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Tag: sodom

  • You will not be led 3 – Lot’s wife turns back

    Two Cities DESTROYED!! 1:47 suggest viewing until end as you read of Abraham negotiating with the LORD to spare some souls of this city of Sodom & also Gomorrah

    WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?!

    Have you forgotten what happened before?

    Did you hear the WARNINGS?

    map Sodom and Gomorrah

    Lot’s wife is not only returned to her new home after being captured by enemy kings, but they move from their tent into the city of Sodom. In addition to tending his sheep, her husband is now an important man of the city.

    Previously: You Will Not Be Led -2- Lot’s Wife

    Genesis 18:

    18:1 וַיֵּרָ֤א אֵלָיו֙ יְהוָ֔ה בְּאֵלֹנֵ֖י מַמְרֵ֑א וְה֛וּא יֹשֵׁ֥ב פֶּֽתַח־הָאֹ֖הֶל כְּחֹ֥ם הַיּֽוֹם׃

    Ordinary men near cities of kings

    Abraham, whose pastures were separate from Lot, welcomes three heavenly visitors. With the help of the Lord he had rescued Lot. Therefore, Lot, his wife and daughters and servants were returned to the land near Sodom, where they moved within the walls of the wicked city of the land they entered as sojourners.

    Messengers of Mamre

    20 Adonai said, “The outcry against S’dom and ‘Amora is so great and their sin so serious that I will now go down and see whether their deeds warrant the outcry that has reached me; if not, I will know.”

    22 The men turned away from there and went toward S’dom, but Avraham remained standing before Adonai.

    What follows in Mamre is a very personal negotiation between Abraham and G-d.

    • 23 Abraham approached and said, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
    • .. will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?
    • .. “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am only dust and ashes. Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five..?
    • .. forty..?
    • “Oh may the Lord not be angry.. thirty..?
    • ..twenty-one..? ..ten..?
    • .. And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.”

    Two angels sojourning to Sodom

    The two strangers have traveled from Mamre and entered the gates of Sodom at a time when darkness falls.

    Genesis 19:

    When Lot saw them, he stood up to meet them and bowed himself to the ground.

    “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, we’ll stay in the square.”

    3 And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, baking matzah for their supper, which they ate.

    A Bible story not preached ‘at church’

    The actions of evil intentions which follow are too intense for common preaching to our socially-correct, all-inclusive gatherings of 21st century ‘christian families.’

    Even so, we bring with us to church (sometimes) our own children who are heavily influenced by such things in the world of media and by their everyday school friends.

    4 Before they lay down, the men of the city—the men of Sodom—surrounded the house..

    [MANY MEN, a MOB perhaps drunken with wine and other spirits] 5 and they called to Lot..

    “..Bring them out to us! We want to have sex with them!”

    6 But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, and said,

    “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly.

    Who will judge sin?

    Lot includes himself in their community of Sodom, calling them brothers. For after their rescue by his uncle he is now esteemed to sit at the gate among Sodom’s leaders.

    So Lot now bids his fellow rulers of Sodom, ‘do not act wickedly.‘

    He actually offers his two betrothed daughters (of whom we will hear more of later) to satisfy the passions of the mob who would surge past him if possible and into his house.

    As now is evident to US, wicked mobs are not easily dissuaded.

    “I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.“

    9 And they said, Stand back. And they said again,

    This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them.

    And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. 10 But the men [the two angels, messengers of the Lord] put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.

    11 And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness..

    Flee the Wrath to Come

    “Whom else do you have here? .. for we are about to destroy this place,

    because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”

    Do NOT miss the WARNING!

    For it is not entirely about the destruction of SODOM & GOMMORAH, or even a fading recent memory from a century past of two cities: HIROSHIMA & NAGASAKI.

    The END of these last days will come upon us suddenly!!

    A.D. 2021 may or may not be the time, but no flesh and blood can hide from the wrath which is to come at the fulfillment of time. 

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  • You Will Not Be Led -2- Lot’s Wife

    You Will Not Be Led -2- Lot’s Wife

    WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?!

    As the world reports with great frequency, something BIG just happened (somewhere); and now you ask (if again threat of impending doom is not dire), “What does this have to do with Lot’s wife?”

    If kings or enemies have caused it, let’s quickly CONVICT them so they cannot do this to US again.

    And if ‘mother nature’ reeks unpredicted peril to our precious environment of sin, let’s legislate change (to keep things the same).

    Lot’s wife

    • Do we even know her name?

    No, only the caution (and we don’t know much about that).

    • Do you know who Lot is?

    Perhaps, but not fully.

    • How about their home town: do you know where they lived?

    Not really. (I think they had to leave suddenly, but I don’t know how they got there or where they went when they left.

    Kings, alliances, wars & ordinary men

    “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end.

    Mark 13:7 NASB

    Powerful and ambitious men and kings frequently impact the everyday lives of those in their path. This warning of Jesus about WHEN the end will come is given millennia beyond the times of Abraham and Lot.

    Even now as in every age we see kings and wars affect the outcomes of life, even for men of faith like Abraham, Moses or David.

    Sojourners in the lands of kings

    כִּֽי־גֵרִים אֲנַחְנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ וְתוֹשָׁבִים כְּכָל־אֲבֹתֵינוּ כַּצֵּל יָמֵינוּ עַל־הָאָרֶץ וְאֵין מִקְוֶֽה׃

    “For we are sojourners before You, and tenants, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope.

    1 Chronicles 29:15 WLC, NASB – words of the shepherd king, David

    Who was Lot? (& where is he from?)

    Really, like Abraham, Lot was a shepherd sojourner a long way from home (back in kingdoms of the eastern kings near Haran and river Euphrates) now traveling in a land of western kings near the Jordan (or southern kings like those along the Nile).

    • Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there. – Genesis 11:31
    • Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan. – Genesis 12:4b-5
    • So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, he and his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot with him.. Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. – Genesis 13:1,5

    Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere—this was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar.

    Genesis 13:10 – Lot separates from Abram

    Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the valley, and moved his tents as far as Sodom. – Genesis 13:12

    (Of course, shepherds follow sheep to places of pasture.)

    Ordinary men near cities of kings

    By grace of the Lord God, Abraham and Lot, shepherds called into other lands were leaders of men (although not kings of cities as were the men with whom they kept covenants to live nearby).

    • Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks, herds, and tents. And the land could not support both of them while living together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to remain together.. Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time. – Genesis 13:5-6,7b
    • When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, numbering 318, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.

    These are not poor men, but ambitions merchants of wool trading with men of other leaders(i.e. kings of nearby cities) to support their own wives, children and servants, men protecting their households – tents, at times – and goods (the sheep of their pastures).

    Are we not ordinary men caught up in the struggles of the powerful men of the world struggling for advantage against each other, even though the Lord is our Shepherd?

    Roger @talk of Jesus {dot}.com

    The Alliances of War

    Genesis 14:

    And it came to pass.. That these made war..

    We need not get into the details of who were the ‘democrats’ or ‘republicans,’ so to speak, among these big city kings opposed to each other.

    The outcome will later prove to be the end for Lot’s wife and a blot on Lot’s legacy which lingers for all time as a warning to any dwelling too near the city of destruction destined by sin. (Read it for yourself, if you’d like.)

    Brief highlights:

    • Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations VS.
    • Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (Zoar).
    • The battle takes place in the Siddim Valley, near the Salt Sea.

    10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell into them. But those who survived fled to the hill country. 11 Then they took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food supply, and departed.

    Captured, then rescued

    The kings where Lot and his family lived lost the war and all of them (including the wives of the men, riches and sheep) became the spoils of war to the winning kings.

    BUT, Abraham hears of it and saves not only Lot, but many others.

    16 He brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his relative Lot with his possessions, and also the women, and the other people.

    17 Then after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).

    (After its rescue, it seems the city of Sodom has a new king.) An important communion of the victorious kings takes place here when Abraham returns. Our focus today, however, is only on Sodom.

    18 וּמַלְכִּי־צֶ֙דֶק֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ שָׁלֵ֔ם הוֹצִ֖יא לֶ֣חֶם וָיָ֑יִן וְה֥וּא כֹהֵ֖ן לְאֵ֥ל עֶלְיֽוֹן׃

    Avram gave him a tenth of everything.

    It is Abraham, the victorious shepherd (though not a king) who with the help of the Lord returns from battle with the spoils of victory.

    21 The king of S’dom said to Avram, “Give me the people, and keep the goods for yourself.” But Avram answered the king of S’dom,

    “I have raised my hand in an oath to Adonai, El ‘Elyon, maker of heaven and earth, that I will not take so much as a thread or a sandal thong of anything that is yours..

    Therefore, Lot, his wife and daughters and servants were returned to the land near Sodom, where they moved within the walls of the wicked city of the land they entered as sojourners.

    Messengers of Mamre

    18:1 וַיֵּרָ֤א אֵלָיו֙ יְהוָ֔ה בְּאֵלֹנֵ֖י מַמְרֵ֑א וְה֛וּא יֹשֵׁ֥ב פֶּֽתַח־הָאֹ֖הֶל כְּחֹ֥ם הַיּֽוֹם׃

    22 The men turned away from there and went toward S’dom, but Avraham remained standing before Adonai.

    To be continued...
  • Festival of the Passover

    Festival of the Passover

    No holy holiday surpasses peçach, the festival of the Passover, in the calendar year of the jews. In a previous post, Josiah – a Good King also Dies, we discovered that Passover had been completely forgotten by the Judah. The Law had not been read and Kings before Josiah had done evil in the sight of the Lord.

    פֶּסַח

    We also reviewed the meaning of Passover:

    “a sparing, immunity from penalty and calamity.

    The root word suggests from application of scripture in Exodus 12 that the Lord will pass over or spring over you when executing judgment. He will halt the punitive action in your case.

    A Three-part Festival

    Instructions for the Passover

    Exodus 12:3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they must each select an animal of the flock according to their fathers’ families, one animal per family. 4 If the household is too small for a whole animal, that person and the neighbor nearest his house are to select one based on the combined number of people; you should apportion the animal according to what each will eat. 5 You must have an unblemished animal, a year-old male; you may take it from either the sheep or the goats. 6 You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of this month…

    Preparation

    The contemporary photo of an Israeli employee removing prayer notes from the western wall is just one example of a cleansing of sorts, associated with the sacrifice of Passover.

    You must be spotless before the Lord. Not better than everyone else, one who does more good works than (perhaps) the one who does not achieve eternal life. Spotless. Cleansed of sin.

    His place of worship in Jerusalem must be clean to begin the great sacrifice. Everything washed. Pure. This preparation to come before the Lord is symbolic of repentance.

    Are you mostly good?

    Not good enough (for no man or woman is good, no not one).

    lamb bound on the altar of sacrifice

    Yet we no longer sacrifice the blood of a lamb, for the Holy of Holies and the altar has been destroyed.

    Passover Meal

    Exodus 12: CSB/WLC שמות

    … then the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight.

    Exodus 12:6B

    7 They must take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where they eat them. 8 They are to eat the meat that night; they should eat it, roasted over the fire along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

    Strict regulations also include: (9 Do not eat any of it raw or cooked in boiling water, but only roasted over fire—its head as well as its legs and inner organs. 10 You must not leave any of it until morning; any part of it left until morning you must burn.)

    What about now?

    Beloved follower of the Lord in this 21st century after the Messiah Jesus, I ask you:

    Even IF you strictly observance the Passover today, is your worship any more than symbolism?

    Can the blood of a lamb (no longer sacrificed) atone for your sin? כָּפַר

    11 וְכָכָה֮ תֹּאכְל֣וּ אֹתוֹ֒ מָתְנֵיכֶ֣ם חֲגֻרִ֔ים נַֽעֲלֵיכֶם֙ בְּרַגְלֵיכֶ֔ם וּמַקֶּלְכֶ֖ם בְּיֶדְכֶ֑ם וַאֲכַלְתֶּ֤ם אֹתוֹ֙ בְּחִפָּז֔וֹן פֶּ֥סַח ה֖וּא לַיהוָֽה׃

    Here is how you must eat it: You must be dressed for travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in a hurry; it is the Lord’s Passover.

    Exodus 12:11

    Christian and Jew alike understand the significance of the events to follow the quickly eaten Passover meal and the account of Moses as redeemer from slavery in Egypt.

    Christians ought to understand this same symbolism of the body and blood of the Lamb, the risen Messiah King, as in an upper room in Jerusalem, Jesus shared a last Passover meal with His beloved Disciple family nearly two millennia ago.

    And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

    And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it.

    And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.

    Mark 14:22-24 KJV

    Passover Celebration

    14 וְהָיָה֩ הַיּ֨וֹם הַזֶּ֤ה לָכֶם֙ לְזִכָּר֔וֹן וְחַגֹּתֶ֥ם אֹת֖וֹ חַ֣ג לַֽיהוָ֑ה לְדֹרֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם חֻקַּ֥ת עוֹלָ֖ם תְּחָגֻּֽהוּ׃

    “This day is to be a memorial for you, and you must celebrate it as a festival to the Lord. You are to celebrate it throughout your generations as a permanent statute.

    • 15 You must eat unleavened bread for seven days.
    • On the first day you must remove yeast from your houses.
    • Whoever eats what is leavened from the first day through the seventh day must be cut off from Israel.
    • 16 You are to hold a sacred assembly on the first day…
    • … and another sacred assembly on the seventh day.
    • No work may be done on those days except for preparing what people need to eat—you may do only that.

    Festival of Unleavened Bread

    … You must observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent statute.

    Thus, we remember how the Lord used Moses to bring Israel out of Egypt, where the Lord led and purified a people chosen to His for entry into a land promised to Abraham as his inheritance. Yet the Lord has used saviors besides Moses to redeem his faithful from the chains of this life.

    Other Saviors Redeeming God’s Faithful

    We know well the saving of the Jews from Pharaoh. Some would look to Moses or Joshua as their redeemer or savior. Certainly Joseph saved Israel in Egypt until in the generations he was forgotten.

    Others see David as Israel’s king triumphant. A few recognize Ezra for bringing back worship in Jerusalem. All of these would give the same glory instead to the Lord God.

    One more mention of the unleavened bread in the generation of Abraham may have missed your notice. You may not believe it, though Moses tells it. Once again, it was served quickly and judgment by the Lord followed.

    The Doom of Sodom

    If any family should have been celebrating a festival of unleavened bread it would be the families of Abraham, who faithful followed the Lord from place to place as the Lord commanded. The Lord’s covenant with Abraham preceded the Law of Moses.

    As you may know, Lot, son of Abram’s brother Haran, also followed the Lord to both Canaan and Egypt before settling in the city of Sodom. It was a walled city with a gate like other cities of its time.

    Genesis 19:

    The two angels entered Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in Sodom’s gateway. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them. He bowed with his face to the ground…

    … He prepared a feast and baked unleavened bread for them, and they ate.

    Have you ever considered it? Lot prepared a feast of unleavened bread for the two angels who saved him from Sodom.

    Lot was unaware of their mission and events which had already taken place between the angels and Abraham.

    The Lord appeared to Abraham

    18 וַיֵּרָ֤א אֵלָיו֙ יְהוָ֔ה בְּאֵלֹנֵ֖י מַמְרֵ֑א וְה֛וּא יֹשֵׁ֥ב פֶּֽתַח־הָאֹ֖הֶל כְּחֹ֥ם הַיּֽוֹם׃

    Three angels had appeared to Abraham. Lot would only know that his uncle and aunt in their nineties were childless. He had been like a son to them.

    16 The men got up from there and looked out over Sodom, and Abraham was walking with them to see them off.

    17 Then the Lord said, “Should I hide what I am about to do from Abraham?

    Lot, of course knows nothing of the conversation to follow which has already taken place when two angels come to him at the gate of Sodom.

    The Lord had judged Sodom for the sin of all of its residents. Then Abraham intercedes, pleaing for the Lord to spare Lot and his family. Abraham saves them from the sentence of death, all except Lot’s wife who sinned even after the warning of angels.

    22 The men turned from there and went toward Sodom while Abraham remained standing before the Lord. 23 Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

    Genesis 19:15 “Get up! … or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”

    29 וַיְהִ֗י בְּשַׁחֵ֤ת אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־עָרֵ֣י הַכִּכָּ֔ר וַיִּזְכֹּ֥ר אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶת־אַבְרָהָ֑ם וַיְשַׁלַּ֤ח אֶת־לוֹט֙ מִתּ֣וֹךְ הַהֲפֵכָ֔ה בַּהֲפֹךְ֙ אֶת־הֶ֣עָרִ֔ים אֲשֶׁר־יָשַׁ֥ב בָּהֵ֖ן לֽוֹט׃

    So it was, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham and brought Lot out of the middle of the upheaval when he demolished the cities where Lot had lived.

    Genesis 19:29 WLC,CSB

    A Savior at the gate of Jerusalem

    As the LORD in Person

    Came to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre,

    As the LORD in Person

    Came to Moses at Sinai,

    The LORD in the Person of the Son With Us

    Came to Jerusalem’s gate.

    —

    The Lord in Person sacrificed

    On a Cross beyond its walls,

    Jesus, Messiah and King

    Risen! in Person,

    Jesus, in flesh and blood shed

    Our King comes on the clouds again!

    Roger Harned

    The Lord will return

    Will you bow down to your Lord and King?

    Or will you yet crucify Him?

    The choice of judgment is yours, yet your redemption or just punishment will be His.

    Is Jesus your Lord? Or will you justify your sin without Him?

    To be continued... [eternally]
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