Faithful Writers

In chapter 19 of Genesis, we run headlong into situations that are just outrageous to our modern sensibilities of social common sense. Again, it is important to remind ourselves to interpret things through the lens of the ancient Middle Eastern culture we find ourselves immersed in as we walk through the Torah. First, in verse one, we find Lot greeting the two angelic messengers with a heavy amount of bowing and scraping. At first glance, our initial impressions might be that Lot recognized the heavenly origin from which these men proceeded and thus accorded them the appropriate degree of respect. This is not the case. At this point, Lot has no idea where these men are from. He just thinks they are a couple of outsiders who have no idea of the wicked nature of the town they have just descended on. The whole situation smacks of your typical Middle Eastern kabuki dance between host and guest. When an offer of kindness is extended to a guest, the recipient is obligated to first turn down the offer, and then after a bit of hemming and hawing, finally accept. As of this writing, I have lived in Japan for close to about 15 years and South Korea for one year before that and I can attest firsthand that such customs do exist and are deeply ingrained among the Asian cultures. But wait, things get even more confusing. The two visitors accept Lot’s invitation to stay at his place, a meal is prepared and eaten, and just as they are about to kick back and relax, Lot’s house is surrounded by the thugs of Sodom. And thus begins, one of the most perverse and confusing dialogues ever to occur in the whole Bible if not all history, the gist of it is as follows: Men of Sodom: Bring your two guests out so we can have sex with them! Lot: Please don’t think of doing such a thing. Here I have two virgin daughters. Please feel free to fulfill all of your carnal desires through them! Men of Sodom: Who does this foreigner think he is telling us what to do? We’re going to harm you more than them. Holy smokes!!! Perversity on top of perversity. First, notice that the Scripture says all the men of the town came and surrounded the house, both young and old. The whole town was given over to perversity. However, as tragic as that situation was, what are we to make of Lot’s response of offering up his daughters to them? Okay, I know my answer is going to jolt your senses to the hilt but the simple truth is that the Middle Eastern cultural norms of that time demanded that a man was obligated to protect the guests under his roof, even at the sacrifice of his family or the cost of his life. As unbelievable as it may sound, Lot’s response would not have been so surprising to the people at that time. It was all about hospitality. I will get into this later, but the whole theme of why Sodom was destroyed was due to the “ lack of hospitality ” of its residents and NOT homosexuality as is commonly believed and taught. © Richoka

“The two angels came to S’dom that evening, when Lot was sitting at the gate of S’dom. Lot saw them, got up to greet them and prostrated himself on the ground. He said, “Here now, my lords, please come over to your servant’s house. Spend the night, wash your feet, get up early, and go on your way.” “No,” they answered, “we’ll stay in the square.” But he kept pressing them; so they went home with him; and he made them a meal, baking unleavened bread for their supper, which they ate.”- Genesis 19:1–3 I want to share two important points about the above verses that will enhance our understanding of the Scriptural terrain we will be traversing through as we travel ever deeper into the world of the Torah. POINT ONE: Concerning the area where Lot was sitting when the angels came to him, many Canaanite cities had what was the equivalent of a large chamber at the gateway. It was in this large public square that the townsfolk gathered to gossip and conduct business. Even judicial trials were held in this square. Since the business or trial was being conducted in a public area, this ensured there would be witnesses present, which was a reassuring factor for all parties involved. We will see many significant events take place at the town gate of various Canaanite towns, such as Abraham negotiating to buy the Cave of Machpelah as a tomb for his wife… Or Boaz bargaining for the purchase of land on behalf of Ruth and the widowed Naomi. POINT TWO: Depending on the translation, verse 3 says that Lot baked some “ flat bread ” or “ unleavened bread ." The Hebrew word used is MATZAH . In other words, bread without yeast was usually prepared when something to eat had to be hastily whipped up. It indicates a rushed situation. Again, I know I’m being repetitive, but you must understand that the Bible unfolds in patterns. Here we have one important pattern established that will repeat itself. Lot is making matzah in what will quickly become a tense and rushed situation, and he and his family will soon have to make a speedy departure. In the Book of Exodus, we see a similar pattern unfold: God instructs the Israelites to make a final meal of matzah before making a quick departure from Egypt. It’s all about the patterns, folks. © Richoka

From verse 10, we have the lineage of Shem recorded. The primary purpose of this lineage is to introduce us to Abram. Abram, who will later have his name changed to Abraham, is both the father of monotheism and the nation of Israel. Amidst a sea of names and genealogies that can be quite confusing, here is an effective way to logically organize this part of the Bible in your head. -There are 10 generations from Adam to Noah. -The tenth generation of Noah has him begetting three sons: Ham, Japheth, and Shem -There are 10 generations from Shem to Abraham. -The 10th generation ends with Terah begetting three sons: Abram, Nahor, and Haran. It is also interesting to note that the number of years from the birth of Shem’s son to Abram’s migration to Canaan is exactly one solar year of 365 days. Finally, take a look at verse 31. “Terach took his son Avram, his son Haran’s son Lot, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Avram’s wife; and they left Ur of the Kasdim to go to the land of Kena‘an. But when they came to Haran, they stayed there. ” Although it is generally assumed that it was Abraham who first received the call from God to set out for the land of Canaan, according to this passage, it seems like it was Terah who first got the call. At the time, Terah and his family resided in the city of Ur of the Chaldees which was an ancient culture of that area. Sumer was the area’s name with Ur being the capital city. It was a very wicked place where worship of the moon-god Hurki was prevalent. Today this moon-god goes by the name Allah. So we are told that Terah set out for the land of Canaan but instead of completing his journey he decided to stay in another city somewhere in the Mesopotamian region. I believe there is an important spiritual lesson for us here. How many of us have been called by God to fulfill a plan He has for our lives but due to the pressing cares and circumstances of this world, we let ourselves become sidetracked? I suspect this is what happened to Terah. As a result, God ended up using Abram to fulfill His divine plan of creating a people unto Himself. CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT “The seed sown on rocky ground is like a person who hears the message and accepts it with joy at once, but has no root in himself. So he stays on for a while; but as soon as some trouble or persecution arises on account of the message, he immediately falls away. Now the seed sown among thorns stands for someone who hears the message, but it is choked by the worries of the world and the deceitful glamor of wealth , so that it produces nothing.” -Matthew 13:20–22 © Richoka

I want to explore a bit the reason or reasons why God destroyed Sodom. The overwhelming consensus on the matter, especially as pushed by the evangelical Christian crowd, is that God’s destruction of Sodom was a blanket condemnation of homosexuality. Before jumping to any conclusions, let’s take a look at what the prophet Ezekiel had to say about the matter: “The crimes of your sister Sodom were pride and gluttony; she and her daughters were careless and complacent , so that they did nothing to help the poor and needy . They were arrogant and committed disgusting acts before me ; so that when I saw it, I swept them away.” Ezekiel 16:49–50 I don’t think the reason for Sodom’s destruction was homosexuality in and of itself. Certainly, the perverse and degraded mindset of the people of Sodom was a factor. However, more than that was the inhospitable nature of the people that at times bordered on the torture or violent harassment of any individual unfortunate enough to find himself within Sodom’s borders. To give you one example of the type of antics the people of Sodom engaged in, there is a recorded instance of a traveling merchant who went to Sodom to sell his wares. Once he had his stand set up inside the city, the men of Sodom each came by and, one by one, began to strip the merchant of all of his goods. And then when the merchant tried to lodge a complaint, he found his claims falling on deaf ears because each person had only taken a tiny amount. There are many more horrid examples. For example, there is a story of tying a man to a pole, placing food in front of him and jeering at him while he slowly starved to death. And if someone tried to help him, that person would in turn be tortured for trying to help the man. It kind of reminds me of the despicable self-proclaimed Islamic State and the atrocities they are committing against innocent men, women and children of the towns they take over. Sodom was known for engaging in all kinds of repulsive behavior like this that eventually led God to take action. CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT “And he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, reducing them to ashes and ruin, as a warning to those in the future who would live ungodly lives; but he rescued Lot, a righteous man who was distressed by the debauchery of those unprincipled people ; for the wicked deeds which that righteous man saw and heard, as he lived among them, tormented his righteous heart day after day. ”- 2 Peter 2:6–7 “And Sodom, Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, following a pattern like theirs, committing sexual sins and perversions , lie exposed as a warning of the everlasting fire awaiting those who must undergo punishment.” -Jude 1:7 © Richoka

Today, we begin Genesis Chapter 12. For the Complete Jewish Bible, click here . For the King James version, click here . In Genesis chapter 11, we are told that Terah, his son Abram, his grandson Lot, and his daughter-in-law Sarai left their hometown called the Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the Land of Canaan. However, for whatever reason, Terah decided to cut his journey short and settle everybody in a place called Haran. Terah ends up dying in Haran. This is the end of Chapter 11. Then, in the first verse of Chapter 12, we are immediately told that God commanded Abram to leave his native land to a “ land I will show you ." Based on this narrative, one would automatically assume that Abraham received his call from God in the land of Haran. However, let’s take a look at the first two verses in Chapter 7 of The Book of Acts. “Then the high priest said, ‘Are these things so?’. And he said, ‘Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of Glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Haran , and said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives and come to a land that I will show you.” So if this eyewitness account in Acts is also taken into account, it appears that God called Abram during his journey to Haran and not after he arrived in Haran. Regardless of when exactly he received the call from God, it is obvious that Abram’s family was steeped in paganism. Haran was the crossing point of multiple important highways and a center of the cult devoted to the moon-god Sin. That’s right. The name of this god was actually “Sin." © Richoka

“Avraham got up early in the morning, went to the place where he had stood before YAHWEH , and looked out toward Sodom and Gomorrah, scanning the entire plain. There before him, the smoke was rising from the land like smoke from a furnace! But when YAHWEH destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Avraham and sent Lot out, away from the destruction, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.” -Genesis 19:28–29 Notice God’s name, which I bolded. I took the liberty of changing this English translation to reflect the name used in the original Hebrew manuscripts. Before I changed it, the translator had substituted the word “Adonai” for God’s name. Most other English Bibles use the word “ Lord ” as a substitute. However, I reiterate that the actual Hebrew is Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh, God’s personal name. So the point I’m making here is that it was the Father God Almighty who instructed the angels to destroy Sodom. Some pre-incarnate Yeshua did NOT give the order. Neither was it the Holy Spirit. It was God the Father who gave the order. I just talked with a Christian the other day about this, and I am amazed at how difficult it is to communicate this point. Rest assured that what I have said is undisputed. The Hebrew letters Yud-heh-vav-heh are really there. And they’re not just in some of the ancient Hebrew manuscripts. They are in ALL of them. However, in verse 18, when addressing the angels, Lot says “ Please no, my adonai ." Actually, in this case, the original Hebrew is NOT “ YHVH ” but “ Adonai ." Adonai has two different meanings. It is a term that can be used to refer to God or a title used to extend deference or respect to an other regular human party. In this case, it’s a title since Lot was using “ Lord ” as a sign of respect. © Richoka

When reading Scripture, do you ever come across a verse that just stops you dead in your tracks? For me, Genesis 5:24 is one of those verses. “And Enoch walked with God, and he was no more, for God took him. ” In stark contrast to the lists of other people, it appears that Enoch was granted the privilege of skipping the usual dying process most human beings are subjected to and taken straight to heaven. In fact, besides Enoch, only the prophet Elijah was granted such a privilege. What’s this all about? In some evangelical circles, the story of Enoch is used to teach a pre-tribulation rapture. They say that Enoch is symbolic of the Gentile Christian church and the flood is symbolic of the great tribulation. So Enoch being whisked away before the coming flood is prophetic of how the Christian church will be whisked away before the great tribulation, leaving the Jews behind who will then come to a realization that Jesus is their long-awaited Messiah. As the popular refrain goes, “ The purpose of the tribulation is for the salvation of the Jewish nation ." As much as I would like for the rapture to occur before the tribulation, I have difficulty accepting this teaching because I don’t believe the Scriptures teach that God has two salvation programs, one for the Jews and one for the Gentiles. I am adamant in my insistence that God for His own good reasons and purposes has chosen to save ONLY ONE group of people on this planet, and that group is the Jews and those Gentiles who join themselves to the Jews by accepting His new covenant through the shed blood of Messiah Yeshua. So what in the world happened with Enoch? Why was he so special? What can be gleaned from the limited information we are given? And what lesson can we derive from the story of Enoch? It is apparent that Enoch’s walk with God was of such an intimate nature that God made a special exception and took him straight to heaven. Hebrews 11:5 says that “ By trusting, ” he was taken away without having to suffer the indignities of growing old and dying. I think the biggest takeaway is that God has special treasures and pleasant surprises reserved for those who TRUST in Him. We live in a very cynical and pessimistic world. We are constantly surrounded by people whose only source of self-esteem is the money they have in their bank account and their place in society. Or the hedonists who live only for sexual pleasure. And lest you think I’m pointing fingers, I’m just as guilty as harboring these attitudes as anybody else. The Apostle Paul was right. There is nobody in this world that cares about the things of God or the Word of God. And I regret to say that such attitudes are just as prevalent among those in the church as well as out. I believe that what God did with Enoch is a strong statement to an unbelieving world. God is telling us that everything you think you know about reality and about how this world works is WRONG, DEAD WRONG! God is saying if your value system is NOT 100% based on me, you’re in for a rude awakening. He is essentially telling us that… …”I am in control of both LIFE and DEATH. And I have the power to take a man who trusts in Me and whisk him away to heaven if I so please.” And here is the great statement from the Bible that God has left to an unbelieving world. “For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” -Acts 17:31 I’m done. CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT Luke 3:37: of Metushelach, of Enoch, of Yered, of Mahalal’el, of Keinan, Hebrews 11:5: By trusting , Enoch was taken away from this life without seeing death — “He was not to be found, because God took him away” — for he has been attested as having been, prior to being taken away, well pleasing to God. Jude 1:14–15: Moreover, Enoch, in the seventh generation starting with Adam, also prophesied about these men, saying, “Look! Adonai came with his myriads of holy ones to execute judgment against everyone, that is, to convict all the godless for their godless deeds which they have done in such a godless way, and for all the harsh words these godless sinners have spoken against him.” © Richoka Do you agree or disagree with today’s interpretation? Why?

In the Bible, bloodlines are everything. Connected to this point is the huge misunderstanding that God made a separate covenant for the salvation of the Gentiles. I’m sorry to say this, but NO SUCH covenant exists. Let’s take a look at what the prophet Jeremiah says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah ”. -Jeremiah 31:31 It doesn’t mention anything about a new covenant with the house of Scandinavia or the house of Great Britain or the house of South Korea, does it? For His own good reasons, God has determined that only one group of people will be elected to be saved. That group is the Nation of Israel and all those people who join themselves to Israel ( spiritually immigrate to Israel so to speak ) by accepting His Messiah. This is the clear teaching of the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments. We see this process of separation occurring in the very first chapter of Genesis when God divided the light away from the darkness. And here in Genesis chapter 4, we witness the division of Cain and his descendants who will become a race of people that will be against God. The evidence for this is that five generations later, one of Cain’s descendants, a wickedly arrogant man named Lamech will appear on the scene. He took for himself two wives and then Scripture recorded the following boast he made. “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;O wives of Lamech, give ear to my speech.I have slain a man for wounding me,And a lad for bruising me.If Cain is avenged sevenfold,then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”-Genesis 4:23–24 Amazing! Here we have a man committing one of the worst sins a man can commit and boasting about it. Within a mere five generations, the human race on Cain’s side had become thoroughly wicked. Fortunately, the story of mankind does not end there. Soon after, Eve begets another son, names him Seth and proclaims “For God has granted me another seed in place of Abel, since Cain killed him. ” I want to share an interesting parallel concerning Eve giving birth to Cain and then Seth. Take a look at the following two Scriptures. “…and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord. ” -Genesis 4:1 “…and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “ God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him. ”-Genesis 4:25 In both cases, Eve makes a declaration to the Lord commemorating the occasion. However, the subject, verb, and object are different in both cases in the original Hebrew. In the first instance, Eve is the subject. Eve gets herself a man with the help of the Lord. She names the first son “Cain” which is a wordplay on the Hebrew verb Qanah , meaning “to get” . In the second case, God is the subject and Eve is the indirect object. This time Eve admits that God appointed Seth. The name of the second son Abel is a wordplay on the Hebrew word SHITH meaning “placing” or “appointing." The contrast in the destiny of Cain and Abel’s descendants is expressed in their names. The birth of Cain resulted from Eve’s own fleshly efforts. On the other hand, Seth was God’s provision of an appointed offspring. Eve’s fleshly efforts gave birth to a people of sin and destruction. However, the race that emerged from the God-provided Seth line brought forth life, hope and eventually the messiah. Later in Genesis, we will see a similar pattern emerge with the birth of Ishmael and Isaac. So at this early juncture, we can see that the stage has been set for a battle between God’s holy people and the followers of Satan. This holy war will not reach its final culmination until the Messiah returns. My question to you is, which side will you join? Ethnically speaking, it doesn’t matter whether you are Jew or Gentile. Are you going to join that murderer Cain’s line? Or will you join the Godly Seth line (which will become Israel) ? There is NO COMPROMISE on this foundational Biblical point. CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT Jesus answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. ”-Matthew 15:24 © Richoka

“I will be a fugitive wandering the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” Adonai answered him, “Therefore, whoever kills Kayin will receive vengeance sevenfold,” and Adonai put a mark on Cain , so that whoever found him would not slay him. -Genesis 4:15 The Scriptures explain that “the Lord set a mark upon Cain, so that WHOEVER found him would not slay him.” Let’s take a look at the Hebrew word for “whoever." In Hebrew, the word is KOL and this word actually has the double meaning of “whoever” and “whatever." In other words, it could be referring to other human beings or it could be referring to animals. One theory is that since the human population was very small at this time, rather than other human beings, Cain was in danger from wild animals. However, this is unlikely. When Adam and Eve came into being, they were created as fully mature adults capable of procreating from day one and most likely did. A lot of people jump to the conclusion that Cain and Abel were Adam and Eve’s first children. The Scriptures do not say this and this is obviously not true since Cain ventured into another town that already had a substantial population where he found a wife and started his own family. Although we will go quite some time before there is mention of another female besides Eve, this is simply because of the patriarchal nature of the Bible. It is male-oriented. All genealogy and family ties were according to their relationship to the father, the listing of generations only rarely includes a female name. Another idea is that Cain himself was a mark serving as a warning to others of the dire consequences that murder carried. However, I think the Professor of Hebrew at Berkeley University, Robert Alter’s assessment is the correct one, which is that it was a mark of protection and not a stigma. Cain, in fear, says, “ Whoever finds me will kill me, ” and the Scripture reports that the Lord in His compassion responded by putting a sign on Cain “ so that no one who found him would kill him .” So clearly, it was a mark of protection. © Richoka What does this story teach you about God’s character?

Soon after Cain murders his younger brother Abel, G-d confronts him and then, as a punishment, sentences Cain to be a restless wanderer on the earth. He will be banished from G-d’s presence and be considered an outlaw wherever he goes. Genesis 4:16 goes on to state the following; “So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod , east of Eden.” The Hebrew word “Nod” literally means “ to wander ” or “ wandering ." However, it doesn’t just mean wandering in the physical sense of moving from one place to another with no clear objective. There is a strong sense of restlessness or a lack of peace if life has no meaning or purpose. This connotation can also be seen in our English phrase “to nod off,” which means to become dozy due to an intense lack of interest or severe boredom. Fellow believers, isn’t this what we were like before coming to Hashem? Weren’t we just wanderers? Weren’t we just simply passing the time? We had no clear-cut goals or direction. We had no reason to live. Life was boring and dreary. No wonder a Godless world turns to money, drugs, alcohol, and sex to fill that void inside that never seems to go away. Isn’t it also true that there is no one more miserable than a believer who has backslid away from G-d and has again become embroiled in the cares and worries of this world? I can vouch from personal experience that there is nothing more depressing than that dark, lonely feeling that occurs after one deliberately disobeys God. ChatGPT It is during such times that I feel so lonely and begin to worry that maybe G-d has forever abandoned me. On the other hand, when you are in obedient to G-d, there is nothing greater than the peaceful reassurance that results. CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous .-1 John 3:12 © Richoka