# 19 - Abraham Prays For Sodom - In this episode of The Chosen People with Yael Eckstein Abraham boldly intercedes with God on behalf of Sodom, challenging our understanding of justice and mercy. Through this powerful dialogue, we explore the profound impact of prayer and the compassionate heart of God.
Episode 19 of The Chosen People with Yael Eckstein is inspired by the Book of Genesis.
Sign up for The Chosen People devotionals at https://www.thechosenpeople.com/sign-up
For more information about Yael Eckstein and IFCJ visit https://www.ifcj.org/
Today's opening prayer is inspired by Romans 9:22, “What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction?”
Listen to some of the greatest Bible stories ever told and make prayer a priority in your life by downloading the Pray.com app.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:00
Speaker 1: Previously on the Chosen people.
00:00:04
Speaker 2: So close to Sodom, Are you sure? I think, eh?
00:00:09
Speaker 1: I think the proximity of the city would prove useful
00:00:13
Speaker 1: to me.
00:00:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, useful. Be careful near those cities. I fear the
00:00:19
Speaker 2: influence of their culture is more dangerous than their spears.
00:00:23
Speaker 1: Through the haze, Abraham saw them, three figures, distant but distinct,
00:00:31
Speaker 1: moving along the outskirts of his encampment. Abraham leaped to
00:00:35
Speaker 1: his feet, electrified by a sense of impending significance. These
00:00:42
Speaker 1: were no ordinary travelers.
00:00:44
Speaker 2: My lords, Please, if it pleases you, I would invite
00:00:49
Speaker 2: you to rest here before you continue on your journey.
00:00:53
Speaker 1: As they ate and drank, a connection began to form
00:00:56
Speaker 1: in Abraham's mind. He could always send when the presence
00:01:00
Speaker 1: of his God was near, and sometimes it would prompt
00:01:04
Speaker 1: thoughts or ideas that were not his own.
00:01:07
Speaker 3: Let me ask you, this is anything impossible for God Almighty?
00:01:13
Speaker 3: Is anything too hard or too marvelous for him to achieve?
00:01:23
Speaker 4: In the shadows of twilight, a solitary man bargained with God,
00:01:28
Speaker 4: wrestling with justice and mercy, shalloh, my friends from here
00:01:33
Speaker 4: in the holy land of Israel i'm ya l extein
00:01:36
Speaker 4: with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Welcome to
00:01:41
Speaker 4: the Chosen People. Each day we'll hear a dramatic story
00:01:44
Speaker 4: inspired by the Bible, stories filled with timeless lessons of
00:01:48
Speaker 4: faith and love and the meaning of life. Through Israel's story,
00:01:53
Speaker 4: we find this truth we are all chosen for something great.
00:01:58
Speaker 4: If this podcast has added value to your faith, we'd
00:02:02
Speaker 4: love it if you could share it with a friend
00:02:04
Speaker 4: or a family member. And if you're interested in the
00:02:06
Speaker 4: work that we do for the vulnerable and needy around
00:02:09
Speaker 4: the world, you can visit us at IFCJ dot org.
00:02:14
Speaker 4: Now let's begin in the twilight of an ancient world,
00:02:18
Speaker 4: where the stars shined bright and shadows grew deep. A
00:02:22
Speaker 4: man walked in communion with God, a patriarch named Abraham,
00:02:27
Speaker 4: standing at the precipice of mercy and judgment. In our
00:02:32
Speaker 4: last episode, Abraham welcomed three mysterious men, perhaps not men
00:02:36
Speaker 4: at all. And now, in an unexpected twist of faith
00:02:41
Speaker 4: and faith, Abraham speaks with God himself. A threat of
00:02:47
Speaker 4: judgment comes, and Abraham's compassion ignites. What will we learn
00:02:54
Speaker 4: about prayer and communing with God from this interaction? Listen
00:03:00
Speaker 4: to this dramatic story which is inspired by Genesis eighteen
00:03:04
Speaker 4: twenty two to thirty three.
00:03:09
Speaker 1: After hours of talking and eating together, Abraham's three mysterious
00:03:14
Speaker 1: guests decided to take their leave. Abraham extended an offer
00:03:19
Speaker 1: for them to stay the rest of the evening, as
00:03:21
Speaker 1: well as a place to sleep, but they were determined
00:03:24
Speaker 1: to continue their journey.
00:03:26
Speaker 2: If you are sure you must continue, at least, let
00:03:29
Speaker 2: me walk with your ways and send you off.
00:03:32
Speaker 3: You may do that, Abraham.
00:03:35
Speaker 1: The men walked together to the edge of Abraham's encampment.
00:03:39
Speaker 1: As they cleared the tents, the vast expanse of land
00:03:42
Speaker 1: unfurled before them, a tapestry of earth and sky. The
00:03:47
Speaker 1: day was clear, and from their advantage point, they could
00:03:50
Speaker 1: see the salt sea glistening in the east. The city
00:03:55
Speaker 1: of Sodom lay in the distance, a shadow on the
00:03:58
Speaker 1: horizon where Abraham's nephew Lot resided. Abraham noticed the men's
00:04:04
Speaker 1: gaze fixed on Sodom, their eyes narrowing with a weighty contemplation. Suddenly,
00:04:10
Speaker 1: their leader turned to the other two and spoke, his
00:04:13
Speaker 1: voice carrying the gravity of a celestial decree.
00:04:17
Speaker 3: Tell me what you think should I hide what I
00:04:20
Speaker 3: am about to do from.
00:04:21
Speaker 1: Abraham Abraham blinked, startled by the directness of the query.
00:04:27
Speaker 1: What could this possibly mean? The other two men exchanged glances,
00:04:32
Speaker 1: their brows furrowing as they considered the leader's words. Yet
00:04:35
Speaker 1: they waited for him to continue.
00:04:37
Speaker 3: Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and
00:04:42
Speaker 3: all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.
00:04:46
Speaker 3: He has been chosen so that he will command his
00:04:49
Speaker 3: children and his house after him to keep the way
00:04:53
Speaker 3: of God Almighty. Their legacy will be one of honoring
00:04:58
Speaker 3: their God by doing what is right and just, and
00:05:02
Speaker 3: that legacy will fulfill to Abraham what he has been promised.
00:05:07
Speaker 1: Abraham was struck in you by the depth of this
00:05:10
Speaker 1: stranger's knowledge, knowledge of his destiny, his covenant, his God.
00:05:16
Speaker 1: Her sense of divine familiarity washed over him. A whisper
00:05:20
Speaker 1: of recognition in the recesses of his mind. It was
00:05:24
Speaker 1: as if his God was here, speaking.
00:05:28
Speaker 3: My Lord, tell Abraham what you want him to know. Yes,
00:05:33
Speaker 3: my Lord, you must do as you see fit. Abraham,
00:05:38
Speaker 3: listen to me, Yes, Ah, I am here. The outcry
00:05:46
Speaker 3: against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense. The victims of this
00:05:50
Speaker 3: terrible wickedness plead for justice the sin of both Sodom
00:05:54
Speaker 3: and Gomorrah is extremely serious. I am to go down
00:06:00
Speaker 3: to see for myself if what they have done justifies
00:06:04
Speaker 3: the cry that has come up to me. If not,
00:06:07
Speaker 3: I will find out.
00:06:10
Speaker 1: Abraham did not know what to make of these words.
00:06:13
Speaker 1: He stood dumfounded. The guest he had welcomed into his
00:06:17
Speaker 1: home appeared to be his God, The God Almighty had
00:06:22
Speaker 1: broken bread with him, drank his wine, and listened to
00:06:26
Speaker 1: all of his stories for hours. Abraham was amazed. But
00:06:31
Speaker 1: then there was the matter of what he had spoken
00:06:34
Speaker 1: about the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The other two
00:06:38
Speaker 1: men nodded gravely at God Almighty's words.
00:06:41
Speaker 3: Yes, my Lord, your judgment will be carried out according
00:06:45
Speaker 3: to your will. My Lord, would you have us continue
00:06:49
Speaker 3: on our way? Yes, go ahead of me and scout
00:06:53
Speaker 3: out the city. See what you make of it in
00:06:56
Speaker 3: its inhabitants. I sensed that my chosen one, Abraham, has
00:07:01
Speaker 3: more to say.
00:07:02
Speaker 1: The two others bowed their heads in reverence to their God.
00:07:06
Speaker 1: They then turned to Abraham and acknowledged him as well,
00:07:10
Speaker 1: before departing in the direction of Sodom.
00:07:13
Speaker 3: Abraham, tell me what's on your mind.
00:07:16
Speaker 1: Abraham swallowed and considered all that was racing through his mind.
00:07:21
Speaker 1: He wasn't sure where to even begin. He had seen
00:07:24
Speaker 1: his God's power in Egypt, how he had brought plagues
00:07:28
Speaker 1: upon the household of the pharaoh, but nowhere else he
00:07:32
Speaker 1: had seen how his God had guided his hand in
00:07:34
Speaker 1: battle and brought them victory against King Cadelaeama and his allies,
00:07:39
Speaker 1: even when it defied all odds. Countless men had fallen
00:07:43
Speaker 1: at his hands, and their deaths were warranted. They had
00:07:46
Speaker 1: been locked in battle, and Abraham committed to rescuing his
00:07:50
Speaker 1: nephew Lot. But the destruction of a city, a city
00:07:54
Speaker 1: filled with thousands of people, including innocence and civilians, was
00:07:58
Speaker 1: another matter.
00:07:59
Speaker 2: In time, My God, will you really sweep away the
00:08:04
Speaker 2: righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous
00:08:07
Speaker 2: people in the city, will you really sweep it all
00:08:11
Speaker 2: away instead of sparing the place for the sake of
00:08:14
Speaker 2: fifty righteous people who are in it. I could not
00:08:18
Speaker 2: possibly imagine you doing such a thing, killing the righteous
00:08:21
Speaker 2: along with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike.
00:08:26
Speaker 2: You couldn't possibly do that, right, I just don't understand.
00:08:32
Speaker 2: I know that it is your place to bring justice,
00:08:35
Speaker 2: and you are the judge of the whole earth. But
00:08:38
Speaker 2: how could this be just?
00:08:42
Speaker 1: Abraham was a descendant of shem Ancient tales told by
00:08:47
Speaker 1: the fire emerged from the caverns of his mind. Would
00:08:50
Speaker 1: God judge the innocent? Was anybody truly innocent? Abraham paused,
00:08:56
Speaker 1: realizing again how little he knew of this God before him.
00:09:00
Speaker 3: It made him uneasy. Abraham, I hear your concern. Your
00:09:05
Speaker 3: compassion makes you a worthy leader to your people. I
00:09:08
Speaker 3: will make you this promise. If I find fifty righteous
00:09:12
Speaker 3: people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the
00:09:15
Speaker 3: whole place for their sake.
00:09:18
Speaker 1: Relief coursed through Abraham's body as he sighed his God
00:09:22
Speaker 1: would spare the righteous. That was fair. He could live
00:09:25
Speaker 1: with that. But Abraham then began to consider his nephew
00:09:29
Speaker 1: Lot and his household. Surely they would be among the righteous,
00:09:33
Speaker 1: He hoped. He had certainly done his best to impart
00:09:37
Speaker 1: all he knew and encourage Lot to walk the righteous path. Yes,
00:09:42
Speaker 1: he felt confident that would be enough to save Lot
00:09:44
Speaker 1: and his household, But what of their friends and neighbors.
00:09:48
Speaker 1: He knew his nephew had built a life in Sodom,
00:09:51
Speaker 1: gaining back the wealth and stability he had before the
00:09:54
Speaker 1: raid of King Cadelaoma. He wondered if Lot had shared
00:09:58
Speaker 1: the ways of their God with them. Abraham hoped the
00:10:01
Speaker 1: number of the righteous in Sodom, influenced by Lot himself,
00:10:04
Speaker 1: would be larger than fifty, but he feared that it
00:10:07
Speaker 1: might not.
00:10:08
Speaker 2: Be, since I have ventured to speak and even suggest
00:10:12
Speaker 2: anything at aught you, my God. And even though I
00:10:16
Speaker 2: am dust and ashes, suppose the fifty righteous lack five,
00:10:22
Speaker 2: will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?
00:10:27
Speaker 3: I will not destroy it if I find forty five.
00:10:30
Speaker 2: Suppose forty are found there.
00:10:33
Speaker 3: I will not do it on account of forty.
00:10:35
Speaker 1: But then the stories of Sodom's depravity surfaced in Abraham's mind,
00:10:41
Speaker 1: stories of depraved sexual abuse and immoral acts, unsavory deeds
00:10:46
Speaker 1: like thievery and extortion, lying, cheating, and killing without conscience.
00:10:51
Speaker 3: Men and women alike.
00:10:53
Speaker 1: Hobbled out of Sodom, forever scarred by the cruelty of
00:10:56
Speaker 1: its residence. None were safe or sacred within the women, children,
00:11:02
Speaker 1: the elderly. Every one was vulnerable to the cruel and
00:11:05
Speaker 1: debased culture of Sodom. Just thinking about The stories made
00:11:09
Speaker 1: Abraham's palms sweat with unease. Surely the judgment of his
00:11:14
Speaker 1: God was needed against those partaking in such savagery and brutality.
00:11:19
Speaker 1: But yet he had gone to battle and fought to
00:11:21
Speaker 1: win back his nephew Lot and the others who were
00:11:24
Speaker 1: held captive along with him. Surely they deserved to be spared.
00:11:29
Speaker 1: Many of them were women and young children, and still
00:11:31
Speaker 1: many more were slaves. They did not have the same
00:11:34
Speaker 1: autonomy as a man of a great household or high
00:11:37
Speaker 1: standing might have. If they had been led astray by
00:11:40
Speaker 1: the society around them, how could they be held responsible.
00:11:44
Speaker 1: He couldn't imagine abandoning these innocence to whatever terrible fate
00:11:48
Speaker 1: awaited the wicked in Sodom. Perhaps some of them would
00:11:52
Speaker 1: have found a way to a righteous path. He would
00:11:54
Speaker 1: have to hope that it was so, Even if the
00:11:58
Speaker 1: number of righteous few than he hoped, would they be
00:12:01
Speaker 1: spared on account of the few?
00:12:04
Speaker 2: My God, please, please do not be angry. But I
00:12:09
Speaker 2: will speak further. Suppose only thirty are found there.
00:12:16
Speaker 3: I will not do it if I find thirty there.
00:12:19
Speaker 1: Abraham then considered the people he had lived among and
00:12:22
Speaker 1: even fought alongside to win back, the stolen from Sodom,
00:12:26
Speaker 1: the Amirits, his friend's memory, Anna, and Eshko. They had
00:12:32
Speaker 1: grown distant. It was true. The longer Abraham walked with
00:12:35
Speaker 1: his God, the less he could tolerate some of their differences.
00:12:39
Speaker 1: They were men who neither understood nor embraced the God
00:12:43
Speaker 1: Most High. They had dined with a mysterious high priest
00:12:47
Speaker 1: and seen the God most High delivered them from certain
00:12:50
Speaker 1: death time and time again in battle, Yet they still had.
00:12:54
Speaker 3: Not come to believe.
00:12:56
Speaker 1: Abraham knew in his heart of hearts that they probably
00:12:59
Speaker 1: never would. But they had once been his allies. They
00:13:03
Speaker 1: had honored allegiances and been guests in one another's homes.
00:13:07
Speaker 1: Could Abraham stand by and watch them meet a fate
00:13:11
Speaker 1: like the one that awaited the people of Sodom? Abraham
00:13:15
Speaker 1: was not so sure. Compassion again surged in his heart
00:13:19
Speaker 1: when he thought of his lost friends. He also considered
00:13:23
Speaker 1: how many more were lost in a city like Sodom.
00:13:26
Speaker 1: With a heavy heart, he wondered how many sinned without
00:13:29
Speaker 1: truly understanding the damage it would do or what it
00:13:32
Speaker 1: would cost.
00:13:34
Speaker 2: I do not have already spoken my concerns would please
00:13:38
Speaker 2: my God? Suppose only twenty are found there.
00:13:43
Speaker 3: I will not destroy it on account of twenty.
00:13:47
Speaker 1: Abraham had traveled the length and breadth of Canaan for
00:13:50
Speaker 1: several years before finally settling in Hebron. In his wanderings,
00:13:55
Speaker 1: he met hostiles, of course, but mostly they were men
00:13:59
Speaker 1: and women who simply did not know his God. They
00:14:03
Speaker 1: did not know what was right and blindly deceived themselves
00:14:06
Speaker 1: into wickedness. Even before Canaan, the peoples of Haron and
00:14:12
Speaker 1: Or were similarly ensnared in their own sin and following
00:14:16
Speaker 1: false gods. Tears sprang to Abraham's eyes as he imagined
00:14:20
Speaker 1: a lonely future for himself and his family. Were they
00:14:24
Speaker 1: to be alone in pursuing righteousness while the world writhed
00:14:27
Speaker 1: in its deception and devious deeds in a place like Sodom,
00:14:32
Speaker 1: should even association with sinners be enough to condemn? Maybe
00:14:36
Speaker 1: even more were lost there than he knew. But for
00:14:39
Speaker 1: those who would stand strong, would such a minority of
00:14:43
Speaker 1: righteous people be enough to spare themselves from the judgment
00:14:46
Speaker 1: of the masses?
00:14:50
Speaker 2: My God, please do not be angry, but I will
00:14:54
Speaker 2: speak one final time. Suppose only ten are found there,
00:15:01
Speaker 2: I will not.
00:15:02
Speaker 3: Destroy it on account of ten.
00:15:06
Speaker 1: After Abraham's God departed to see about Sodom. Abraham walked
00:15:11
Speaker 1: for a long time on his own, processing what was
00:15:14
Speaker 1: to come. He knew his God was right in his
00:15:17
Speaker 1: authority and right in his judgment. But when he thought
00:15:21
Speaker 1: of those who were oppressed and abused by the wickedness
00:15:24
Speaker 1: of Sodom, for this was the need for justice, Abram
00:15:27
Speaker 1: had to acknowledge that his heart was still broken. It
00:15:31
Speaker 1: was complicated these feelings. Loving justice and having compassion was
00:15:39
Speaker 1: no easy task. He longed for a world in which
00:15:43
Speaker 1: everyone knew and understood what it was to walk the
00:15:47
Speaker 1: path of the righteous.
00:15:49
Speaker 3: He longed for a world in which.
00:15:50
Speaker 1: Everyone knew and understood his God. Abraham did not regret
00:15:56
Speaker 1: or question his decision to answer the call of his God.
00:16:00
Speaker 1: It was not always straightforward, but it was far better
00:16:03
Speaker 1: than anything else he had known. Abraham walked and walked
00:16:08
Speaker 1: until the early morning hours and wondered when judgment for
00:16:12
Speaker 1: soldom would come.
00:16:19
Speaker 4: Wow, what an incredible story. Here we have an ancient saga,
00:16:26
Speaker 4: a great man, the patriarch of the Jewish people, standing
00:16:29
Speaker 4: before God himself, the almighty creator of the universe, and
00:16:34
Speaker 4: the two haggle over human lives like they're in the
00:16:37
Speaker 4: shook in the marketplace in the Holy Land, battering over
00:16:41
Speaker 4: a produce or chotchkeiz. Abraham starts with fifty righteous people fifty,
00:16:48
Speaker 4: then he goes down to forty five, forty, thirty, twenty
00:16:53
Speaker 4: and finally hen But what gets me is how God responds.
00:16:59
Speaker 4: Because God that doesn't disregard what Abraham is saying. He's
00:17:02
Speaker 4: listening patiently and willingly. There's no smiting, no thunder from
00:17:10
Speaker 4: the heavens, there's no reprimand like an indigenan king or
00:17:13
Speaker 4: an impatient parent, No, Abraham doesn't find a distant, unapproachable deity,
00:17:20
Speaker 4: but a loving God, willing and needing and enjoying to engage.
00:17:27
Speaker 4: A God who hears the please of his people, A
00:17:30
Speaker 4: God who is open to conversation, even bargaining. A God
00:17:36
Speaker 4: who listens. And it makes me wonder how often do
00:17:40
Speaker 4: we think of God as someone who we can talk
00:17:42
Speaker 4: to like that? How often do we relate to God
00:17:46
Speaker 4: as someone who actually listens. This story shows us a
00:17:50
Speaker 4: God who values justice but is moved by compassion. The
00:17:56
Speaker 4: story also sets up the story of Jacob, which we'll
00:17:59
Speaker 4: soon hear, and its concept of wrestling with God. And
00:18:04
Speaker 4: this story also gives us the first prayer in the Bible.
00:18:08
Speaker 4: Of course, back in the story of Cain and Abel,
00:18:10
Speaker 4: we learned of the first prayer mentioned in the Bible.
00:18:14
Speaker 4: But here, as Abraham speaks to God, we read the
00:18:17
Speaker 4: first text of a prayer found in scripture. Let's take
00:18:23
Speaker 4: a look at Abraham's prayer. As this story begins, the
00:18:26
Speaker 4: cities of Sidom and Gamara are under judgment for their grievousins.
00:18:31
Speaker 4: But Abraham, our patriarch, the father of many nations, does
00:18:35
Speaker 4: something that we haven't explicitly seen someone do yet. Abraham
00:18:40
Speaker 4: prays to God. He steps forward, and he asks, will
00:18:44
Speaker 4: you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked. Abraham
00:18:49
Speaker 4: is not passive in this dialogue with God. He begins
00:18:53
Speaker 4: a negotiation, seeking mercy for the cities. If righteous people
00:18:57
Speaker 4: can be found within them, why should righteous people be
00:19:02
Speaker 4: penalized for the evil? He asks, Well, this is what
00:19:08
Speaker 4: he says in the scriptures. Suppose there are fifty righteous
00:19:11
Speaker 4: within the city. Will you then sweep away the place
00:19:14
Speaker 4: and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are
00:19:17
Speaker 4: in it? Then the number drops forty five, forty, thirty, twenty,
00:19:22
Speaker 4: and finally ten. The first interesting insight that Jewish tradition
00:19:28
Speaker 4: gives us here is that it's okay to argue with God.
00:19:32
Speaker 4: In fact, doesn't that describe many of our prayers? We
00:19:36
Speaker 4: say to God, Hashim, I understand that this is your decree,
00:19:39
Speaker 4: but I'm asking you to change it. That's what prayer is,
00:19:44
Speaker 4: arguing with God. And the first time we see this
00:19:47
Speaker 4: is through Abraham right here. And even as we argue
00:19:51
Speaker 4: and plead in our prayers, God, with his infinite patience,
00:19:56
Speaker 4: listens just as he does here as Abraham in this story,
00:20:02
Speaker 4: Each time Abraham negotiates, God agrees, revealing a heart that
00:20:07
Speaker 4: tends towards mercy. Abram's prayers also teach us something else
00:20:12
Speaker 4: very important, the preciousness of human life. Abraham doesn't want
00:20:19
Speaker 4: to see human life destroyed, even those who did evil things,
00:20:24
Speaker 4: and he works actively to preserve life, to save lives.
00:20:30
Speaker 4: That's very similar to our call today. And after all
00:20:33
Speaker 4: of that, the negotiating, the back and forth, the divine communication,
00:20:37
Speaker 4: Abraham's prayer appears to go unanswered as a dome and
00:20:40
Speaker 4: Gemara are destroyed. Wouldn't it have been more I don't know,
00:20:46
Speaker 4: inspirational If this first prayer ever documented in the scriptures
00:20:52
Speaker 4: brought about a miracle. But you see, that's the lesson here.
00:20:57
Speaker 4: The lesson is that there's no such thing as an
00:20:59
Speaker 4: un answered prayer. God hears each and every one of
00:21:05
Speaker 4: our prayers, and he answers them at exactly the right time,
00:21:09
Speaker 4: in exactly the right way. Jewish tradition explains that Abraham's
00:21:13
Speaker 4: prayer was answered hundreds of years later when the Israelites
00:21:18
Speaker 4: were enslaved in Egypt. The people of Israel had descended
00:21:23
Speaker 4: to such a low spiritual level that they were barely
00:21:26
Speaker 4: worthy of God's salvation. And right then, hundreds of years later,
00:21:32
Speaker 4: and right then, hundreds of years later, it was Abraham's
00:21:36
Speaker 4: prayer that God saved. When he was praying for the
00:21:41
Speaker 4: wicked majority for the sake of the righteous minority. It
00:21:45
Speaker 4: was in this instant that God saw that prayer, saw
00:21:50
Speaker 4: what was happening to the Israelites in Egypt, and tapped
00:21:54
Speaker 4: into that prayer, answered it at last, exactly when it
00:21:59
Speaker 4: was needed. Even today, as I see the amazing miracles
00:22:03
Speaker 4: that hasm continues to do for Israel and the Jewish
00:22:07
Speaker 4: people every single day, I think about all of the
00:22:11
Speaker 4: prayers of the Jewish people over millennia, those prayers which
00:22:15
Speaker 4: very well might have seemed to go unanswered for so long,
00:22:20
Speaker 4: through enslavement and exiles, through progromes and persecution, are being
00:22:26
Speaker 4: answered today in just the right way, in just the
00:22:31
Speaker 4: right time. No matter how many times I hear Israel's
00:22:37
Speaker 4: national anthem called hatikva i moved. I've lived here for
00:22:43
Speaker 4: twenty years, and every time I hear children, soldiers, families
00:22:49
Speaker 4: at any event, the singing of hatikva i cry, these
00:22:54
Speaker 4: are the final words of the national anthem. We have
00:22:59
Speaker 4: not lost our two thousand year old hope to be
00:23:03
Speaker 4: a free nation in our homeland. In Hebrew odlo avdatik vaateno.
00:23:11
Speaker 4: This reminds me that my life here in the Holy Land,
00:23:16
Speaker 4: my children's lives here in the Holy Land, is the
00:23:19
Speaker 4: answer to millions of prayers over thousands of years of exile.
00:23:26
Speaker 4: My children were blessed to be born in the sovereign
00:23:32
Speaker 4: state of Israel. That's the answer to my ancestors prayers.
00:23:39
Speaker 4: And how powerful is that prayer is powerful? Prayer is heard,
00:23:46
Speaker 4: not a single word of prayer is wasted, and every
00:23:51
Speaker 4: single prayer to God brings blessings and miracles and hopes
00:23:55
Speaker 4: into the world. Maybe not in the way we would
00:23:58
Speaker 4: expect to see it, but according to God's perfect plan. Now,
00:24:04
Speaker 4: for a Christian perspective finding shadows of the Gospel in
00:24:07
Speaker 4: Abraham's story is Bishop Paul Linier.
00:24:12
Speaker 5: And now we come to one of the most fascinating
00:24:16
Speaker 5: passages of scripture you could ever find in your Bible,
00:24:20
Speaker 5: in the Hebrew scriptures, all the Christian scriptures. This person
00:24:25
Speaker 5: or angel or theophony says that the stench of Solom's
00:24:32
Speaker 5: sin has reached heaven and he has come personally to
00:24:36
Speaker 5: deal with it and to address it. Abraham steps into
00:24:42
Speaker 5: one of the most astounding conversations to be found in
00:24:45
Speaker 5: all the Bible, and he moves from this navigating discerning
00:24:52
Speaker 5: to actually negotiating with God about the salvation of a city.
00:25:00
Speaker 5: But why why is Abraham so concerned about what happens
00:25:05
Speaker 5: to that city? Well, you know the answers because his
00:25:09
Speaker 5: nephew Lot and his family live in that city. And
00:25:16
Speaker 5: this person, this angel or theophany of God asks Abraham,
00:25:22
Speaker 5: do you want me to hide from you, Abraham, what
00:25:25
Speaker 5: I'm about to do? Would you like for me to
00:25:29
Speaker 5: judge them without you fully knowing what's going on? This
00:25:34
Speaker 5: is absolutely astounding. Why would God consult Abraham about the
00:25:41
Speaker 5: life of death or the future of a city. It's
00:25:44
Speaker 5: because in the heart of God he's already given that
00:25:48
Speaker 5: space to Abraham. He's already devid it to him. So
00:25:56
Speaker 5: what you're witnessing here is God is consulted the owner.
00:26:03
Speaker 5: Wow Neighbraham asks the Lord, Almighty God.
00:26:12
Speaker 6: If there's fifty if there's fifty righteous souls living in
00:26:18
Speaker 6: that city, are you really going to judge them? Can
00:26:22
Speaker 6: you really destroy everything if there's fifty righteous souls yet
00:26:28
Speaker 6: living in that space? And God says no, if there's
00:26:36
Speaker 6: fifty righteous people living in that city, I will withhold judgment.
00:26:44
Speaker 5: But the conversation's not over, and Abraham knows it there's
00:26:48
Speaker 5: not fifty righteous so he whittles away. What about forty five?
00:26:56
Speaker 5: What about forty five?
00:26:57
Speaker 3: God?
00:26:58
Speaker 5: What if there's forty five righteous souls living in that city?
00:27:02
Speaker 5: Are you really going to destroy it? God says no,
00:27:08
Speaker 5: there's forty five.
00:27:10
Speaker 3: What about thirty souls?
00:27:12
Speaker 5: Gott what about twenty souls? And he keeps whittling because
00:27:17
Speaker 5: it becomes obvious there's not forty five or forty or
00:27:22
Speaker 5: thirty or twenty righteous souls till we get to this
00:27:25
Speaker 5: number of ten righteous people. You know, that's a big point.
00:27:32
Speaker 5: I'm talking right now, probably to thousands of souls. And
00:27:36
Speaker 5: you're concerned about your city. God says something profound here,
00:27:42
Speaker 5: and that is he will spare a city, a wretched place,
00:27:49
Speaker 5: a hopeless place. Seemingly he will withhold judgment for the
00:27:56
Speaker 5: sake of ten righteous people. Wow, that speaks to you
00:28:03
Speaker 5: and speaks to me. But why ten? Why is that
00:28:08
Speaker 5: that number? For God? Have you ever been in an
00:28:11
Speaker 5: airport and perhaps you saw an Orthodox Jewish man standing there,
00:28:15
Speaker 5: and he gets up, and perhaps see he makes eye
00:28:18
Speaker 5: contact with someone else who is obviously Orthodox, and may
00:28:22
Speaker 5: tap another on the shoulder, And before long they start
00:28:25
Speaker 5: getting in a little group. And before long you see
00:28:27
Speaker 5: others who are not dressed in an Orthodox way, but
00:28:31
Speaker 5: they must be Jewish because they're joining this conversation. And
00:28:36
Speaker 5: before long they have at least ten adults coming together.
00:28:41
Speaker 5: And it's a minion, it is a congregation, it is
00:28:45
Speaker 5: a quorum. That's what's required for a certain prayer to
00:28:49
Speaker 5: be offered unto the Lord. And you see that that
00:28:53
Speaker 5: same thing in the Book of Numbers, chapter fourteen, where
00:28:57
Speaker 5: Moses sent twelve spies into the land of Canaan. But
00:29:01
Speaker 5: ten of them come back with a faithless report. But
00:29:06
Speaker 5: that ten, that word there is the same. It is.
00:29:09
Speaker 5: It is a numerical equation here and it is a quorum,
00:29:13
Speaker 5: a congregation. And here was his last hope. What if
00:29:19
Speaker 5: there's ten people, Oh God, what if this ten righteous
00:29:23
Speaker 5: in that city? Will you spare it? Abraham realized there
00:29:31
Speaker 5: weren't even enough people there to form the smallest unit
00:29:37
Speaker 5: or congregation of faith, and he humbly stepped back and
00:29:42
Speaker 5: bowed to the judgment of God. Oh this hurts, this
00:29:49
Speaker 5: is painful. But I'm believing God is going to use
00:29:54
Speaker 5: you strategically to be part of a ten, a righteous
00:29:59
Speaker 5: ten that can cause the heavens to be withheld in
00:30:04
Speaker 5: its judgment, and that the grace of God, the power
00:30:07
Speaker 5: of God, the mercies of God will be extended, and
00:30:10
Speaker 5: that hearts and lives will change and turn to know
00:30:15
Speaker 5: the one God of the one Israel, and it's one
00:30:20
Speaker 5: capital city of Jerusalem.
00:30:23
Speaker 4: Abraham's prayer teaches us to be open and honest to God,
00:30:28
Speaker 4: to speak to him respectfully but like a friend, to
00:30:32
Speaker 4: share our hearts with him. We can come to him
00:30:35
Speaker 4: with our deepest concerns and our boldest requests. We don't
00:30:39
Speaker 4: need to hold back. Abraham didn't. He stood before God
00:30:43
Speaker 4: and pleaded for mercy, showing a bold faith, showing God
00:30:47
Speaker 4: that he is a man who cherishes righteousness.
00:30:51
Speaker 1: God likes that.
00:30:53
Speaker 4: He wants our prayers to be bold, and our prayers
00:30:57
Speaker 4: can be bold. That boldness shows our trust in God.
00:31:03
Speaker 4: The God who listened to Abraham is the same God
00:31:07
Speaker 4: who listens to us. Let me conclude with the blessing
00:31:12
Speaker 4: to you. May the Lord bless you and keep you.
00:31:16
Speaker 4: May the Lord make his face shine upon you. May
00:31:19
Speaker 4: he be gracious to you. May the Lord turn his
00:31:22
Speaker 4: face towards you and give you peace.
00:31:25
Speaker 2: Amen.
00:31:27
Speaker 1: You can listen to the Chosen People with the Isle
00:31:29
Speaker 1: Eckstein add free by downloading and subscribing to the Prey
00:31:33
Speaker 1: dot Com app today. This Prey dot Com production is
00:31:37
Speaker 1: only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents.
00:31:41
Speaker 1: Steve Katina, Max Bard, Zach Shellabarger and Ben Gammon are
00:31:45
Speaker 1: the executive producers of the Chosen People with Yile Eckstein.
00:31:49
Speaker 1: Edited by Alberto Avilla, narrated by Paul Caltefianu. Characters are
00:31:54
Speaker 1: voiced by Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvato, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan,
00:31:59
Speaker 1: Stephen Ringwold, Sylvia Zaradoc and the opening prayer is voiced
00:32:03
Speaker 1: by John Moore. Music by Andrew Morgan Smith, written by
00:32:07
Speaker 1: Bree Rosalie and Aaron Salvato. Special thanks to Bishop Paulinier,
00:32:12
Speaker 1: Robin van Ettin, Kayleb Burrows, Jocelyn Fuller, and the team
00:32:16
Speaker 1: at International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. You can hear
00:32:20
Speaker 1: more Prey dot com productions on the Prey dot Com app,
00:32:23
Speaker 1: available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
00:32:26
Speaker 1: If you enjoyed The Chosen People with Yeile Eckstein, please
00:32:30
Speaker 1: rate and leave a review,
Related Episodes
The Tragedy of Dinah
# 43 - The Tragedy of Dinah - In this episode of The Chosen People with Yael Eckstein we confront the devastating consequences of violence, vengeance, and the pursuit of justice without mercy. This episode delves into one of the Bible's darkest chapters, exploring the complexities of human sin and ...
Jacob & Esau Reunited
# 42 - Jacob & Esau Reunited - In this episode of The Chosen People with Yael Eckstein we explore a powerful story of reconciliation, where years of betrayal and fear give way to forgiveness, healing, and restored relationships. This episode reveals timeless lessons on grace, courage, and the t...
Wrestling with God
# 41 - Wrestling with God - In this episode of The Chosen People with Yael Eckstein we dive into Jacob's transformative encounter at the Jabbok, where he wrestles not only with a mysterious figure but with his own identity and destiny. Discover profound lessons on struggle, perseverance, and findin...
