2/01/2013

Parashat 4 Portion 16 – Beresheet/Genesis 19: 1-38



Blessing for the Torah:

Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-O’lam, asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim,
v’natan lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”

(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. Ameyn.)

In Beresheet/Genesis, chapters 18 and 19 it appears that the Torah is speaking about  two different kinds of people – Those that have crossed over, the “Ivrim” or the Hebrews like Avraham and those whose understanding has been veiled and they refuse to cross over and remain in enemy territory. It is prophetically significant that Lot’s name means “veiled.”

The Hebrews were following the Torah, those from the house of Avraham. Lot however is like many believers today that will need to be rescued in the last days because they have chosen not to cross over from man- made religion into YHVH’s kingdom because of the veil that remains over their understanding.

 2Co 3:14  But their minds were hardened, for to this day, when the old covenant is being read, that same veil remains, not lifted, because in Messiah it is taken away.
2Co 3:15  But to this day, when Mosheh is being read, a veil lies on their heart.
2Co 3:16  And when one turns to the Master, the veil is taken away.
2Co 3:17  Now יהוה is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of יהוה is, there is freedom.
2Co 3:18  And we all, as with unveiled face we see as in a mirror the esteem of יהוה, are being transformed into the same likeness from esteem to esteem, as from יהוה, the Spirit.

Let us not jump to conclusions that the above scripture refers to the Jews only. It refers to all those who have a faulty image of the Messiah. Today evidence abounds amongst many believers that their understanding has become dull when the Torah is read and taught.

Gen 19:1  And the two messengers came to Seḏom 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,

Rashi holds forth the fact that the Hebrew word for “sat”, “yoshev”, is written in an incomplete way, missing the letter vav. That indicates that Lot had been appointed judge just that day.

However one must also consider the possibility that the judges only sat in the city gates to judge during the day. Why then was Lot sitting at the gate during the evening?
Was this not perhaps an expectation of hearing or receiving a message from a messenger or a prophet.

Remember Lots name means “covering or a veil”; is it not possible that because Lot chose that which was pleasing to his eye and flesh that there was a veil over his understanding of what the will and purpose of YHVH was and was he desperately seeking and waiting to be rescued from his lawless environment.

Perhaps once again in the last days many will see the futility of their Torahless lives and grieve at the loss and devastation that has come about in their lives as a result of their Torahlessness.

We need to notice that YHVH goes to a great deal of trouble to save a remnant from Sodom, will He do so again? I believe He will.

…. and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground….

Quote:
“bowed with his face to the ground” – The root of this Hebrew word is “shachah”[1][13] which means to bow down in reverence. The word was translated into Greek as “proskuneo”[2][14] which, in large, has the same meaning. Neither of these words represent the English word “worship” in the sense of “bowing in respect before the Highest”. It can be understood that way when it is used in connection with ministry before the Eternal. But this is not its principal meaning. If “shachah” had meant “worship”, then Lot would have sinned when he bowed down to the earth before these angels from the Highest.
 
If you dig deeply into these terms, you will see that when the Christian Bible translations speak about worshipping Yahshua or Eloha’s Son, it is not necessarily correctly translated. It is, rather, an interpretation of these words, where an implication has been incorporated that is not obvious, it is in  these cases that the catholic trinity doctrine has coloured the choice of words of the translators.
 
When you go through the book of Revelation, you see that the Lamb does not receive any worship. Only the Father receives that. It is forbidden to worship the Son in the same way that the Father is to be worshipped. To worship means, actually, to confess someone as one’s highest authority, and the Son does not have that authority. The Father is above him and if one worships the Son, the Father is set aside. He is the One that has given the Son all power.
 
According to Philippians 2 every knee will bow in Yahshua’s name. That does not mean that they will bow before Yahshua, but before the Father in the name of Yahshua; which means that through Yahshua all will confess the Father as the highest authority. In this way the Father is glorified through the Son, as it is written in Philippians 2:11:
 
“and that every tongue should confess that Yashua HaMashiach is Adon, to the glory of Eloha the Father.”(MRC revised)
Php 2:11  and every tongue should confess that יהושע Messiah is Master, to the esteem of Elohim the Father. (The Scriptures)

Isa 45:23  “I have sworn by Myself, a word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, so that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue swear.
Isa 45:24  “One shall say, ‘Only in יהוה do I have righteousness and strength’ – he comes to Him. And all those displeased with Him shall be put to shame.

Now, one can bow in reverence before the Son and confess the authority that he has received from the Father, but not in order to worship him as if he was instead of the Father. In Judaism, a son can never rise above his father or replace his father during his lifetime. Christianity has replaced the Father with the Son, by singing to him as if he was th
e highest. It is time to expose this lack of respect for the Eternal King who is immortal and invisible. The Only Eloha who is worthy to receive glory and honor forever and ever. Amein! End quote Blad.

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.”

YHVH does not need you or me to protect His Messengers or His Truth, it can stand on its own and defend itself. Mankind stands judged or justified before His Eternal Word.

We  are only messengers carrying His Message, people can either accept it or reject it.
We are however at times called to warn and rebuke sternly those oppose the truth.

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 kindness 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 Tsoʽar. (Tsoar means insignificance – a condition no doubt experienced by those whose understanding had been veiled)


Gen 19:23  The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Tsoar.
Gen 19:24  And יהוה rained sulphur and fire on Seḏom (means burning) and Amorah,(submersed, this word is similar to the word omer- counting of the omer!!) 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.
Gen 19:30  And Lot went up out of Tsoar and dwelt in the mountains, and his two daughters were with him, for he was afraid to dwell in Tsoar. 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.

‘There is no man’ could also be referring to no priesthood that can teach the righteousness of the Torah.

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.

There is a spiritual incest that has taken place within religious movements. The longer a religious movement or denomination continues the more “inbreeding” one finds. People become set in their ways refusing to change. “Genetic disorders” set in because of all the “inbreeding.” The Torah of YHVH is always fresh because we are continually receiving deeper revelation and understanding of who YHVH is and how He has chosen to reveal Himself on earth.

Mat 4:4  But He answering, said, “It has been written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of יהוה.’ ”1 Footnote: 1Dt. 8:3.
The sad testimony of the church is that you keep on hearing the same old things over and over again. YHVH’s Torah infuses new life and vitality into our spirits the more we embrace it and follow its instructions.
Jas 1:25  But he that looked into the perfect Torah, that of freedom,1 and continues in it, not becoming a hearer that forgets, but a doer of work, this one shall be blessed in his doing of the Torah. Footnote: 1See 2:12.
“Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet,
v’chay-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”

(Blessed are you Yahweh, 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, Yahweh giver of the Torah – Ameyn



Please note these notes are under construction and are subject to correction and are in no way a final authority on any subject.


[1][13]      Strong H7812 shachah, shaw-khaw', A primitive root; to depress, that is, prostrate (especially reflexively in homage to royalty or God): - bow (self) down, crouch, fall down (flat), humbly beseech, do (make) obeisance, do reverence, make to stoop, worship.
[2][14]      Strong G4352 proskuneōpros-koo-neh'-o, From G4314 and probably a derivative of G2965 (meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand); to fawn or crouch to, that is, (literally or figuratively) prostrate oneself in homage (do reverence to, adore): - worship.