Genesis, part 2

1
Genesis, part 2
2
Sodom and Gomorrah

• The sun was rising when Lot reached Zoar.
  Suddenly the LORD rained burning sulfur on the
  cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed them
  and the whole valley, along with all the people
  there and everything that grew on the land. But
  Lots wife looked back and was turned into a
  pillar of salt. (Genesis 1923-26 GN)
• Why? Was there no other way? What really
  happened?

3
Jesus, God of the Old Testament

• I want you to remember, my friends, what
  happened to our ancestors who followed Moses.
  They were all under the protection of the cloud,
  and all passed safely through the Red Sea. In the
  cloud and in the sea they were all baptized as
  followers of Moses. All ate the same spiritual
  bread and drank the same spiritual drink. They
  drank from the spiritual rock that went with
  them and that rock was Christ himself. (1
  Corinthians 101-4 GN)

4
Sodom and Gomorrah

• The sun was rising when Lot reached Zoar.
  Suddenly the LORD rained burning sulfur on the
  cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed them
  and the whole valley, along with all the people
  there and everything that grew on the land. But
  Lots wife looked back and was turned into a
  pillar of salt. (Genesis 1923-26 GN)
• Why? Was there no other way? What really
  happened?
• Does God have another side to his character
  beyond what was revealed by Jesus?

5
Principles of interpretation

• Take in the whole setting
• Read everything around the story
• Take the Bible as a whole
• Compare and contrast Gods actions through all
  these many circumstances
• Jesus is always the pinnacle of our clearest
  picture of God (Jesus glasses)

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Sodom and Gomorrah

• Kindness shown to the king of Sodom
• The king of Sodom said to Abram, Keep the loot,
  but give me back all my people. Abram answered,
  I solemnly swear before the LORD, the Most High
  God, Maker of heaven and earth, that I will not
  keep anything of yours, not even a thread or a
  sandal strap. Then you can never say, I am the
  one who made Abram rich. I will take nothing for
  myself. (Genesis 1421-24 GN)

7
Sodom and Gomorrah

• God and his friend Abraham
• rest here beneath this treeAbraham hurried
  into the tent and said to Sarah, Quick, take a
  sack of your best flour, and bake some bread.
  Then he ran to the herd and picked out a calf
  that was tender and fat, and gave it to a
  servant, who hurried to get it ready. He took
  some cream, some milk, and the meat, and set the
  food before the men. There under the tree he
  served them himself, and they ate (Genesis
  184-9)

8
Sodom and Gomorrah

• God explains to his friend
• And the LORD said to himself, I will not hide
  from Abraham what I am going to do. Then the
  LORD said to Abraham, There are terrible
  accusations against Sodom and Gomorrah, and their
  sin is very great. I must go down to find out
  whether or not the accusations which I have heard
  are true. Then the two men left and went on
  toward Sodom, but the LORD remained with
  Abraham. (Genesis 1817-22 GN)
• I do not call you servants any longer, because
  servants do not know what their master is doing.
  Instead, I call you friends, because I have told
  you everything I heard from my Father (John
  1515 GN)
• Did God really need to come down in person to
  check it out?

9
Sodom and Gomorrah

• If we have a problem with this story, we can
  question God as Abraham did
• Abraham approached the LORD and asked, Are you
  really going to destroy the innocent with the
  guilty? If there are fifty innocent people in the
  city, will you destroy the whole city? Wont you
  spare it in order to save the fifty? Surely you
  wont kill the innocent with the guilty. Thats
  impossible! You cant do that. If you did, the
  innocent would be punished along with the guilty.
  That is impossible. The judge of all the earth
  has to act justly. The LORD answered, If I find
  fifty innocent people in Sodom, I will spare the
  whole city for their sake.I will not destroy it
  if there are ten (Genesis 1823-26,32 GN)

10
Sodom and Gomorrah

• Wickedness of the people revealed
• Before the guests went to bed, the men of Sodom
  surrounded the house. All the men of the city,
  both young and old, were there. They called out
  to Lot and asked, Where are the men who came to
  stay with you tonight? Bring them out to us! The
  men of Sodom wanted to have sex with them. Lot
  went outside and closed the door behind him. He
  said to them, Friends, I beg you, don't do such
  a wicked thing! Look, I have two daughters who
  are still virgins. Let me bring them out to you,
  and you can do whatever you want with them. But
  don't do anything to these men they are guests
  in my house, and I must protect them. But they
  said, Get out of our way, you foreigner! Who are
  you to tell us what to do? Out of our way, or we
  will treat you worse than them. They pushed Lot
  back and moved up to break down the door. But the
  two men inside reached out, pulled Lot back into
  the house, and shut the door. Then they struck
  all the men outside with blindness, so that they
  couldn't find the door. The two men said to Lot,
  If you have anyone else here---sons, daughters,
  sons-in-law, or any other relatives living in the
  city---get them out of here, because we are going
  to destroy this place. The LORD has heard the
  terrible accusations against these people and has
  sent us to destroy Sodom. (Genesis 194-13
  GN)

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Sodom and Gomorrah

• What was the best that came out of Sodom and
  Gomorrah?
• Lot and his two daughters
• Moabites and Ammonites
• Molech

12
Sodom and Gomorrah

• How did God feel?
• How can I give you up, O Ephraim! How can I
  surrender you and cast you off, O Israel! How can
  I make you as Admah or how can I treat you as
  Zeboiim both destroyed with Sodom! My heart
  recoils within Me My compassions are kindled
  together (Hosea 119 Amplified).
• Say to them, As I live! declares the Lord GOD,
  I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked,
  but rather that the wicked turn from his way and
  live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways!
  Why then will you die, O house of Israel?
  (Ezekiel 3311 NASB)
• The people I love are doing evil things
  (Jeremiah 1115 GN).
• Did God love the people in Sodom less than Judas?

13
Sodom and Gomorrah

• 1. Possible interpretations
• Gods vindictive/retributive punishment of sin
• For we know Him who said, VENGEANCE IS MINE, I
  WILL REPAY. And again, THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS
  PEOPLE. It is a terrifying thing to fall into
  the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 1030, 31
  NASB)
• So now, listen to what the LORD Almighty,
  Israel's powerful God, is saying I will take
  revenge on you, my enemies, and you will cause me
  no more trouble. I will take action against you.
  I will purify you the way metal is refined, and
  will remove all your impurity. (Isaiah 124,25
  - GN)
• Problems God loves the sinner and is only trying
  to heal and restore. Sin is not an entity that
  requires punishment it is a disease in the mind
  that requires healing. God does not punish, he
  disciplines for our own good.

14
Sodom and Gomorrah

• We are usually the ones eager to ask for fire
  from heaven
• The disciples
• And when His disciples James and John observed
  this, they said, Lord, do you wish us to command
  fire to come down from heaven and consume them,
  even as Elijah did? But He turned and rebuked
  and severely censured them. He said, You do not
  know of what sort of spirit you are, For the Son
  of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but
  to save them (Luke 954-56 - Amplified)
• Jonah
• He yelled at GOD, GOD! I knew it--when I was
  back home, I knew this was going to happen!
  That's why I ran off to Tarshish! I knew you were
  sheer grace and mercy, not easily angered, rich
  in love, and ready at the drop of a hat to turn
  your plans of punishment into a program of
  forgiveness! (Jonah 42 The Message)

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Sodom and Gomorrah

• 2. Possible interpretations
• God did not send the fire (volcano, meteor,
  Satan). The people would not listen to Gods
  warnings to get out. Possible misinterpretation
  of the events by the author.
• The LORD was angry at Israel again, and he made
  David think it would be a good idea to count the
  people in Israel and Judah. (2 Samuel 241 -
  CEV).
• If we are tempted by such trials, we must not
  say This temptation comes from God. For God
  cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts
  no one. But we are tempted when we are drawn away
  and trapped by our own evil desires (James
  113,14 - GN).
• Satan wanted to bring trouble on the people of
  Israel, so he made David decide to take a census
  (1 Chronicles 211 - GN).

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Sodom and Gomorrah

• The death of Saul
• By the living LORD, David continued, I know
  that the LORD himself will kill Saul, either
  when his time comes to die a natural death or
  when he dies in battle. (1 Samuel 2610 GN)
• So the LORD killed him (1 Chronicles 1014 -
  GN).
• The destruction of Jerusalem
• The city of murderers is doomed! I myself will
  pile up the firewood. Bring more wood! Fan the
  flames! Cook the meat! Boil away the broth! Burn
  up the bones! Now set the empty bronze pot on the
  coals and let it get red-hot. Then the pot will
  be ritually pure again after the corrosion is
  burned off, although all that corrosion will not
  disappear in the flames. Jerusalem, your immoral
  actions have defiled you. Although I tried to
  purify you, you remained defiled. You will not be
  pure again until you have felt the full force of
  my anger. I, the Lord, have spoken. The time has
  come for me to act. I will not ignore your sins
  or show pity or be merciful. You will be punished
  for what you have done. The Sovereign Lord has
  spoken (Ezekiel 242,9-14).
• Problems with this model
• Who wrote this story? Credibility of scripture.

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Sodom and Gomorrah

• 3. Possible interpretations
• A protective action on Gods part under a very
  unusual and desperate circumstance. There simply
  was no other way to keep the world from falling
  back into complete rebellion (pre-flood).
• Medical illustration
• Problems Gods methods are not force, fear and
  coercion..does he ever use them under extreme
  circumstances?

18
Sodom and Gomorrah

• Then the Lord passed by and sent a furious wind
  that split the hills and shattered the rocksbut
  the Lord was not in the wind. The wind stopped
  blowing, and then there was an earthquakebut the
  Lord was not in the earthquake. After the
  earthquake there was a firebut the Lord was not
  in the fire. And after the fire there was the
  soft whisper of a voice. When Elijah heard it, he
  covered his face with his cloak and went out and
  stood at the entrance of the cave. A voice said
  to him, Elijah, what are you doing here? (1
  Kings 1910-13 - GN).

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Sodom and Gomorrah

• What should be our attitude after reading about
  Sodom?
• Read on.take the Bible as a whole with Jesus as
  the pinnacle
• We can ask God!
• Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him (Job
  1315 KJV)
• Keep our Jesus glasses on as we watch him deal
  with a very serious rebellion among his children
• There is no fear in love perfect love drives
  out all fear. So then, love has not been made
  perfect in anyone who is afraid, because fear has
  to do with punishment (1 John 418 GN)

20
Abraham and Isaac

• Some time later God tested Abraham he called to
  him, Abraham! And Abraham answered, Yes, here
  I am! Take your son, God said, your only son,
  Isaac, whom you love so much, and go to the land
  of Moriah. There on a mountain that I will show
  you, offer him as a sacrifice to me. Early the
  next morning Abraham cut some wood for the
  sacrifice, loaded his donkey, and took Isaac and
  two servants with him. They started out for the
  place that God had told him about. On the third
  day Abraham saw the place in the distance. Then
  he said to the servants, Stay here with the
  donkey. The boy and I will go over there and
  worship, and then we will come back to you.
  Abraham made Isaac carry the wood for the
  sacrifice, and he himself carried a knife and
  live coals for starting the fire. As they walked
  along together, Isaac spoke up, Father! He
  answered, Yes, my son? Isaac asked, I see that
  you have the coals and the wood, but where is the
  lamb for the sacrifice? Abraham answered, God
  himself will provide one. And the two of them
  walked on together. (Genesis 221-8 GN)

21
Abraham and Isaac

• When they came to the place which God had told
  him about, Abraham built an altar and arranged
  the wood on it. He tied up his son and placed him
  on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he picked
  up the knife to kill him. But the angel of the
  LORD called to him from heaven, Abraham,
  Abraham! He answered, Yes, here I am. Don't
  hurt the boy or do anything to him, he said.
  Now I know that you honor and obey God, because
  you have not kept back your only son from him.
  Abraham looked around and saw a ram caught in a
  bush by its horns. He went and got it and offered
  it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
  Abraham named that place The LORD Provides. And
  even today people say, On the LORD's mountain he
  provides. The angel of the LORD called to
  Abraham from heaven a second time, I make a vow
  by my own name---the LORD is speaking---that I
  will richly bless you. Because you did this and
  did not keep back your only son from me, I
  promise that I will give you as many descendants
  as there are stars in the sky or grains of sand
  along the seashore. Your descendants will conquer
  their enemies. All the nations will ask me to
  bless them as I have blessed your
  descendants---all because you obeyed my
  command. (Genesis 229-18 GN)

22
Abraham and Isaac

• Would you kill your son if a voice in the night
  told you to?
• Would Jesus test your faith in this way?
• What was the point? Must we love God so much that
  we are willing to kill our children?

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What was the setting?

• Were sacrifices common in other cultures? Why did
  they sacrifice?
• When the king of Moab realized that he was
  losing the battle, he took seven hundred
  swordsmen with him and tried to force his way
  through the enemy lines and escape to the king of
  Syria, but he failed. So he took his oldest son,
  who was to succeed him as king, and offered him
  on the city wall as a sacrifice to the god of
  Moab. The Israelites were terrified and so they
  drew back from the city and returned to their own
  country (2 Kings 326,27).
• They took the bull that was brought to them,
  prepared it, and prayed to Baal until noon. They
  shouted, Answer us, Baal! and kept dancing
  around the altar they had built. But no answer
  came. At noon Elijah started making fun of them
  Pray louder! He is a god! Maybe he is
  daydreaming or relieving himself, or perhaps hes
  gone off on a trip! Or maybe hes sleeping, and
  youve got to wake him up! So the prophets
  prayed louder and cut themselves with knives and
  daggers, according to their ritual, until blood
  flowed. They kept on ranting and raving until
  the middle of the afternoon but no answer came,
  not a sound was heard (1 Kings 1826-29).
• They have built altars to Baal in Hinnom Valley,
  to sacrifice their sons and daughters to the god
  Molech. I did not command them to do this, and it
  did not even enter my mind that they would do
  such a thing and make the people of Judah sin
  (Jeremiah 3225).
• Does God need to be appeased?

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What does God really want?

• You do not want sacrifices, or I would offer
  them you are not pleased with burnt offerings.
  My sacrifice is a humble spirit, O God you will
  not reject a humble and repentant heart (Psalms
  5116,17).
• What shall I bring to the Lord, the God of
  heaven, when I come to worship him? Shall I bring
  the best calves to burn as offerings to him? Will
  the Lord be pleased if I bring him thousands of
  sheep or endless streams of olive oil? Shall I
  offer him my first-born child to pay for my sins?
  No, the Lord has told us what is good. What he
  requires of us is this to do what is just, to
  show constant love, and to live in humble
  fellowship with our God (Micah 66-8).

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The point

• By contrast to the culture of the day, God shows
  that he is not the kind of God who needs to be
  appeased
• God stoops to meet us at the level of our picture
  of God
• God uses his friends to bring the people to a
  more elevated and true picture of himself
  (Abraham, Moses, Job)
• God will provide

26
Abrahams trust

• It was faith that made Abraham offer his son
  Isaac as a sacrifice when God put Abraham to the
  test. Abraham was the one to whom God had made
  the promise, yet he was ready to offer his only
  son as a sacrifice. God had said to him, It is
  through Isaac that you will have the descendants
  I promised. Abraham reckoned that God was able
  to raise Isaac from death---and, so to speak,
  Abraham did receive Isaac back from death.
  (Hebrews 1117-19 - GN)

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Abrahams descendants

• Isaac Rebecca
• Jacob and Esau
• Esau married 2 Hittites
• They made life miserable for Isaac and Rebecca
  (Genesis 2635 GN)
• Jacob steals Esaus blessing
• But Mother, Jacob said, my brother Esau is a
  hairy man and I have smooth skin. What happens if
  my father touches me? Hell think I'm playing
  games with him. Ill bring down a curse on myself
  instead of a blessing. If it comes to that,
  said his mother, Ill take the curse on myself.
  Now, just do what I say. Go and get the goats.
  (Genesis 2711-13 The Message)
• Jacob flees for his life

28
Jacobs Dream

• And he came to a certain place and stayed there
  overnight, because the sun was set. Taking one of
  the stones of the place, he put it under his head
  and lay down there to sleep. And he dreamed that
  there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the
  top of it reached to heaven and the angels of
  God were ascending and descending on it! And
  behold, the Lord stood over and beside him and
  said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your
  father and the God of Isaac I will give to you
  and to your descendants the land on which you are
  lying. And your offspring shall be as countless
  as the dust or sand of the ground, and you shall
  spread abroad to the west and the east and the
  north and the south and by you and your
  Offspring shall all the families of the earth be
  blessed and bless themselves. And behold, I am
  with you and will keep watch over you wherever
  you may go, and I will bring you back to this
  land for I will not leave you until I have done
  all of which I have told you. And Jacob awoke
  from his sleep and he said, Surely the Lord is
  in this place and I did not know it. He was
  afraid and said, How to be feared and reverenced
  is this place! This is none other than the house
  of God, and this is the gateway to heaven!
  (Genesis 2811-17 Amplified)

29
What was the message to Jacob?

• Did God approve of what Jacob had done?
• Does God leave us when we leave him?
• God is just like the Father in the story of the
  Prodigal son
• So he got up and started back to his father. He
  was still a long way from home when his father
  saw him his heart was filled with pity, and he
  ran, threw his arms around his son, and kissed
  him. (Luke 1520 GN)

30
What does the ladder represent?

• Genesis 2812,13,17
• And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on
  the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven
  and the angels of God were ascending and
  descending on it! And behold, the Lord stood over
  and beside him and said, I am the Lord, the God
  of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac I
  will give to you and to your descendants the land
  on which you are lying
• This is none other than the house of God, and
  this is the gateway to heaven! (Amplified)

31
The ladder

• And he said to them, I am telling you the
  truth you will see heaven open and God's angels
  going up and coming down on the Son of Man.
  (John 151 GN)
• What does this mean?
• From the very first day, we were there, taking
  it all in--we heard it with our own ears, saw it
  with our own eyes, verified it with our own
  hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our
  eyes we saw it happen! And now we're telling you
  in most sober prose that what we witnessed was,
  incredibly, this The infinite Life of God
  himself took shape before us. We saw it, we heard
  it, and now we're telling you so you can
  experience it along with us, this experience of
  communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus
  Christ. (1 John 11-3 The Message)

32
The ladder

• John 819 GN
• If you knew me, you would know my Father also.
• John 146-9 - GN
• Jesus answered him, I am the way, the truth,
  and the life no one goes to the Father except by
  me. Now that you have known me, he said to them,
  you will know my Father also, and from now on
  you do know him and you have seen him. Philip
  said to him, Lord, show us the Father that is
  all we need. Jesus answered, For a long time I
  have been with you all yet you do not know me,
  Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
  Why, then, do you say, Show us the Father? Do
  you not believe, Philip, that I am in the Father
  and the Father is in me?

33
The ladder

• And eternal life means to know you, the only
  true God, and to know Jesus Christ, whom you
  sent. I have shown your glory on earth I have
  finished the work you gave me to do. Father! Give
  me glory in your presence now, the same glory I
  had with you before the world was made. I have
  made you known to those you gave me out of the
  world. (John 173-6 GN)