Avraham is sitting outside his tent in the brutal heat in hopes of finding someone to help and give to. He couldn’t contain his desire to give to others and it was more painful to not have someone to give to than to sit in the beating sun. Three Arabs come his way and he runs to greet them and provides a meal for them before they continue their way. Chazal tell us that these were not people, rather they were angels. Three angels with three missions, since each angel is only capable of performing one task. One was there to heal Avraham, one to give the news about Sarah having a baby next year and one to destroy סדום. The burning question for me is why did the angel coming to destroy סדום need to travel with them? If anything, that would be a detour for him, which would mean he isn’t carrying his mission out as effectively as possible. Another smaller question, we know that the angel that heals Avraham then goes to save Lot, but why did Hashem need to send the same angel for those two tasks? I think the basic answer is that there is a connection between the visit to Avraham, the savior of Lot and the destruction of סדום. To destroy סדום and to save Lot you must first visit Avraham. Let’s explore the text to see how this shows true in the words of the story as well and then see what message this all holds for us today.
To back the theory that the missions of these angels are all related, the Torah uses 8 linguistic parallels between the two stories. Before I show them to you, I want to explain what I believe the function of linguistic parallels. There are many very common words in the Torah, and their use in two separate stories don’t necessarily mean anything specific, for example, I would never be able to draw a grand conclusion from the fact that it says וידבר יהוה אל משה לאמר in 2 places sine that is the most common Pasuk in the Torah. However, if two or three stories have the same word and that word doesn’t appear anywhere else in the Torah or תנך, then that is very significant, and it is Hashem’s way of telling us that these stories are connected and need to be understood in contrast to each other. Alternatively, if there are a string of mediocrely significant words, phrases or themes in close succession then that could also mean that the Torah is connecting these stories. Here there are 8 parallels of varying significance, and I think Hashem is trying to bring the stories together and help us with a message.
| Avraham | Lot, | |
| Hashem’s messengers | 3 people come toward him | 2 angels come toward him |
| location | is sitting at the entrance to his tent | is sitting at the gate (the entrance) to the city |
| time of day | at the heat of the day | at the evening |
| reaction to seeing them | וירא וירץ לקראתם | וירא ויקם לקראתם |
| bow to them | וישתחו ארצה | וישתחו אפים ארצה |
| washing off | wash feet before coming in | wash feet inside my home |
| feeding them | gives them a meal (uses the word סעודה) | gives them a meal (uses the word משתה) |
| laughter | ותצחק שרה | ויהי כמצחק בעיני חתניו |
The Torah doesn’t usually tell us what time something happened or where people were sitting when it happened, and to have those parallels plus the exact same words to tell us about the reactions of Avraham and Lot, seems like these stories are meant to be understood together. And this will also explain why the angels traveled together when they went to Avraham. It was one long mission for them. I think the reason why it was one long mission is because we need to understand these two characters in relation to one another. To explain fully, we need to see what happens to Lot after סדום gets destroyed.
Lot gets rushed out of סדום by the angels. The angels tell him to flee to the mountain – ההרה – and Chazal tell us that the mountain is a reference to where Avraham was living (ויעתק משם ההרה) and that this is a chance for Lot to undo what he did in last week’s פרשה, this is his chance to rejoin Avraham and Hashem, to come back to them in light of what he had just seen happen to the wicked of סדום. But Lot refuses, saying that next to Avraham he will be considered evil and will be destroyed. Instead he chooses to go to a place called צוער, a small city where his chances of being considered evil and being destroyed were much smaller. He thought that he was saved due to his own merits in contrast to סדום and therefore he didn’t want to go to Avraham, but in reality, he had only been saved because of Avraham, as the Pasuk says ויהי בשחת אלהים את ערי הככר ויזכר אלהים את אברהם וישלח את לוט מתוך ההפכה.
And there is one more linguistic parallel between Avraham and Lot that I think deepens the story. By the ברית בין הבשרים it says that Hashem took Avraham out of his natural state that was dictated by the stars, ויוצא אתו החוצה. This word החוצה is very uncommon, it appears only a handful of times in the entire Torah. One of the other times is this word comes up is by Lot, the Pasuk says the angels took him out of סדום, ויהי כהוציאם אתם החוצה ויאמר … ההרה המלט פן תספה. The suggestion to go Avraham on the mountain came after they took Lot “החוצה” which I think could mean that he was temporarily taken out of his natural context and he had the ability to make a life changing decision.
But here is where is gets fascinating and the Torah’s timeless message comes in. As the story progresses Lot and his daughters decide that it is too dangerous even in צוער and they decide to move, and the Pasuk says ויעל לוט מצוער וישב בהר. Lot ends up in the mountain at the end of the day! But this is not the mountain of Avraham, this is the mountain where he will sleep with his daughters after which point he is no longer mentioned in the Torah at all. Lot had the opportunity of a lifetime to fix the mistake he had made when he was nudged to move back with Avraham. He had his chance to live on the mountain with the person that was closest to God in the entire world. he was meant to live on a mountain, but how he would get there was his choice. He could either have chosen to follow the angel’s suggestion and live with Hashem or he could move to a different mountain out of fear and commit adultery with his daughters.
Hashem has a plan for all of us, and He gives us nudges to help us along the way, but the decision is ultimately ours and we choose how to bring that plan to fruition. And it is possible that during those decisions we are given the opportunity to take ourselves “החוצה”, we are given the chance to change our nature in one moment and with one decision.