(Exodus 6:3, Acts 17:21-31). Read part 6 here.
Who did Abraham see in Genesis 18?
We are told that before the cities (Sodom and Gomorrah) were burnt, a particular family knew they were about to be burnt and that was the family of Abraham. The Redactors theme being traced by the introduction of this family in the narrative of the fires in these two cities is that Abraham’s family was one that worshipped the true God as opposed to apostate gods worshipped in those cities. When Abraham sees three supernatural and spirit-like men he addresses them in singularity as God. Now the questions we should ask are; who did Abraham and family really see? Was it the God we know today or some other god?
To answer the above question of who Abraham saw let me share with you a true story.
One of my best friends (names withheld) shared with me his experience at their home as he grew up. His father was a staunch witch-doctor who helped his community in various spiritual situations. But whenever his father left home and drove off, his same-Dad could appear in the compound or even walk through the living room to the room where his Dad doctored his things. This guy who 100% was in the image of their father said nothing and always appeared to everyone at home in the absence of their physical father. This friend of mine told me that they used to call this man in the image of their real father, Owekanzu (man in the Cassock) because he was always dressed in a white Cassock.
Cultic Worship and Trees
I hate it to be the one to tell you this, but Abraham did not see the God who created the Universe after his worship service under the Terebinth trees of Mamre (Genesis 18:1). Here are the reasons:
First, when you read the first 18 chapters of the Book of Genesis you will realize that too much action happens around or in connection to the trees. In Genesis 2:9 the tree is the sustaining source and supply of life to the created man (2:7), in Genesis 2:9, 16-17 the relationship between man and God hangs on a tree of knowledge of good and evil. The fall of man happens on a tree and man is forbidden to eat from the tree of life so that he might not live eternally (Genesis 3:24).
When Adam is called out of his people by this new god, his first worship service is conducted under a Terebinth tree of Moreh in Shechem (Genesis 12:6-9). In chapter 13, he pitches his tent near the Oak of Mamre (huge phenomenon tree) under which he builds his worshipping altar. It is under these trees at Mamre that he experiences the appearance of the three beings he addresses in singularity. While we cannot dismiss that God was one of the gods worshipped under the trees by Abraham, we cannot as well dismiss the truth that there were other gods to whom these trees were designated.
According to Haran, Menahem’s book: Temples and Temple-Service in Ancient Israel: An Inquiry Into Biblical Cult Phenomena and the Historical Setting of the Priestly School, “Mamre, full Hebrew name Elonei Mamre (“Oaks/Terebinths of Mamre”), refers to an ancient cultic shrine originally focused on a single holy tree, growing since time immemorial at Hebron in Canaan.”
We must understand that Abraham had gotten into an alliance with this cult in which his God was worshipped by the Canaanites there as he also worshipped their gods to whom the shrine was assigned to (Genesis 14:13).
Alliances in the Old Testament were founded on gods.
When Lot got into trouble it was the Alliance of Abraham with the chief gods of the Amorites that rescued Lot in pursuit of Chedorlaomer (Genesis 14:13, 24). The chief gods at the Amoritish shrine were represented by three brothers; Mamre, Eschol and Aner (Genesis 14:13). When trouble is about to happen where Lot is, it is again under this cultic shrine that an alliance of three (representing the three chiefs) celestial beings appear to Abraham. These were demons worshipped at the Amoritish cultic shrine in alliance with Abraham that appeared to him.
Secondly, we cannot conclude that Abraham saw God for these were angelic beings but not the Angel of the Lord that appeared to him. In the Old Testament, there is a distinction between ordinary Angels and the Angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord speaks as God, identifies Himself with God, and exercises the responsibilities of God and therefore God (Genesis 16:7-12; 21:17-18; 22:11-18; Exodus 3:2; Judges 2:1-4; 5:23; 6:11-24; 13:3-22; 2 Samuel 24:16; Zechariah 1:12; 3:1; 12:8).
The Angels are Malak (supernatural or natural messengers) while the Angel of the Lord according to the Old Testament narratives, is the Lord himself. The characters that appeared to Abraham after his worship under the Terebinth Trees of Mamre whom he addressed as Lord (Genesis 18:2-3) are not the same Angel of the Lord who called him from Heaven (Genesis 22:11-18). These were but three Angelic or human-like celestial beings. Nowhere in the Old Testament (at least to my knowledge) does the Angel of Lord who is equated to God Himself eat, drink and take baths as the spirit-like men who visited Abraham did (Genesis 18:4-8). But these ate drunk and took a cultural hospitality bath.
Thirdly, these men (god) were on a mission to destroy two cities because they sinned. All people were to die in all those cities including the babies if for any reason because their parents were sinners. This is the same thing we see in the floods where it is alleged that God wanted to solve the problem of sin using waters. Today, we know that God doesn’t destroy cities and nations because they are sinners, for if that were the case; then no human being would be living today. He then wouldn’t have died on the cross dealing with the same problem he had solutions for. A God who destroys sinners leaves no role whatsoever for the Devil and qualifies as the source of both Evil and Good (Genesis 2:16-17).
God is already misrepresented from the meeting; for what Abraham saw was equivalent to the man in the Cassock’ that my friends used to see at home and thought it was their Dad. Precisely what Abraham saw was not God but the gods he was worshipping under those trees and those were the gods with a destructive agenda. Our God has come that we might have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10)
I know many people today have dreamt the Jesus they have never met, visited heavens they have never been, and encountered Angels both in dreams and in the day time. While we cannot contend anyone’s experience, the only defence line we are left with is contrasting what the god they have seen or dreamt about said/did, with the coherent-cohesive theology of the Revelation we have about God both in the Bible and outside the Bible.
What we cannot contend is that Abraham saw some three celestial beings whom he served and yes there could have been information about the fate of the two cities (even demons have this prior information). What cannot fit well with the broader contextual theology of the whole Bible, however, is the God we know that since time immemorial He is a saviour of sinners but on a mission to destroy them. This is a misrepresentation. Abraham saw a punitive God and according to the Hebrew redactor, we can tell that theme being developed through the Events like that of the floods and the fires is one known as the Retributive Theology.
The Retribution Principle
First of all, the fires of those two cities did not come from heaven but rather it was a volcanic eruption. The elements that appeared to Abraham foreknew this predicament and informed Abraham just as today a witch can accurately predict events. Mrs Lot did not turn into a pillar of salt but lava coiled on her and to the viewer of the event, she turned into a pillar. The reporter (chronicler) was right on what (Sinful cities) was and what happened (fires). However, he was wrong to assert that:
1. the fires came from Heaven (at least to what Heaven means to us today). Mountainous volcanic eruptions flying over the cities mean to us that they came from the sky but to the ancient man this was from Heaven.
2. that God was destroying people because they were sinners. This was and still is the misrepresentation in the text.
To the ancient man, the equation was SINNING + God’s ANGER = PUNISHMENT or OBEDIENCE + GOD’S ACCEPTANCE = REWARD. Largely, the Bible agitates around these two retribution theology poles. The Principle is as stated in Proverbs 3:33: “The LORD’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous”. The punishment could be in the form of natural disasters, epidemic, pandemics, Barrenness, diseases (curable and incurable), sick and dead flock, poor harvests etc. This is the biggest contention in the book of Job between Job and three of his friends who insist that Job is suffering because he did something wrong to God.
The blessing/reward could be in the form of material wealth, fruit of the womb, health, family and friends relationships etc. When a volcanic predicament befell Sodom and Gomorrah, it was attached to their morality concerning the redactor’s prior attitude towards Homosexuality. What am saying is that Genesis is compiled during and after the Exile and therefore the compilation keeps in mind the Levitical order on the same sin (Leviticus 18:1-3, 24-30; 20:23-25).
This is not to that there were no homosexuals in Sodom and Gomorrah but instead, it is to say that the connection between wrong sex and a volcanic eruption is not scientific and neither is it spiritual (theological). The factors from which a volcanic eruption is born have not a sexual ingredient. So yes, the two cities got burnt, but 1. they were burnt by volcanoes and 2. they were not burnt by God for the God we know today to have hanged naked on the cross for sinners could not be the same God who burnt other sinners before.
According to W. Jackson, (The Doctrine of Retribution);
“The idea of retribution certainly has a prominent place in the Bible, as is indicated by the frequent use of words like “wrath” (Hebrew= ’aph, cḥēmãh, ’ebrãh, qetṩeph, Greek= thumos, orgə; Exodus 22:24; Job 19:11; Psalm 2:12, etc.), “vengeance” (Hebrew= nãqam, neqãmāh, Greek= ekdikēsis; Psalm 94:1; Isaiah 34:8; Jeremiah 50:15; etc.), “punish” and “punishment” (Hebrew= pāqad, ’ãwon, Greek= epitimía, kólasis: Psalm 89:32; Isaiah 10:3; Jeremiah 51:6; etc.), “judgment” (Hebrew= mishpāt, Greek= kríma, krísis; Deut 1:17; Job 19:29; Ps 76:8; etc.), “reward” (Hebrew= gãmal, shālam, Gr. misthos, apodídōmi; 1Samuel 24:19; Psalm 58:11; Proverbs 11:18), etc.”
“In Eden, one sees the retribution of God against Adam, Eve, and the serpent (Genesis 3:14-19). The punishment of Cain (4:11, 12), the Flood (6:5-8), and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (18:20, 21; 19:15, 24-29) are examples of retribution. When Israel entered the Promised Land by divine instruction, she was clearly confronted with promises of blessings which would result from obedience and threats of retributive punishment which would result from disobedience (Deuteronomy 27:14-26; Josh 8:34). The many promises and warnings of the prophets and of Christ are also indicative of the fact of retribution.”
Retribution Theology is the idea that you always reap what you sow and get what you deserve. In other words, those who will end in Hell will be deservedly there and those who will be in Heaven will inherit eternal life because they deserved it. This teaching is wrong for we are saved by grace through faith alone not by works lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). We are sinning-beneficiaries (not deserving) of being and believing in God while those who eventually perish are not those who deserve death but victims of being and believing the Satan who rightly deserves death.
God bless you, I invoke Truth, Wisdom and Faith
Priest M.I.T White
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24)
Questioning to Believe, Believing to Live
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24) 