03-14-2025, 05:22 AM
Yeah, I've run across that. I believe that's an almost a woke emphasis on something minor. It works better to reconstruct the Hebrew sensibilities that aren't always obvious to those of us reading from outside their culture.
This goes all the way back to Noah's time, when the Nephilim had taught humans to seek ways to cross the boundary between the mortal and eternal realms. It's rooted in the warning about having mortals eat from the Tree of Life. The symbolism sets that firm boundary. The elohim transgressed by coming down to mortal space. The humans prior to Noah were taught by Nephilim to seek crossing it from the other direction. Come all the way down to Abraham's time, and we see Sodom and Gomorrah wallowing in a cult that hearkens back to that time of Noah. Failure to show proper hospitality was only a small part of their much bigger problem, a mere symptom.
This goes all the way back to Noah's time, when the Nephilim had taught humans to seek ways to cross the boundary between the mortal and eternal realms. It's rooted in the warning about having mortals eat from the Tree of Life. The symbolism sets that firm boundary. The elohim transgressed by coming down to mortal space. The humans prior to Noah were taught by Nephilim to seek crossing it from the other direction. Come all the way down to Abraham's time, and we see Sodom and Gomorrah wallowing in a cult that hearkens back to that time of Noah. Failure to show proper hospitality was only a small part of their much bigger problem, a mere symptom.