Vayera: He appeared — וירא

Thoughts on Torah for Last Week:

Genesis 12-17
One of the strongest themes that we will see in the story of Abraham is the concept of conditional and unconditional covenanting.  In the unfolding story of Abraham, we see God introduce His covenant with Abraham at Genesis 12. Then God introduces the covenant sign at chapter 17 - remember a covenant sign is an ongoing witness that a person is actively living in that covenant with God.  In this portion, we see God enter into a conditional covenant with Abraham meaning that Abraham must continue to obey God to qualify for the covenant blessings.  Later in Genesis, we'll see this covenant converted to a permanent and unconditional covenant after Abraham demonstrates his loyalty to God under distress.

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Isaiah Chapter 3
​Why do we see all this doom and gloom in the first few chapters of Isaiah?  Because we must get through all this "garbage" before we see the glorious blessings God has in store for the righteous, which we will see later on in Isaiah.

In the pattern of descent before an ascent, similar to what we see with Abraham, a time of distress is necessary to prove our loyalty to God, who then bestows glorious blessings.

                                                                           So there is -
 
                                                           Humiliation before Exaltation
 
                                                               Suffering before Salvation
 
                                                                     Ruin before Rebirth
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Society degenerates into chaos.
 
God judges the leaders of nations.

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Resource Links for this Week's Portion

TORAH: GENESIS 18:1 to 22:24
GOSPELS: Luke 17:28-37

Listen and Read the Portion
First Fruits of Zion

​​Commentary with Nehemia Gordon


HAFTARAH: ISAIAH Chapter 4

Commentary with Avraham Gileadi, PhD