- Isaac & Yeshua were both conceived under miraculous and apparently questionable circumstances.
- Abraham loved Isaac. The Father was "well pleased" with Yeshua.
- 3 days journey to the binding of Isaac & 3 days in the grave for Yeshua.
- 2 men accompanied Isaac & Abraham, while 2 men were crucified beside Yeshua.
- Both men were accompanied to the locale of Jerusalem by a donkey.
- Yeshua and Isaac both went willingly & carried the wood that would be used in their sacrifices.
- Isaac was symbolically "resurrected" at God's intervention. Yeshua was actually resurrected.
- A ram replaced Isaac on the altar, while a Lamb replaced all of mankind.
- Just like Yeshua, Isaac disappeared from the Biblical scene until the Servant had prepared his bride.
Showing posts with label Vayeira. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vayeira. Show all posts
Parallels between Isaac and Yeshua
Some parallels between Isaac & Yeshua:
Thematic Connections between the Flood and Sodom
Tony Robinson has a number of great teachings based on thematic connections between different stories in the Bible. In this video, he illustrates a parallelism between Genesis 6:9-9:23 on one side and Genesis 18:23-19:37 on the other. Be sure to give him a thumbs up and share the video.
Video from Tony Robinson:
Here is the same parallelism graphically illustrated:
...and again in text for the search engines:
A: 6:9 - Noah was the only righteous man in a wicked generation.
B: 6:13-22 - God will destroy the earth because of its violence
C: 7:3-16 - Noah and family enter the ark to save their lives
D: 7:17-24 - All life destroyed in the flood and rain
E: 8:1 - People and animals saved because God remembered Noah
F: 8:4 - Ark rested on the mountains of Ararat
G: 9:20-23 - Ham committed a sexual sin while Noah was drunk
A: 18:23-24 - Abraham asks, Would you destroy the righteous with the wicked?
B: 19:13 - God will destroy Sodom because of the outcry against it
C: 19:14-22 - Lot and family leaves the city to save their lives
D: 19:23-28 - All people of Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed by sulfur rain
E: 19:29 - Lot and family are saved because God remembered Abraham
F: 19:30 - Lot and daughters settled on the mountain above Zohar
G: 19:31-37 - Lot's daughters had sex with him while he was drunk
Video from Tony Robinson:
What Was Ham's Sin and Why Was Canaan Cursed
Here is the same parallelism graphically illustrated:
...and again in text for the search engines:
A: 6:9 - Noah was the only righteous man in a wicked generation.
B: 6:13-22 - God will destroy the earth because of its violence
C: 7:3-16 - Noah and family enter the ark to save their lives
D: 7:17-24 - All life destroyed in the flood and rain
E: 8:1 - People and animals saved because God remembered Noah
F: 8:4 - Ark rested on the mountains of Ararat
G: 9:20-23 - Ham committed a sexual sin while Noah was drunk
A: 18:23-24 - Abraham asks, Would you destroy the righteous with the wicked?
B: 19:13 - God will destroy Sodom because of the outcry against it
C: 19:14-22 - Lot and family leaves the city to save their lives
D: 19:23-28 - All people of Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed by sulfur rain
E: 19:29 - Lot and family are saved because God remembered Abraham
F: 19:30 - Lot and daughters settled on the mountain above Zohar
G: 19:31-37 - Lot's daughters had sex with him while he was drunk
This parallelism shows that Ham's sin was almost certainly sexual in nature, but why would Noah curse Ham's son instead of Ham himself? I think the two most likely explanations are that 1) Ham permanently broke the relationship of Noah with one of his sons, so Noah's curse against Canaan broke the relationship between Ham and one of his sons or that 2) Ham's sin was actually against his own mother, and Canaan was the offspring of that sin, much as Lot's daughters gave birth to Moab and Ammon through their sin.
The Three Angels at Sodom
In the stories of Abraham and Lot we can see two sides of a single
prophecy. On the one hand is Abraham, through whom would come Israel,
the Torah, and the Messiah. The whole world would be blessed through him
and a portion of it would ultimately be saved. On the other hand is
Lot, through whom at least Sodom could have been saved. But instead of
preaching righteousness, he tried to be one of them without being like
them. God had given him an opportunity to build the Kingdom through the
witness of his words and righteous life, but he squandered the
opportunity and lost even his own family.
There are some interesting patterns in the behavior of the three angels who came to judge and execute Sodom.
Genesis 18:1-2 present us with one mystery.
Recall the pattern of Genesis 1 and 2. In Genesis 1, Moses gave us a broad overview of the 7 days of creation. In Genesis 2, he zoomed into a subset of events that took place within those 7 days. They aren't two contradictory accounts, but a single account told from two perspectives. The same thing happens in here. Verse 1 says that YHWH appeared to Abraham, and then verse 2 says that three men appeared to him. There aren't four men here. Moses gave us a summary first, saying that YHWH appeared. Then he zoomed in and gave us another perspective on the same event: YHWH appeared to Abraham as three men. There is only one God; he is not three separate Gods. So what are we to make of this?
We will have to be content with a certain amount of mystery; we can never fully comprehend God. When he appears to men, we only see part of him. If we were to see him in all his glory we would die. So when we see him, we see him as the ten blind Indian men saw the elephant: a small part at a time, seeming to be one thing when he is really something greater. So Abraham saw God as three men, and we understand him in terms of Father, Son, and Spirit, even while we know that God is One: Hear, O Israel, YHWH our God is one YHWH. Shema, Yisrael, YHWH elohenu YHWH echad. When God reveals a part of himself, sometimes he appears as fire, sometimes as cloud, sometimes as a man, and sometimes as three men. He is still the One True God. None of these perspectives can define him.
God never does anything without purpose. He might be arational--meaning his actions might have no reason that we can know or understand--but he is never irrational. So when God appears to us as three men or as two men or as one man, then there is something we can know about him through it.
Here are the things that the character called YHWH does in these interactions with Abraham and Lot when he is referenced distinctly from the three, two, or one angels:
One question remains: Why were there three angels with Abraham and only two with Lot? The answer is in the pattern I showed above. Remember that every capital crime must have at least two witnesses and a judge, and the judge cannot also be a witness. So one separately referred to as YHWH stood back while the two angels went down to observe the crimes of Sodom and to see if any might be saved. As soon as they had brought God's people to safety, judgment was executed.
There are some interesting patterns in the behavior of the three angels who came to judge and execute Sodom.
Genesis 18:1-2 present us with one mystery.
Recall the pattern of Genesis 1 and 2. In Genesis 1, Moses gave us a broad overview of the 7 days of creation. In Genesis 2, he zoomed into a subset of events that took place within those 7 days. They aren't two contradictory accounts, but a single account told from two perspectives. The same thing happens in here. Verse 1 says that YHWH appeared to Abraham, and then verse 2 says that three men appeared to him. There aren't four men here. Moses gave us a summary first, saying that YHWH appeared. Then he zoomed in and gave us another perspective on the same event: YHWH appeared to Abraham as three men. There is only one God; he is not three separate Gods. So what are we to make of this?
We will have to be content with a certain amount of mystery; we can never fully comprehend God. When he appears to men, we only see part of him. If we were to see him in all his glory we would die. So when we see him, we see him as the ten blind Indian men saw the elephant: a small part at a time, seeming to be one thing when he is really something greater. So Abraham saw God as three men, and we understand him in terms of Father, Son, and Spirit, even while we know that God is One: Hear, O Israel, YHWH our God is one YHWH. Shema, Yisrael, YHWH elohenu YHWH echad. When God reveals a part of himself, sometimes he appears as fire, sometimes as cloud, sometimes as a man, and sometimes as three men. He is still the One True God. None of these perspectives can define him.
God never does anything without purpose. He might be arational--meaning his actions might have no reason that we can know or understand--but he is never irrational. So when God appears to us as three men or as two men or as one man, then there is something we can know about him through it.
Here are the things that the character called YHWH does in these interactions with Abraham and Lot when he is referenced distinctly from the three, two, or one angels:
- 18:1: Appears
- 18:10: Prophesies
- 18:13: Questions
- 18:15: Judges
- 18:17: Questions
- 18:19: Prophesies
- 18:20: Judges
- 18:22: Stands
- 18:26: Judges
- 18:33: Leaves
- 19:13: Judges
- 19:24: Judges
- 18:8: Eat (three)
- 18:9: Question (three)
- 18:16: Rise and look (three)
- 18:22: Turn and go (two)
- 19:1: Come to Sodom (two)
- 19:2: Inform (two)
- 19:3: Turn, walk, and eat (two)
- 19:4: Prepare to sleep (two)
- 19:10: Rescue and protect (two)
- 19:11: Blind attackers (two)
- 19:12: Question and command (two)
- 19:16: Compel to safety (two)
- 19:17: Commands to safety
- 19:18: Extends mercy
- YHWH as investigator and judge.
- Three or two men together as friends, protectors, and guides.
- One man as giver of mercy.
One question remains: Why were there three angels with Abraham and only two with Lot? The answer is in the pattern I showed above. Remember that every capital crime must have at least two witnesses and a judge, and the judge cannot also be a witness. So one separately referred to as YHWH stood back while the two angels went down to observe the crimes of Sodom and to see if any might be saved. As soon as they had brought God's people to safety, judgment was executed.
A Tale of Three Cities
Three Biblical cities illustrate the ways in which God deals with sinful men:
So what city will you be when God exposes your sin? Will you ignore him, despise him, revile him, and be destroyed like Sodom? Will you fight him and try to compromise with him, and be divided and crippled like Egypt? Or will you surrender completely to him and be spared like Nineveh?
- Sodom was destroyed without warning and without mercy. Abraham bargained with God and won a single hope for Sodom, but God already knew that it was a false hope. He knew the hearts of the men of Sodom and so did everyone else, Abraham included. In a city of tens of thousands of people, Abraham asked God to spare it for the sake of only ten righteous men. I think he knew that they were not likely to be found.
- Thebes probably had a good number of righteous people. God offered Pharaoh and the Egyptians a chance to repent, and many of them accepted his offer, joining with Israel in the Exodus. Unfortunately, Pharaoh and the majority of his people did not and the entire nation suffered terribly.
- Nineveh received a reluctant prophet and immediately took his message to heart. The city repented and was spared.
So what city will you be when God exposes your sin? Will you ignore him, despise him, revile him, and be destroyed like Sodom? Will you fight him and try to compromise with him, and be divided and crippled like Egypt? Or will you surrender completely to him and be spared like Nineveh?
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