Genesis Chapters 17-19

Preface: While I genuinely hope that this is the post that generates lots of discussion, and believe that it may because of the subject matter, I feel that I need to remind everyone that hate speech absolutely will not be tolerated on this page. I am all for debate and allowing people to express their opinions. However personal attacks and outright hate speech is not allowed! 

With that being said, let’s jump right in to chapter seventeen!

God decides to rename A’bram and Sar’ai. They will now be called Abraham and Sarah. (My spellcheck is thankful!) He says that Abraham will become the father of many nations. God then makes, what is in my opinion, a strange demand of Abraham and the men of his house.

Gen. 17:10-14 “This is my covenant that you men will keep, between me and you men, even your seed after you: Every male of yours must get circumcised. And you must get circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it must serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you. And every male of yours eight days old must be circumcised, according to your generations, anyone born in the house and anyone purchased with money from any foreigner who is not from your seed. Every man born in your house and every man purchased with money of yours must without fail get circumcised; and my covenant in the flesh of you men must serve as a covenant to time indefinite. And an uncircumcised male who will not get the flesh of his foreskin circumcised, even that soul must be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.”

Abraham doesn’t bat an eye, and that day all of the men of his house are circumcised!

My immediate thought is how painful that must be for a grown man to experience. While apparently, today, it isn’t such a horrific experience (you can read about it here if you would like) back then, they didn’t have anesthesia to lessen the pain. At the very least, I am assuming it was an unpleasant experience for them!

God also promises Abraham that he will indeed have a son with Sarah.

Gen. 17:16-19 “”And I will bless her and also give you a son from her; and I will bless her and she shall become nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” At this Abraham fell upon his face and began to laugh and say in his heart: “Will a man a hundred years old have a child born, and will Sarah, yes, will a woman ninety years old give birth?” After that Abraham said to the [true] God: “O that Ish’mael might live before you!” To this God said: “Sarah your wife is indeed bearing you a son, and you must call his name Isaac. And I will establish my covenant with him for a covenant to time indefinite to his seed after him.””

I find it interesting that after all Abraham has been through, and all he has seen, even he is questioning God on this one. He sees how absurd it is that, at their age, they will now start having children. I’m with you Abraham! It’s a bit out there for me as well!

In chapter eighteen, God presents himself, along with two angels, to Abraham at his home. Abraham feeds them and washes their feet. While they are talking, Sarah overhears God say that she will have a child.

Gen. 18:10-15 “So he continued: “I am surely going to return to you next year at this time, and, look! Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the tent entrance, and it was behind the man. And Abraham and Sarah were old, being advanced in years. Sarah had stopped having menstruation. Hence Sarah began to laugh inside herself, saying: “After I am worn out, shall I really have pleasure, my lord being old besides?” Then Jehovah said to Abraham: “Why was it that Sarah laughed, saying, ‘Shall I really and truly give birth although I have become old?’ Is anything too extraordinary for Jehovah? At the appointed time I shall return to you, next year at this time, and Sarah will have a son.” But Sarah began to deny it, saying: “I did not laugh!” For she was afraid. At this he said: “No! but you did laugh.””

Even Sarah finds the thought of having a child at such an old age ridiculous! AND, she lied to God! I love that he called her out on it!

The angels start to head off to Sod’om and Gomor’rah. God has decided to destroy the cities because of their wicked ways. God is explaining this to Abraham, but Abraham is uncomfortable with the idea.

Gen. 18:23-26 “Then Abraham approached and began to say: “Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Supposed there are fifty righteous men in the midst of the city. Will you, then, sweep them away and not pardon the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are inside it? It is unthinkable of you that you are acting in this manner to put to death the righteous man with the wicked one so that it has to occur with the righteous man as it does with the wicked! It is unthinkable of you. Is the Judge of all the earth not going to do what is right?” Then Jehovah said: “If I shall find in Sod’om fifty righteous men in the midst of he city I will pardon the whole place on their account.”

This continues for a while, and Abraham eventually convinces God to not destroy the city if there are as few as ten righteous men there.

Chapter nineteen.

The angels arrive at Sod’om that evening. Lot greets them at the gate, and begs them to stay overnight in his home. They tell him that they we planning to stay in the public square, but Lot is very insistent with them that they stay with him, and they concede. They ate dinner, and were about to lay down for the night when things take a nasty turn.

Gen. 19:4-5 “Before they could lie down, the men of the city, the men of Sod’om, surrounded the house, from boy to old man, all the people in one mob. And they kept calling out to Lot and saying to him: “Where are the men who came in to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have intercourse with them.”

Lot begs the men to not behave badly. He then offers up his two virgin daughters to the men to do with as they wish. However, the men do not want Lot’s daughters, and turn their eyes on Lot instead. They feel that he is judging them, and say they will now do worse to him than they would have done to the angels. The angels then reached out and saved Lot from the mob. They then struck the men blind so that they couldn’t find the entrance to the house. The angels instructed Lot to get everyone in the house out of town because they were going to destroy it. His future sons-in-law were in the house, but when he told them they had to leave, they thought he was joking. So Lot left with just his daughters and his wife. God appeared to them just as they exited the city.

Gen. 19:17 “And it came about that, as soon as they had brought them forth to the outskirts, he began to say: “Escape for your soul! Do not look behind you and do not stand still in all the District! Escape to the mountainous region for fear you may be swept away!””

God began raining down sulphur and fire from the heavens, killing everyone and everything in the cities. Lot’s wife made the mistake of looking back at the carnage, and was turned into a pillar of salt. Lot continued on with his daughters, but being very afraid, they ended up living in a cave. His daughters made a startling decision.

Gen. 19:31-32 “And the first-born proceeded to say to the younger woman: “Our father is old and there is not a man in the land to have relations with us according to the way of the whole earth. Come, let us give our father wine to drink and let us lie down with him and preserve offspring from our father.””

So each daughter took their turn getting their father drunk and having sex with him. Both of them ended up getting pregnant and bearing children.

I have intentionally left out my personal thoughts on this chapter until this point. I wanted to make sure everyone was able to get the whole story without my input first. With that being said, I’m truly dumbfounded by what I just read!

First of all, when the mob is trying to get at the angels, Lot offers up his virgin daughters as a substitute. What kind of father was he? Then when they turn on him, he is afraid? So, it’s okay to let them do whatever they want to your daughters, but you won’t sacrifice yourself in their place? He doesn’t seem like a very righteous man to me, and I’m not quite sure why they decided that his life was worth sparing.

Now, for the really disturbing part. Lot’s daughters basically raped him! So, we’re not just dealing with incest, but incestuous rape instigated by the daughters! There is absolutely no part of my brain that could ever imagine a situation where this would be justified.

I also want to mention God’s apparent disregard for the women of Sod’om and Gomor’rah. There was no mention of the behavior of the women there. Were they all horrible sinners as well? They were certainly destroyed along with the men. Could they not have been spared if they were righteous? I guess not.

Okay, now it’s your turn to speak! Go!