One of Abraham's Visions
principal religions of our society. He was born about
three millenia ago in Mesopotamia (in what is now
Iraq). As a boy he emigrated with his family to Haran,
near the headwaters of the Euphrates (in eastern
Turkey. He later went, with his nephew, Lord, South to
Palestine, responding to a directive he had received
from God (to the Promised Land). Abraham and Lot were
so prosperous that it became necessary to divided the
land. Lot choose the 'plains of Jordan' and took up
residence in the town of Sodom.
Sitting outside his tent he received a visit from three
men (whom he thought to be God). He entertained them
and had an extended conversation. God revealed that he
was going to Sodom to see if the direful rumors about
the place were true. Read Abraham Genesis 18:20ff:
20And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
21I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.
22And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.
23And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
24Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?
25That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
26And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.
27And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD, which am but dust and ashes:
28Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.
29And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake.
30And he said unto him, Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.
31And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake.
32And he said, Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake.
33And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.
3 comments:
"Peradventure"? Which translation is that from? I don't ever recall seeing the word in the NKJV-ish text I grew up with. (I say "-ish" because it was a non-Christian Messianic sect.)
check out Genesis 18 in the King James Version. Let me know if you find it.
Sarah has a child after this visit (You can read in the archives what we said about this passage earlier, and the odd things we were discovering in the process.)
This morning, however-- not knowing that anyone was resurrecting this site, and certainly not taking up this story-- I was thinking about the term "Angel of the Lord", which Abraham is said to encounter here.
I was thinking about what people used to mean by terms like "angel", "spirit", "god", etc... and there's a personal quality to those concepts, not necessarily any personal consciousness in them-- and they were thought of as "spirits of" something or other, some quality or aspect of life, or of a nation, etc.
So is "the Angel of the Lord" here equivalent to "the Lord"? Or is Abraham encountering a new concept of God? Dickering over ethics, making deals, "covenants" etc., not just with the local spirit-- as ancient tribes often did-- but with the true God, so far as Abraham could conceive and contemplate that Reality...
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