Parshat Vayera
by Rabbi Avi Billet
When one reads through the text of chapters 18 and 19, part of the text focuses on Avraham’s experience, while the remainder of the narrative looks at Lot and his family. Once the angels depart from Avraham, God tells Avraham about what He’s going to do to Sodom, and their conversation over the numbers of righteous people in Sodom ensues. When that dialogue ends at the end of chapter 18, we are told that “God left, and Avraham returned to his place.”
The next chapter focuses on Lot’s experience all the way through his wife turning around (and “being a stand of salt”), and then there is an interlude of 3 verses about Avraham before it returns to Lot’s escape from the destruction of his home town.
(כז) וַיַּשְׁכֵּ֥ם אַבְרָהָ֖ם בַּבֹּ֑קֶר אֶל־הַ֨מָּק֔וֹם אֲשֶׁר־עָ֥מַד שָׁ֖ם אֶת־פְּנֵ֥י יְקֹוָֽק:
(כח) וַיַּשְׁקֵ֗ף עַל־פְּנֵ֤י סְדֹם֙ וַעֲמֹרָ֔ה וְעַֽל־כָּל־פְּנֵ֖י אֶ֣רֶץ הַכִּכָּ֑ר וַיַּ֗רְא וְהִנֵּ֤ה עָלָה֙ קִיטֹ֣ר הָאָ֔רֶץ כְּקִיטֹ֖ר הַכִּבְשָֽׁן:
(כט) וַיְהִ֗י בְּשַׁחֵ֤ת אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־עָרֵ֣י הַכִּכָּ֔ר וַיִּזְכֹּ֥ר אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶת־אַבְרָהָ֑ם וַיְשַׁלַּ֤ח אֶת־לוֹט֙ מִתּ֣וֹךְ הַהֲפֵכָ֔ה בַּהֲפֹךְ֙ אֶת־הֶ֣עָרִ֔ים אֲשֶׁר־יָשַׁ֥ב בָּהֵ֖ן לֽוֹט:
“Avraham got up early in the morning, [returning] to the place where he had received the presence of God (י-ק-ו-ק). And he looked upon Sodom and the enter plain, and he saw that behold the fire of the land appeared like the fire of a furnace. And so it was when God (א-לקים) was destroying the cities of the plain, and God (א-לקים) remembered Avraham and sent Lot out of the overturning of the cities.” (19:27-29)
Then the narrative returns to Lot’s disturbing experience with his daughters in a cave, bringing the chapter to its conclusion. This is followed by “And Avraham traveled from there to the Negev, to settle between Kadesh and Shur, in the land of Gerar.”
