Torah" can rightly translated as "law," but the Torah is a lot more than just rules and regulations. "Torah" might also be translated as "rule," "instruction," or "principle," and it is sometimes useful to think of the Torah as simply "the way," i.e., instruction on the way we ought to live our lives.Please read through as much as you can of the lives of Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 11-25). In what ways do the lives of these two figures reflect "torah" in the latter sense? Cite an instance where either Sarah or Abraham seems to you a particularly good example of how we ought (or ought not) to live our lives.
Genesis 10: And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11: And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12: And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
ReplyDeleteThis is some serious dedication & a test of faith like no other. The stories in Genesis are quite extreme. I think this is setting a precedence for others to follow later. If Abraham had to endure the death of a son, if Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of sin, then what do the next generations have to complain about?
I'll be honest: I've never liked Sarah. Her lack of patience, trust in God, and overall jealousy of Hagar are qualities I find to be really unappealing. The way she begged her husband to sleep with his maidservant and then the way she mistreated her afterward is shameful (Gen. 16). She laughed at the idea of having children at such an age and when confronted about it, she lied (Gen. 18:13-15). She's just one of those Biblical women whom I didn't really care for. If anything, she teaches me what NOT to do in certain situations.
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