Friday, 3 November 2017

Vayera (Part 4) - Genesis 18:1-22:24

(Because of my vacation, this post will be short)

Chapter 19 of Genesis has the famous story of Sodom & Gomorrah. It should be noted that while YHVH as a name appears an umber of times, as well as His angels, Elohim only appears near the end when it summarizes the chapter.

Genesis 19:24 - "Then YHVH caused to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone (nafrit) and fire."

And here is the summary line:

Genesis 19:29 - "And it came to pass, when Elohim destroyed the cities of the plains (kikar), that Elohim remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the turmoil (hafachah - to turn upside-down, ruin), when He overturned the cities where Lot dwelled.

This sets us up for a classic Illeism:


This mixing of the names represents different periods, and different views of God. One cannot use the typical "Well, YHVH is God when He is merciful,, and Elohim is when He is strict judgement", because both were quite destructive, and produced the same result. In fact, there are times when Elohim is very kind (speaking to Hagar when she cried out from being tortured by Sarah, promising her future son great things), and, like here, YHVH can be very strict.

The use of different names is not an indicator of a different God, nor of a different personality, but of a different group of people who held God to have a specific personality and background that was different from another group - the Yahwist versus the Elohist argument.

When this sudden shift takes place, as it does in Genesis 2:4, where Elohim ends and YHVH begins, we can often see that as as an indicator for a new story.

And because of that, it seem that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah ends at verse 19:28, and a new story with Elohim begins, telling us about the incestuous relationship between Lot and his daughters.

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