the days of Lot: They were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building, Luk 17:29  but on the day Lot went out of Seḏom it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed all. Luk 17:30  “It shall be the same in the day the Son of Aḏam is revealed. Luk 17:31  “In that day, he who shall be on the house-top, and his goods in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. Luk 17:32  “Remember the wife of Lot. Luk 17:33  “Whoever seeks to save his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life shall preserve it. 

Derash (דְּרַשׁ) – from Hebrew darash: "inquire" ("seek") – the comparative (midrashic) meaning, as given through similar occurrences.

YHVH is clearly against all sexual perversion – See Lev 18

What about the different rapture theories 

Rom 1:26  Because of this Elohim gave them over to degrading passions. For even their women exchanged natural relations for what is against nature, Rom 1:27  and likewise, the men also, having left natural relations with woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing indecency, and receiving back the reward which was due for their straying. Rom 1:28  And even as they did not think it worthwhile to possess the knowledge of Elohim, Elohim gave them over to a worthless mind, to do what is improper, 

Lev 18:22  ‘And do not lie with a male as with a woman, it is an abomination. 

1Co 6:9  Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the reign of Elohim? Do not be deceived. Neither those who whore, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 1Co 6:10  nor thieves, nor greedy of gain, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers shall inherit the reign of Elohim.[a] Footnote: aSee Gal_5:19-21, Eph_5:3-51Co 6:11  And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were set apart, but you were declared right in the Name of the Master יהושע and by the Spirit of our Elohim. 

Sod (סוֹד) (pronounced with a long O as in 'lore') – "secret" ("mystery") or the esoteric/mystical meaning, as given through inspiration or revelation.

The almost unrestrained promotion and acceptance of a ‘’gay’’ culture, including large gay parades has possibly released powerful demonic forces in the world.

These last days will be days of heightened demonic activity – the last three and half year period of the final seven years of this age -  Rev 9:1-11.

Speaking of the anti messiah -Dan 11:36  “And the sovereign shall do as he pleases, and exalt himself and show himself to be great above every mighty one, and speak incredible matters against the Ěl of mighty ones, and shall prosper until the wrath has been accomplished – for what has been decreed shall be done – 

Dan 11:37  and have no regard for the mighty ones of his fathers nor for the desire of women, nor have regard for any mighty one, but exalt himself above them all. 

In the last 42 months of this age there will be an even greater demonic onslaught against YHVH’s remnant

Rev 12:12  “Because of this rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has little time.” Rev 12:13  And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. Rev 12:14  And the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, to fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, Dan_7:25, Dan_12:7 from the presence of the serpent. Rev 12:15  And out of his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river after the woman, to cause her to be swept away by the river. Rev 12:16  And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. Rev 12:17  And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to fight with the remnant of her seed, those guarding the commands of Elohim and possessing the witness of יהושע Messiah.  

However we must be careful to lay all the blame at a sexually perverse generation –many self-righteous disobedient so called believers  will be rejected from YHVH’s Kingdom.

Mat 21:28  “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ Mat 21:29  “And he answering, said, ‘I do not wish to,’ but afterwards he repented and went. Mat 21:30  “And having come to the second, he said similarly. And he answering, said, ‘I go, master,’ but he did not go. Mat 21:31  “Which of the two did the desire of the father?” They said to Him, “The first.” יהושע said to them, “Truly, I say to you that tax collectors and whores are entering into the reign of Elohim before you, Mat 21:32  for Yoḥanan came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but tax collectors and whores believed him. And when you saw it, you did not repent afterwards, to believe him. 

1Co 10:11  And all these came upon them as examples, and they were written as a warning to us, on whom the ends of the ages have come, 1Co 10:12  so that he who thinks he stands, let him take heed lest he fall. 1Co 10:13  No trial has overtaken you except such as is common to man, and Elohim is trustworthy, who shall not allow you to be tried beyond what you are able, but with the trial shall also make the way of escape, enabling you to bear it. 1Co 10:14  Therefore, my beloved ones, flee from idolatry. 

The final two witnesses of this age:

Rev 22:17  And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!”

ויבאו שׁני

Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheinu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chai-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, notein ha-Torah. Amein.

Blessed are you YHVH, our Elohim, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of truth, and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, YHVH giver of the Torah – Amein.