10.26.24
Good morning!
Commercial: Last night's zoom: When God makes a new creation He restores it in full (Gen. 1:1-2:3; Isa. 45:18; Jer.4:23; Isa. 14; Eze.28)
Every story through the book of Genesis takes us back to the Garden of Eden. Strangely enough, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is no exception. After man stretched for their hand/shalach yad to reach for the fruit, the banishment eastward out of the garden followed, two angelic beings were sent to guard the way to the tree of life with a flaming sword that turned/mit’hapechet each way (Gen. 3:24). Why guard the pathway to the tree of life? A path seems like a way of gaining access to the thing that lies at the end. So does the mystery of how to access the Tree of Life lie, somehow, in this path?
You may be asking how does this Garden of Eden story and the Sodom story fit together? Sodom was like the garden of Eden (Gen. 13:10). Angels came to protect Lot and his family as they stretched forth their hands (Gen. 19:10). Lot is removed from the city and the angels prepare a divine fire to destroy/ mit’hapechet.
There are at least 8 distinct parallels between the story that link Adam's exile from the garden and Lot's Sodom.
In each story, the inhabitants commit some sort of sin, and lose access to the garden. But, in contrast one loses the garden and neither are destroyed, while in the progressive second story both garden and people are destroyed.
The eating of the forbidden fruit, was a first step along a dark and dangerous path whose possible end is Sodom. What was individualized in our first couple, became institutionalized values of evil for the entire community (Gen. 19:11) because Lot broke the hospitality rules towards strangers (Eze. 16:49). Ultimately, a society like that cannot be allowed to survive (Lk. 17:28-30) unless there are a certain amount of righteous individuals present (Gen. 18:32).
Ironically, the angelic beings that guarded the path/shamar derech to the tree of life, appear again in the Sodom story right before God decides to destroy Sodom. God says to Himself, 'shall I hide from Abraham that which I'm about to do...for I know that he will instruct his children and his progeny after him, to keep the pathway of God/shamar derech to do what is just and what is right (Gen. 18:17-19).
Shamar derech shows up with the angels guarding the pathway to the tree of life and it's mirrored in Sodom by Abraham keeping the path of God to do justice/tzedek and what is right/mishpat. The Cherubim guarded the tree of life, which Solomon described as the Torah, and Abraham has God's reveal
His end time plans because He lives the Torah (Gen. 18:19; 26:5). Both end up guarding some form of the Tree of Life.
If the Torah is a tree of life (Prov. 3:18; 11:30; 13:12; 15:4) and access to the tree of life comes through obedience to the commandments of God (Rev. 2:7; 22:14), it's important for us to see that this tree comes with a path, a path you can walk on. What is that path? It is the path of doing what is right/tzedek and doing the just thing/mishpat.
Sodom did have justice, but it was according to their own rules and values/laodicea. They did not care or regard others, especially strangers.
God tells Abraham that His nation, the one He’s going to create through Father Abraham, in order to be successful, it is going to have to balance these two values. To attempt to create a society like this, ultimately gives you the grace to walk on the path of the Tree of Life.
God gave us the Torah expressing Tzedek and Mishpat. We study the Torah. We wrestle with its meaning. We try to bring some sort of balance between tzedek and mishpat into our personal and communal lives. So that we can do, and express in our lives the qualities of tzedek and mishpat. When we do that, we too, walk the path of the tree of life...Modeled very well by our Father Abraham and given as an example for us to live (John 8:39; Gal. 3:16,17; 29), so we too can go back to the Garden once again.
Shabbat Shalom!
Every story through the book of Genesis takes us back to the Garden of Eden. Strangely enough, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is no exception. After man stretched for their hand/shalach yad to reach for the fruit, the banishment eastward out of the garden followed, two angelic beings were sent to guard the way to the tree of life with a flaming sword that turned/mit’hapechet each way (Gen. 3:24). Why guard the pathway to the tree of life? A path seems like a way of gaining access to the thing that lies at the end. So does the mystery of how to access the Tree of Life lie, somehow, in this path?
You may be asking how does this Garden of Eden story and the Sodom story fit together? Sodom was like the garden of Eden (Gen. 13:10). Angels came to protect Lot and his family as they stretched forth their hands (Gen. 19:10). Lot is removed from the city and the angels prepare a divine fire to destroy/ mit’hapechet.
There are at least 8 distinct parallels between the story that link Adam's exile from the garden and Lot's Sodom.
In each story, the inhabitants commit some sort of sin, and lose access to the garden. But, in contrast one loses the garden and neither are destroyed, while in the progressive second story both garden and people are destroyed.
The eating of the forbidden fruit, was a first step along a dark and dangerous path whose possible end is Sodom. What was individualized in our first couple, became institutionalized values of evil for the entire community (Gen. 19:11) because Lot broke the hospitality rules towards strangers (Eze. 16:49). Ultimately, a society like that cannot be allowed to survive (Lk. 17:28-30) unless there are a certain amount of righteous individuals present (Gen. 18:32).
Ironically, the angelic beings that guarded the path/shamar derech to the tree of life, appear again in the Sodom story right before God decides to destroy Sodom. God says to Himself, 'shall I hide from Abraham that which I'm about to do...for I know that he will instruct his children and his progeny after him, to keep the pathway of God/shamar derech to do what is just and what is right (Gen. 18:17-19).
Shamar derech shows up with the angels guarding the pathway to the tree of life and it's mirrored in Sodom by Abraham keeping the path of God to do justice/tzedek and what is right/mishpat. The Cherubim guarded the tree of life, which Solomon described as the Torah, and Abraham has God's reveal
His end time plans because He lives the Torah (Gen. 18:19; 26:5). Both end up guarding some form of the Tree of Life.
If the Torah is a tree of life (Prov. 3:18; 11:30; 13:12; 15:4) and access to the tree of life comes through obedience to the commandments of God (Rev. 2:7; 22:14), it's important for us to see that this tree comes with a path, a path you can walk on. What is that path? It is the path of doing what is right/tzedek and doing the just thing/mishpat.
Sodom did have justice, but it was according to their own rules and values/laodicea. They did not care or regard others, especially strangers.
God tells Abraham that His nation, the one He’s going to create through Father Abraham, in order to be successful, it is going to have to balance these two values. To attempt to create a society like this, ultimately gives you the grace to walk on the path of the Tree of Life.
God gave us the Torah expressing Tzedek and Mishpat. We study the Torah. We wrestle with its meaning. We try to bring some sort of balance between tzedek and mishpat into our personal and communal lives. So that we can do, and express in our lives the qualities of tzedek and mishpat. When we do that, we too, walk the path of the tree of life...Modeled very well by our Father Abraham and given as an example for us to live (John 8:39; Gal. 3:16,17; 29), so we too can go back to the Garden once again.
Shabbat Shalom!
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