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 commandments from us.
Blessed
are those to whom You have shown mercy to walk in Your Torah of truth in loving
obedience.
We ask
and thank You in Yahshua’s name – Amein.
“Va Yerah” is a Niphal verb ie a passive verb, meaning that YHVH
allowed Himself to be seen by Avraham through the appearance of heavenly
messengers.
Colossians
1:15: Calls Yahshua "the image of the invisible Elohim".
John
14:9: Yahshua states, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the
Father".
The chapter marks a major introduction of messengers
appearing as people.
Though messengers have appeared earlier, this is the first time they eat, talk,
and interact so fully in human guise.
Gen 18:1 And יהוה
appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamrě, while he was sitting in the
tent door in the heat of the day.
Gen 18:2 So he lifted his eyes and looked, and saw
three men standing opposite him. And when he saw them, he ran from the tent
door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground,
Gen 18:3 and said, “יהוה,
if I have now found favour in Your eyes, please do not pass Your servant
by.
Gen 18:4 “Please let a little water be brought, and
wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.
Gen 18:5 “And let me bring a piece of bread and
refresh your hearts, and then go on, for this is why you have come to your
servant.” And they said, “Do as you have said.”
Gen 18:6 So Aḇraham
ran into the tent to Sarah and said, “Hurry, make ready three measures of fine
flour, knead it and make cakes.”
Gen 18:7 And Aḇraham
ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he
hurried to prepare it.
Gen 18:8 And he took curds and milk and the calf
which he had prepared, and set it before them, and he stood by them under the
tree as they ate.
This episode introduces hospitality (Heb. hachnasat
orchim) as a central ethical ideal in the Torah. (not just honouring them
but feeding them)
Terebinth
tree comes from a Hebrew word that can mean strength. It is also known as an
oak tree. Terebinth trees were a place where one met with YHVH. Mamre comes
from a Hebrew word that can mean fatness or abundance. The Terebinth tree was
also a place where YHVH imparted instruction and teaching – see also “Terebinth
of Moreh”
Have you
found your Terebinth tree? - a place where you feel you belong – where
YHVH has met with you – a place that you would not have found if YHVH did not
radically change the circumstance of your life, if you had not become a Hebrew
and crossed over from man- made religion, you would not have found your
Terebinth tree - A place where your study of Torah begins to make sense – the
only place where you recognize how profoundly idolatrous human kind has become
(including yourself – Rom 7:13) – a place where you come to embrace Torah more
and more as if it was more precious than your very life. Have you found your
Terebinth tree?
In the Bible, the terebinth tree symbolizes strength,
endurance, divine encounters, and spiritual rootedness, often appearing at
significant places like Mamre where YHVH met Abraham. Its ability to
survive drought, regenerate from stumps, and produce resin links it to
resilience, YHVH's enduring promises, hope, provision, and spiritual renewal,
serving as a marker for both true worship and idolatry.
The wood
from these Terebinth trees was used to make yolks.
Matthew 11:28-30The Message (MSG) 28-30 “Are
you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and
you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me
and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.
I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and
you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Mat 11:29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me,
for I am meek and humble in heart, and you shall find rest for your beings.1 Footnote: 1Jer.
6:16.
Mat 11:30 “For My yoke is gentle and My burden is
light.”
The “yoke” was rabbinically known as the burden of the
Torah.
Gen 18:9 And they said to him, “Where is Sarah your
wife?” And he said, “See, in the tent.”
ט וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלָיו, אַיֵּה שָׂרָה אִשְׁתֶּךָ; וַיֹּאמֶר,
הִנֵּה בָאֹהֶל.
The three yuds (or zeḳeiṭin, the three small marks)
written above the word אֵלָיו
– “elav” (“to him”) in Genesis 18:9 are indeed noted by some
commentators, and your observation about the letters possibly forming איהו – “ayeihu,” meaning “Where
is he?” is an interesting interpretive direction. (maybe the messenger was
not really inquiring about Sarah but about the ‘’promised son’’- Isaac – the promised
messianic seed)
There are 10 places in the Torah where such “dots
above letters” appear. Each is traditionally interpreted as signalling
something unusual that warrants attention.
Gen 18:10 And He said, “I shall certainly return to
you according to the time of life, and see, Sarah your wife is to have a son!”
And Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.
Gen 18:11 Now Aḇraham
and Sarah were old, well advanced in age, and Sarah was past the way of
women.
Gen 18:12 And Sarah laughed within herself, saying,
“After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, (עֶדְנָה ) my master being old
too?”
The Hebrew term עֶדְנָה
(ʿednāh) translated as “pleasure” refers not simply to general
happiness, but to sexual pleasure, fertility, and the physical capacity
involved in conceiving a child.
Paul in the New Testament even comments on this:
“He (Abraham) was as good as dead in regard to
producing offspring” (Romans 4:19).
The Hebrew phrasing intentionally uses modest euphemism,
but the meaning is unmistakably sexual and biological.
And Abraham was not yet done – at the age of around 140
years old he marries Keturah and fathers six more sons with her. Gen 23:1, Gen
25:1
Gen 18:13 And יהוה
said to Aḇraham, “Why did
Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I truly have a child, since I am old?’
Gen 18:14 “Is any matter too hard for יהוה?
At the appointed time I am going to return to you, according to the time of
life, and Sarah is to have a son.”
Gen 18:15 But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not
laugh,” for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh!”
Abraham’s laughter (Genesis 17:17) Sarah’s laughter
(Genesis 18:12–15) Why does YHVH confront Sarah about her laughing and not
Abraham? I don’t know.
The name Isaac (Hebrew Yitzḥaq) literally means “he
laughs” or “laughter.”
Abraham and Sarah gave him this name because laughter surrounds every part
of his birth story.
In Genesis 17:19, YHVH explicitly commands: “You shall
call his name Isaac.”
The name memorializes the miracle and their initial
reactions.
Maybe laughing was just a way of coping with the deep
emotional shock and relief of the magnitude of the event.
The narrative of this Torah portion now dramatically
changes direction – from the miraculous birth of a son to the judgment of YHVH.
We will see these two events have profound end of days implications.
Gen 18:16 And the men rose up from there and looked
toward Seḏom, and Aḇraham went with them to send
them away.
Gen 18:17 And יהוה
said, “Shall I hide from Aḇraham
what I am doing,
I believe YHVH will once again reveal these end time secrets
to a faithful remnant of Abrahams sons.
Gen 18:18 since Aḇraham
is certainly going to become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of
the earth shall be blessed in him?
Gen 18:19 “For I have known him, so that he
commands his children and his household after him, to guard the way of יהוה,
to do righteousness and right-ruling, so that יהוה
brings to Aḇraham what He
has spoken to him.” (Gen
26:5 because Aḇraham obeyed My voice and guarded My Charge: My commands, My laws, and
My Torot.”a Footnote: aTorot - plural of Torah, teaching.)
Gen 18:20 And יהוה
said, “Because the outcry against Seḏom
and Amorah is great, and because their sin is very heavy,
Gen 18:21 “I am going down now to see whether they
have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me,
and if not, I know.”
Gen 18:22 So the men turned away from there and
went toward Seḏom, but יהוה
still stood before Aḇraham.
The switch in Genesis 18 between “Abraham was still
standing before the messengers” (v. 2) and “the men turned from there… but
Abraham remained standing before the YHVH” (v. 22) is one of the most famous
and most commented-upon “reversals” in the entire Torah. The classical Jewish
sages (Chazal) and medieval commentators see this as deliberate and pregnant
with meaning. (See Midrash Genesis Rabbah 48:7 (and Rashi on 18:22)
The Baal Shem Tov and many Chassidic masters love this
midrash because it reveals ’s profound humility: the Creator of the universe
“waits” patiently while Abraham attends to three dusty travellers. This is the
ultimate model of how hospitality to human beings is hospitality to YHVH
Himself.
Rabbi Joseph B.
Soloveitchik (in “The Lonely Man of Faith” and his Yiddish teshuva discourses)
uses this reversal to illustrate the dialectic (refers to a deeper reality) of
majesty and humility in the religious personality: man must sometimes “stand
over” YHVH (in prayer, taking initiative) and sometimes let YHVH “stand over”
him.
Psa
18:35 ….And Your lowliness makes me great.
Some older Afrikaans writers or preachers sometimes
paraphrased it more freely as “u neddalende goedheid” or “u neigende goedheid”
(“your descending goodness” or “your bowing-down goodness”), trying to capture
the idea that YHVH “bows down” or “condescends” in gentle, humble kindness to
lift David up.
‘’Groc’’ Yes, it is a legitimate interpretive paraphrase,
especially in poetic or devotional language. It combines two ideas present in
the Hebrew root:
1.
עָנָה
can mean “to be bowed down, afflicted, humble” → humility, lowliness
2.
YHVH’s “bowing down” or condescending to help
the weak is a common biblical theme (e.g., Ps 113:6–7, Isa 57:15)
Isa 57:15 For thus declares the high and
exalted One who dwells forever, whose Name is set-apart, “I dwell in the high
and set-apart place, with him who has a bruised and humble spirit, to revive
the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of bruised ones.
Gen 18:23 And Aḇraham
drew near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wrong?
Gen 18:24 “Suppose there are fifty righteous within
the city, would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty
righteous that were in it?
Gen 18:25 “Far be it from You to act in this way,
to slay the righteous with the wrong, so that the righteous should be as the
wrong. Far be it from You! Does the Judge of all the earth not do right?”
Gen 18:26 And יהוה
said, “If I find in Seḏom
fifty righteous within the city, then I shall spare all the place for their
sakes.”
Gen 18:27 And Aḇraham
answered and said, “Look, please, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it
upon myself to speak to יהוה,
Gen 18:28 “Suppose there are five less than the
fifty righteous, would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?” And He
said, “If I find there forty-five, I do not destroy it.”
Gen 18:29 And he spoke to Him yet again and said,
“Suppose there are found forty?” And He said, “I would not do it for the sake
of forty.”
Gen 18:30 And he said, “Let not יהוה
be displeased, and let me speak: Suppose there are found thirty?” And He said,
“I would not do it if I find thirty there.”
Gen 18:31 And he said, “Look, please, I have taken
it upon myself to speak to יהוה: Suppose there are found twenty?” And He
said, “I would not destroy it for the sake of twenty.”
Gen 18:32 And he said, “Let not יהוה
be displeased, and let me speak only this time: Suppose there are found ten?”
And He said, “I would not destroy it for the sake of ten.”
Gen 18:33 Then יהוה
went away as soon as He had ended speaking to Aḇraham.
And Aḇraham returned to
his place.
The Righteous Remnant Principle
Abraham’s argument introduces the idea that a small
number of righteous people can save an entire society.
Genesis 18 is the first place where YHVH explicitly
decides to share divine plans with a righteous person before acting
(“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?”).
Ezekiel
16:49 is taken very seriously in Jewish interpretation: “Behold, this was the
sin of your sister Sodom: pride, excess of bread, and careless ease were hers
and her daughters’, but she did not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.”
Scholars stress
that economic cruelty and indifference to the vulnerable were the root sin.
Sodom is the biblical archetype of a society that
is wealthy but heartless.
Zohar
(Vayera 106a–108b): Sodom sat on a geographic and spiritual “fault line.” Their
evil clogged the channels of divine blessing to the world; overturning them was
like a cosmic enema.
Baal Shem Tov & Chassidic tradition: There
is a spark of good even in Sodom. Lot’s daughters (who later bear Moab and
Ammon, ancestors of Ruth and eventually David and Mashiach) show that nothing
is irredeemable.
Rabbi Tzadok
HaKohen: Sodom represents the trait of gevurah (harsh judgment) completely
detached from chesed (kindness). The only remedy is total destruction and
rebuilding.
There are several scholars and Messianic believers from the ‘’two
house’’ and ‘’protected remnant’’ groupings who interpret Revelation 12:14 the
“two wings of the great eagle” as implying a supernatural, miraculous
transportation of at least part of the end-time faithful—very much along
the lines of what happened to Philip in Acts 8:39–40.
Flying on eagle’s wings is not natural human capability — it
is the same imagery YHVH used in Exodus 19:4, but now escalated to an
instantaneous or near-instantaneous deliverance.
The events of this parasha (Gen 18) mirror the events found
in Rev 12.
So, will
YHVH make Himself known (vayera) again in the last days?
The Lamb and the 144,000
Rev 14:1 And I looked (vayera) and saw a Lamb
standing on Mount Tsiyon, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand,
having His Father’s Name written upon their foreheads.
Rev 14:2 And I heard a voice out of the heaven,
like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder, and I heard
the sound of harpists playing their harps.
Rev 14:3 And they sang a renewed song before the
throne, and before the four living creatures, and the elders. And no one was
able to learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were
redeemed from the earth.
Rev 14:4 They are those who were not defiled with
women, for they are maidens (virgins). They are those following the Lamb
wherever He leads them on. They were redeemed from among men, being
first-fruits to Elohim and to the Lamb.
2Co
11:2 For I am jealous for you with a jealousy according to Elohim. For I
gave you in marriage to one husband, to present you as an innocent maiden (chaste
virgins) to Messiah.
2Co
11:3 But I am afraid, lest, as the serpent deceived Ḥawwah by his trickery, so your
minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Messiah.
2Co
11:4 For, indeed, if he who is coming proclaims another יהושע,a whom we have not proclaimed, or if you
receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different Good
News which you have not accepted, you put up with it well enough! Footnote: a Mat_24:5
and Mat_24:23-24, Jhn_5:43. (Paul addressing 99% of the church)
Rev 14:5 And in their mouth was found no falsehood,
for they are blameless before the throne of Elohim. (not defiled by human
religion)
The Messages of the Three Angels (similar to Gen 18)
Rev 14:6 And I saw (vayera) another messenger
flying in mid-heaven, holding the everlasting Good News to announce to those
dwelling on the earth, even to every nation and tribe and tongue and
people,
Rev 14:7 saying with a loud voice, “Fear Elohim and
give esteem to Him, because the hour of His judgment has come. And worship Him
who made the heaven and the earth, and sea, and fountains of water.”
Rev 14:8 And another messenger followed, saying, “Baḇel is fallen, is fallen,b Isa_21:9
that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the
wrath of her whoring.” Footnote: bAlso see Jer_51:8. (religious
systems of the new world order)
Rev 14:9 And a third messenger followed
them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image,
and receives his mark upon his forehead or upon his hand,
Rev 14:10 he also shall drink of the wine of the
wrath of Elohim, which is poured out undiluted into the cup of His wrath. And
he shall be tortured with fire and sulphur before the set-apart messengers and
before the Lamb.
Rev 14:11 “And the smoke of their torture goes up
forever and ever. And they have no rest day or night, those worshipping the
beast and his image, also if anyone receives the mark of his name.”
Rev 14:12 Here is the endurance of the set-apart
ones,c here are those guarding the commands of Elohim and the belief of יהושע.
Footnote: cSee also Rev_12:17.
Rev 14:13 And I heard a voice out of the heaven
saying to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Master from now on.’
” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “in order that they rest from their labours, and
their works follow with them.”
This a possible reference to the first resurrection. Another
end time remnant sing the Song of Moses – those in Messiah alive or dead will
be resurrected to meet the Messiah in the air. Those not part of the first resurrection
will face the seven bowls of wrath - Rev 16
The
Harvest of the Earth
Rev
14:14 And I looked(vayera) and saw a white cloud, and sitting on the
cloud was One like the Son of Aḏam, Dan_7:13 having on His head a golden
crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle.
Rev
14:15 And another messenger came out of the Dwelling Place, crying with a
loud voice to the One sitting on the cloud, “Send Your sickle and reap, because
the hour has come for You to reap, because the harvest of the earth is
ripe.”
Rev
14:16 And the One sitting on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth,
and the earth was reaped.
Rev
14:17 And another messenger came out of the Dwelling Place which is in
the heaven, and he too held a sharp sickle.
Rev
14:18 And another messenger came out from the slaughter-place, having
authority over the fire, and he cried with a loud cry to him having the sharp
sickle, saying, “Send your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of
the earth, because her grapes are ripe.”
Rev
14:19 And the messenger thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the
vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of
Elohim.
Rev
14:20 And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood came out
of the winepress, up to the bridles of the horses, for about one thousand six
hundred stadiad. Footnote: dApprox. 296 kilometres or 184 miles.
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.