We are nearly at a week. How fast our time has gone by! Today comes with a bit of a trigger warning as Genesis 19 is a very aggressively sexual chapter beginning with the attempted rape in Sodom and Gomorrah and the odd case of Lot and his daughters. The moralism and shame identified with sexual lust in this chapter is very unique to one subset of authors, the priestly class, otherwise known in study books as "P." (There are 4 authors of the first 5 books. (P, E, J, D) Identifying where their voices emerge and the platforms they believed in helps give some understanding to some of the more...odd chapters. I hope you enjoy today's reading and I hope you hear the voice of God somewhere in your time of study.
Reading for the Day
As usual, an audio version is available below
Video
Questions to Consider
Why do you think God permitted Lot's daughters to rape their father but destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for attempted gang rape? Was it because it had a "benefit" of the continued line of the family? Was it because the first act was homosexual? What was the real cause of Sodom and Gomorrah's destruction?
Abraham is the forefather of the faith and one of the names we pray to God when we pray to God. (The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) but what I hope you are seeing is Abraham is a...complicated character. Two times now he has pawned his wife off to strange men in order to trick them out of money and possessions or for his own safety irregardless of her own. What does it mean for us that God can work through someone like Abraham? What does it say about God?
In Genesis 21 when Hagar is cast away by Abraham and Sarah she weeps as she assumes her child will die. When God comes to her it says "God opens Hagar's eyes..." this is a very subtle touch to the first time Hagar encounters God and she says that God sees her. Now God has returned the favor and helped Hagar to see Him. How has God opened your eyes? What does it mean to see as God sees?
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Prayer
Blessed savior, open my eyes that I might see you, see myself as you see me, and see others the same way. As our psalmist proclaims today, restore me, Lord. Restore my capacity for love, restore my capacity for hope, restore my capacity for faith. In your most holy name I pray. Amen.
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