Psa 119:18/19 Please open our eyes YHVH that we might see hidden and wonderful truths in Your Torah. Father we are strangers and sojourners here on earth, please do not hide the council of your Torah from us.
Blessed
are those to whom You have shown mercy to walk in Your Torah of truth in loving
kindness and obedience. Amein.
ויבאו שׁני
The ancient Jewish sages gave us a unique way in
understanding the Torah – the Torah portions or ‘parashiyot’’ and also a method
of interpretation they described as ‘’PARDES’’
PaRDeS is a Hebrew acronym (פרד״ס) that describes four levels of interpreting
scripture:
P — Peshat (פשט)
Literal / simple meaning.
The straightforward, plain-sense understanding of the text.
R — Remez (רמז)
Hinted meaning.
Interpretations that read the verses for symbolic or allegorical clues beyond
the literal level.
D — Derash (דרש)
It is about
explaining the true meaning of a text. Homiletical / interpretive meaning -
from Hebrew darash: "inquire" ("seek") – the
comparative (midrashic)
meaning, as given through similar occurrences.
Expansive explanations found in Midrash and rabbinic
commentary, often extracting ethical or legal teachings
S — Sod (סוד)
‘’sod" means foundation. Foundations are usually
hidden or ‘’secret" ("mystery") or the esoteric/mystical
meaning, as given through inspiration or revelation
Together, PaRDeS represents a multi-layered approach to
Torah learning, from literal to mystical.
Then
certain scribes added short phrases(key words) at the beginning of each of the
Torah portions in the 42 month ‘’parashiyot’’ for example, this week’s Torah
portion- ויבאו שׁני
ויבאו שׁני
(the Scribe who titled this portion with these two words in ‘’hinting’’ at
something more profound)
"and there came two …..’’ We continue with parashat
‘’Vayera’’ – Here we see that YHVH confirms His coming judgment with two
witnesses.
(Sod- deeper revelation) This same pattern is repeated in
the last days, during the great tribulation or final three and a half years of
this age – ‘’olam ha ze’’
(Midrash
on the deeper revelation) Rev 11:3 “And I shall give unto my two
witnesses, and they shall prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days,
clad in sackcloth.”
Rev
11:6 These possess authority to shut the heaven, so that no rain falls in
the days of their prophecy. (see 1 Kings 17&18 James 5:17) And they possess
authority over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all
plagues, as often as they wish.
Rev
11:8 and their dead bodies lie in the street of the great city
which spiritually is called Seḏom and Mitsrayim, where also our Master was impaled,
Rev 12 YHVH removes a faithful remnant (not the rapture)
Rev 11:15 at the sound of the seventh trumpet the first
resurrection will take place.
Rev 16 after the seventh trumpet - 7 Bowls of wrath of
final judgment on this age.
This Torah portion is pregnant with meaning – we compare
the Torah to a woman who is about to give birth.
“The Torah is compared to a woman who is in hard labour.
As long as the child is inside her, she suffers greatly, but when the child
comes out to the world — joy for all! So too the Holy One, blessed be He, had
‘suffering’ (so to speak) until the Torah came down to the lower worlds… and
when it descended, there was joy above and below.” ‘’Zohar III, 44b’’
Rev
12:1 And a
great sign was seen in the heaven: a woman clad with the sun, with the moon
under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
Rev
12:2 And being pregnant, she cried out in labour and in pain to give
birth. (describing an end time remnant)
“The Torah is called a Tree of Life (Prov 3:18) because
just as a tree grows from the earth upward toward heaven, so the Torah elevates
a person from the physical to the divine – and simultaneously brings heaven
down into the physical world.” ‘’Rebbe’’
YHVH Rescues Lot
Gen 19:1 And the two messengers came (ויבאו שׁני) 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,
The Hebrew name לוֹט
(Lôṭ) is likely connected
to the root לָאַט (lāʾaṭ),
which means "to cover," "to hide," or "to wrap
closely".
The name Lot ("covered,"
"hidden," "clinging") functions almost like dark biblical
wordplay in Genesis 19:
·
He clings to the world instead of separating
from it.
·
His family is "covered" in judgment
(wife → salt).
·
He ends his life hidden in a cave, covered in
disgrace.
So, while the name itself is neutral, in the context of
Genesis 19 it becomes a sad and ironic commentary on Lot’s life: the
"righteous man" who kept clinging to the wrong things and ended up
spiritually and morally covered in shame.
This is the story of the modern-day church’s decline. Mega
churches especially are experiencing massive decline. (do a search on You tube)
Luk
18:8 “... But when the Son of Aḏam comes, shall He find the belief (τὴν
πίστιν)on the earth?”
According
to Paul Eph 4:5 there is only ‘’one faith’’ Paul was as bold as to say that if
anyone preached a different good news than the one he had given them they would
be cursed Gal 1:8,9.
Paul
also never ‘’did away’’ with the Torah -
Act 24:14 “And this I confess to you, that according to the Way
which they call a sect, so I worship the Elohim of my fathers, Exo_3:15
believing all that has been written in the Torah and in the Prophets,
These
truths terrify me. Am I preaching another gospel? How do I know that I am not
deceived or even worse deceiving others? Maybe Yahshua gives us the answer?
Mat
5:17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Torah or the Prophets.e I
did not come to destroy but to complete. Footnote: eThe Law and the Prophets is
a term used for the pre-Messianic Scriptures.
Mat
5:18 “For truly, I say to you, till the heaven and the earth pass away,
one yod or one tittle shall by no means pass from the Torah till all be done.f
Footnote: f Luk_16:17.
Mat
5:19 “Whoever, then, breaks one of the least of these commands, and
teaches men so, shall be called least in the reign of the heavens; but whoever
does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the reign of the
heavens.
Jas
2:10 For whoever shall guard all the Torah, and yet stumble in one point,
he is guilty of all.
Although Lot is called "righteous" (2 Peter
2:7–8), Lot had slowly compromised by living in Sodom, pitching his tent toward
it (Gen 13), then fully moving into the city and sitting in its gate (position
of honour). His soul was tormented, but he stayed — he was "clung" to
the world.
2Pe
2:7 and rescued righteous Lot, who was oppressed with the indecent
behaviour of the lawlessc 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), 2 Cor
6:17,18
18
Forbidden Secrets of SODOM: What Really Happened There (27 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSOVpi92UWc
Archaeological records uncover in detail of what really happened
in Sedom.
Mat
10:14 “And whoever does not receive you nor hear your words, when you
leave that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.
Mat
10:15 “Truly, I say to you, it shall be more bearable for the land of Seḏom and Amorah in the day of
judgment than for that city!
Mat
11:23 “And you, Kephar Naḥum, who were exalted to the heaven, shall
be brought down to She’ol!b Isa_14:13 and Isa_14:15. Because
if the miracles which were done in you had been done in Seḏom, it would have remained until
this day. Footnote: bSee Explanatory Notes - She’ol. Mat 11:24 “But
I say to you that it shall be more bearable for the land of Seḏom in the day of judgment than for
you.”
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.” (have sex with 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.”
The Scriptures records the statement not to justify Lot,
but to expose how deeply sin had corrupted even the one person in the city who
was supposed to be different. That is why 2 Peter 2:7–8 still calls him
“righteous Lot” (because he was grieved by the evil), yet the Genesis narrative
itself shows how compromised and broken that “righteousness” had become. 2Cor
6:17,18
This possibly explains the fate of those believers who
must endure the great tribulation.
Despite this reality of certain judgment, even on
believers, Yahshua says in his letter to the Philadelphian assembly, that some
believers will be spared from this fate:
Rev
3:10 “Because you have guarded My Word of endurance, I also shall guard
you from the hour of trial which shall come upon all the world, to try those
who dwell on the earth.
Maybe,
Noah was an example of escaping judgment under YHVH’s protection.
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.
Luk
21:36 “Watch then at all times, and pray that you be counted worthy to
escape all this about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Aḏam.”
Maybe,
the above verse refers to Lot. There seems to be two different groups of
believers guarding the Torah in Rev 12
- a Noah group that are protected and a
Lot group that suffers great harm.
Dan
11:33 “And those of the people who have insight shall give understanding
to many. And they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and
plundering, for days.
Dan
11:34 “And when they stumble, they shall be helped, a little help, but
many shall join them, by flatteries.
“When they stumble”
Refers to faithful people(Lot) who face hardship, persecution, or setbacks
during turbulent times.
“But many shall join them with flatteries”
Suggests that opportunists will attach themselves to the cause, not out of
genuine conviction, but out of self-interest.
Dan
11:35 “And some of those who have insight shall stumble, to refine them,
and to cleanse them, and to make them white, until the time of the end, for it
is still for an appointed time.
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,( ויתמהמה)
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)
“But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming
of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah
entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all
away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (Matthew 24:37–39, KJV)
And in Luke it adds the example of Sodom:
“Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did
eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the
same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven,
and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is
revealed.” (Luke 17:28–30)
Life will appear to go on as usual—business, pleasure,
relationships, routines—while most of the world is completely unprepared for
the catastrophic divine intervention that is coming
Scripture explicitly teaches that even during the Great
Tribulation period, large parts of humanity will still be carrying on with
“normal” life—eating, drinking, marrying, buying, selling—until destruction
falls suddenly, “like a thief in the night” for the unprepared (1 Thess 5:2–3)
or as labor pains upon a woman with child.
If Rev 16 is literally fulfilled, the bowl sequence
would literally threaten the extinction of all human life (“no flesh would
be saved/alive”). Massive oceans of blood, no drinkable water anywhere,
scorching heat, total darkness, catastrophic earthquakes, and city-sized
hailstones would make human survival impossible within days or weeks unless God
supernaturally intervenes and cuts it short.
That matches exactly what Jesus described in
Matthew 24:21–22: a tribulation so intense that, without divine shortening, no
flesh would survive.
YHVH Destroys Sodom – these are possibly the Rev 16 bowls
of wrath judgments.
Revelation 16 – the seven bowl (vial) judgments These are
the final, rapid-fire, universal judgments poured out right at the end of the
7-year Tribulation, just before the return of Messiah in Revelation 19.
Especially notice these bowls:
·
1st bowl: Loathsome sores on those who took the
mark (global)
·
2nd–3rd bowls: Every sea and every freshwater
source turned to blood (global)
·
4th bowl: Sun scorches men with fire (global)
·
5th bowl: Kingdom plunged into darkness +
unbearable pain
·
6th bowl: Euphrates dried up, armies gathered to
Armageddon
·
7th bowl: Greatest earthquake in history +
100-pound hailstones + islands and mountains disappear
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.
Genesis Rabbah
51:8-9), there is a significant rabbinic interpretation that Lot had some
limited awareness during the events with his daughters (Genesis 19:30-38),
particularly after the first night.
The plain text of the Torah states in Genesis 19:33
(regarding the elder daughter): "And he did not know when she lay down or
when she rose" (וְהוּא
לֹא־יָדַע בְּשִׁכְבָהּ וּבְקוּמָהּ). A similar phrase
appears in 19:35 for the younger daughter, but the Masoretic text places extraordinary
dots (puncta extraordinaria) over the words "and when she rose" (וּבְקוּמָהּ) in verse 33.
The Midrash in Genesis Rabbah interprets these
dots (over the ‘’vav’s) as a deliberate textual hint to cast doubt on the
extent of Lot's ignorance. (a ‘’vav’’ is a conjunction or joining word – Lot ‘’joined’’
himself in sexual incest to both his daughters)
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. 1Cor 10:14 Therefore, my beloved ones, flee from idolatry.
Olam Ha-Zeh (This World) and Olam
Ha-Ba (The World to Come) are core Hebraic concepts contrasting our
current physical life with the spiritual afterlife or Messianic era, where YHVH's
presence is fully revealed, with Olam Ha-Zeh serving as a
preparation for the spiritual blessings of Olam Ha-Ba, often
described as a banquet hall of eternal rewards.
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.
The Day of the Lord Will Come (how)
2Pe 3:1 This is now, beloved ones, the second
letter I write to you, in which I stir up your sincere mind, to remember
2Pe 3:2 the words previously spoken by the
set-apart prophets, and of the command of the Master and Saviour, spoken
by your emissaries,
2Pe 3:3 knowing this first: that mockers shall come
in the last days with mocking, walking according to their own lusts,
2Pe 3:4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His
coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all continues as from the beginning
of creation.”
2Pe 3:5 For they choose to have this hidden from
them: that the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in
the water, by the Word of Elohim,a Footnote: a Heb_11:3.
2Pe 3:6 through which the world at that time was
destroyed, being flooded with water.
2Pe 3:7 And the present heavens and the earth are
treasured up by the same Word, being kept for fire, to a day of judgment and
destruction of wicked men.
2Pe 3:8 But, beloved ones, let not this one matter
be hidden from you: that with יהוה one day is as a thousand years, and a
thousand years as one day. Psa_90:4.
2Pe 3:9 יהוה is not slow in regard
to the promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward us, not wishing
that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.b Footnote: b 1Ti_2:4.
2Pe 3:10 But the day of יהוה
shall come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a
great noise, and the elements shall melt with intense heat, and the earth and
the works that are in it shall be burned up.
2Pe 3:11 Seeing all these are to be destroyed in
this way, what kind of people ought you to be in set-apart behaviour and
reverence,
2Pe 3:12 looking for and hastening the coming of
the day of Elohim, through which the heavens shall be destroyed, being set on
fire, and the elements melt with intense heat!
2Pe 3:13 But according to His promise we wait for a
renewed heavens and a renewed earth Isa_65:17, Isa_66:22 in which
righteousness dwells.
Final Words
2Pe 3:14 So then, beloved ones, looking forward to
this, do your utmost to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,
2Pe 3:15 and reckon the patience of our Master as
deliverance, as also our beloved brother Sha’ul wrote to you, according to the
wisdom given to him,
2Pe 3:16 as also in all his letters,
speaking in them concerning these matters, in which some are hard to
understand,c which those who are untaught and unstable twist to their own
destruction, as they do also the other Scriptures. Footnote: cSee 2Co_11:6.
2Pe 3:17 You, then, beloved ones, being forewarned,
watch, lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the
delusion of the lawless, (Torahlessness)
2Pe 3:18 but grow in the favour and knowledge of
our Master and Saviour יהושע Messiah. To Him be the esteem both now and
to a day that abides. Aměn.