This week’s reading in Genesis 18:1-22:24, Vayera (“And He Appeared”), overflows with revelation and testing. The Lord appears to Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre, where three visitors announce that Sarah will bear a son. Soon after, Abraham learns that Sodom and Gomorrah will face judgment, prompting his bold intercession. Lot and his family barely escape, though Lot’s wife tragically looks back and turns to salt. Abraham and Sarah journey to the Negev, where Abimelech takes Sarah, but God intervenes with a plague and restores her. Isaac is born, Hagar and Ishmael are sent away, and finally, Abraham faces the ultimate test—the binding of Isaac—proving his steadfast trust in God’s character and promises.
When God reveals His plan to destroy Sodom, Abraham dares to reason with Heaven itself: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” (Genesis 18:23). He bargains with God—fifty righteous, forty-five, thirty, twenty, ten—pressing the question of divine justice. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks calls this “the argument with Heaven, for the sake of Heaven.” Though Sodom and Gomorrah fall, the Bible records that God “remembered Abraham” and spared Lot. From that act came Moab and Ammon, born of Lot’s daughters. They would one day become enemies of Israel, but even from this fractured story, God’s redemptive thread continues, reaching farther than Abraham could imagine.
Generations later, from Moab came Ruth, a woman of courage and faith, who chose the God of Israel and became the great-grandmother of King David. From David’s line came Yeshua (Jesus), the Messiah, fulfilling the promise that through Abraham all nations would be blessed. What seemed like a prayer unanswered was actually a plan unfolding through time. Abraham prayed for mercy on cities; God answered with salvation for the world. We often pray for outcomes we can see, but God answers in dimensions far beyond our sight. His timing is not delay, but design. Abraham’s faith teaches us that obedience and trust are the truest forms of intercession, because they align our hearts with God’s eternal purpose.
The closing is the akeidah—Abraham offering Isaac on Mount Moriah. When Isaac asks, “Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham replies, “God will provide Himself the lamb” (Genesis 22:8). And He did. On that same mountain centuries later, the Father offered His only Son Jesus for the sins of all. The shadow of that ram caught in the thicket pointed straight to the cross. Abraham’s obedience, his argument for mercy, and his faith in provision all converge here. What began as one man’s prayer for only the righteous ends with salvation for all who believe. As is written in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Over the centuries how many more than fifty were saved by Abraham’s prayer and God’s faithfulness!
