Greetings All!!
Torah Tidbit
Vayeira (and (he) appeared), Genesis 18:1 – 22:24
God sends emissaries/angels to Abraham and Sarah, telling them they will have a son in a year and the impending doom for Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot is rescued from Sodom and Sodom is wiped out. Abraham and Sarah move to Phillista and go through another episode of the king taking Sarah. Hagar and Ishmael are sent away. Abraham offers Issac as a sacrifice. Uuf dah!
“But now, return the man’s wife for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live, but if you do not return her, be aware that you shall surely die: you and all that is yours.” ….Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his maids, and they were relieved. – Genesis 20:7,17
Walking the Walk
God arranged a unique trial not just for Abraham and Sarah, but also for Abimelech and his people. Although Abimelech should not have taken Sarah against her will, he must have led a decently moral life for God to warn him and provide a way to rectify the error. As part of the correction, God requires that Abimelech ask Abraham to pray for him, that Abimelech and his household be healed. Abraham does so and all are restored to full health.
Previously in Vayeira, God creates another situation that encourages Abraham to pray for others by personally presenting the looming doom for the cities down in the valley. God knows full well what Abraham will say, yet I still see God “smiling” and delighting in Abraham’s repeated queries abut the righteous who remain in the cities. Once again, Abraham’s prayers positively affect the lives of others who attempt to live a moral life yet let their desires get the best of them.
In both situations, God doesn’t need Abraham’s prayers. The Holy One can achieve His objectives in an infinite number of ways. So why the praying? Because He does want – dare I say crave? – us to talk to Him, work out issues with Him, learn how to consider others with Him. The Hebrew word for prayer in the Abimelech story is “hispallel”. We’ve talked previously about how “pallel” is the work of a judge – sifting through stories and evidence to get to the truth of the matter – and the “his” means the judge is working on oneself. R. Hirsch notes that “pallel” is closely related to “ballel”, a root word describing the thorough mixing of a new ingredient into some substance – think cold butter into dough or adding a little more Portland into wet cement. Hirsch observes that in prayer one “ballels” God’s divine truth into whatever one is struggling to understand and work through. And the cool side benefit? Others can benefit from our efforts!
So once again read these two stories with this in mind, watching Abraham do just that with the news about Sodom and Abimelech’s behavior.
Science Catches up with the Bible
Although the Bible describes human and natural history, it should not be considered a history book or scientific reference. However, it is refreshing to see when science works with Biblical descriptions. Here’s a recent scientific report on the destruction of the Dead Sea area – Sodom and Gomorrah.
https://news.yahoo.com/giant-space-rock-demolished-ancient-104834793.html. – normal news article
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-97778-3 – in-depth science report, worth the read if you have time
Be well!
Neil