166) Since Abraham was told of Isaac, it is written, \u201cAnd the men rose up from there and looked out over Sodom.\u201d See how the Creator leads all the people with His quality of kindness, all the more so for those who follow in His ways. Even when He seeks to judge the world, He arranges those who love Him to be rewarded with something before that judgment comes to the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
167) When the Creator loves a person, He sends him a gift. And what is the gift? Poor, so as to be rewarded by it. And when he is rewarded by it, the Creator draws upon him a string of grace that is extended from the right side, spreads over his head, and registers him so that when the judgment comes to the world, that saboteur will be careful not to harm him. He looks in that list and then retreats from him and is careful with him. For this reason, the Creator first gives him something to be rewarded with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
168) When the Creator wished to execute judgment over Sodom, He first rewarded Abraham and sent him a gift\u2014three angels by which he would be rewarded, so as to save Lot from there. It is written, \u201cGod remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the upheaval.\u201d It does not say, \u201cRemembered Lot,\u201d since he was saved thanks to Abraham. \u201cRemembered\u201d means that He remembered for him what he was initially rewarded with by the three angels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
169) One who is rewarded with righteousness with people when there is judgment in the world, the Creator remembers that righteousness that he performed because at any time when a person is rewarded, it is registered so for him above. Hence, even while there is judgment in the world, the Creator remembers the good that he had done and was rewarded with people, as it is written, \u201cRighteousness delivers from death.\u201d For this reason, the Creator first arranged for Abraham something by which to be rewarded, through which he would save Lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
170) \u201cAnd the men rose up from there,\u201d from the meal that Abraham had fixed for them, and by whom he was rewarded. Even though the angels did not need a meal, he was still rewarded by them. And nothing was left of that food so that Abraham would be rewarded by it. It is written, \u201cAnd they ate,\u201d for it was consumed and burned in their fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
171) They were three angels: Gabriel is fire, Michael is water, and Raphael is wind. Thus, only Gabriel could burn the food. However, each was included in his friend so that each had fire, water, and wind. This is why it is written about all of them, \u201cAnd they ate,\u201d for there was fire in each of them, in which the food was burned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd they saw God, and they ate and drank.\u201d This eating that they ate means that they were fed by the brightness of the Shechina. With their eating, they caused nourishment from that side to which Abraham was attached\u2014right, Hassadim. This is the reason why they did not leave anything of what Abraham gave them, to draw as much Hassadim as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
172) A man needs to drink from a cup of blessing so that he will be rewarded with the blessing from above through his drinking. Similarly, the angels ate what Abraham had fixed for them so as to be rewarded with nourishment from the side of Abraham\u2014light of Hassadim\u2014through their eating, since the nourishments are extended to all the upper angels from that side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
173) \u201cAnd looked out over Sodom\u201d is the awakening of mercy to save Lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
174) \u201cAnd Abraham went with them to send them on the way,\u201d to accompany them. If Abraham knew that they were angels, why did he accompany them? Even though he knew that they were angels, he did with them as he was accustomed to doing with people, and he accompanied them because this is what a man should do, accompany the guests. This is so because the whole Mitzva [commandment] of hospitality depends on the accompanying, which is the completion of the matter, and a Mitzva is called so only for one who completed it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
175) And while he was walking with them to accompany them, the Creator appeared to him, for it is written, \u201cAnd the Lord said, \u2018Do I hide from Abraham that which I am doing?\u2019\u201d The Lord [HaVaYaH] means He and his courthouse, the Nukva, since the Creator was walking with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
176) When a person accompanies his friend, he draws the Shechina to bond with him and to walk with him on the way to save him. This is why a man should accompany his guest, since it bonds him with the Shechina and draws the Shechina upon him, to bond with him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
166) Since Abraham was told of Isaac, it is written, \u201cAnd the men rose up from there and looked out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":7813,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"topic":[28],"class_list":["post-7825","book","type-book","status-publish","hentry","topic-zohar"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n