In the Torah section לֶךְ-לְךָ Lech Lecha (“get going,” Gen. 12:1-17:27), Abram was not given a destination. It’s a strange place to be when you don’t know where you’re going. It takes trust to make the first step. And this is the beginning of his journey to become Abraham, father of faith in God (Rom. 4:16-25).

We also learn through this Bible study why all cultures are not equal and what was truly the unforgivable problem in Sodom and Gomorrah.

A father and mother of many nations

“’No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.‘ … Then God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.’” (Genesis 17:5, 15-16 NASB)

The name Abram means “My father is Aram” This is referred to in Deut. 26:5 when the children of Israel are to bring the first fruits of their land to the priests at the tabernacle and later the temple, they were to recite a liturgy starting with the phrase, “My father was a wandering Aramean,…” but God is expanding Abram’s influence beyond Aram. God is going to use Abram to bless the entire world and God gives him a name worthy of that calling. 

When God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, his new name means that he is still going to a father, but not of one nation, but of many nations. 

Sarai’s name was also changed to Sarah. Sarai means “my princess,” while Sarah means “mother of nations.” 

The Torah tells us that there’s one law for all people (Num. 15:16, 29). There’s no room for bigotry and racism in God’s house. The prophet Ezekiel says that even the inheritance is equal between the native born and the convert. That is profound. 

The apostle Paul also stressed that there is no distinction made between Jew or Greek, male or female in regards to salvation and status as a member of God’s household (Rom. 10:12; Col. 3:11). Whether you are born in or grafted in, you are in. 

The entire Muslim world does not trace their family lineage through Ishmael. Only the Arabs directly trace their family lineage through Ishmael (and later Esau). There is a strong current of racism in the Arab world. Non-Arab Muslim visitors to Mecca can tell you all sorts of stories about the racism they experienced during the Hajj. There’s also a lot of racism in African and Asian societies but it’s only the European societies and cultures who have been shamed for their racism while the racism of others is ignored or tolerated.

All cultures are not created equal

When we read later in the Torah about’s God’s command to Israel to wipe out groups such as a the Amalekites, that command was not made because of the Amalakite’s race but because their culture and their conduct (as well as the culture and conduct of the other Canaanite tribes) was so reprehensible, that they had to be wiped out.

There was no way to expunge their abhorrent cultural practices from the land. These teachings and practices were so engrained in the Canaanites that there was no way to separate them from their culture.  

God cares about how we behave. The entire book of Deuteronomy, particularly its final chapters are all about God’s warnings that if the people behave badly, God will punish them severely but if they practice righteousness and justice, God will bless them. 

Whether God wipes out a culture Himself in a super-natural manner (Sodom and Gomorrah) or He tells His people to do it (Hittites, Jebusites, Amalakites, etc.), the result is the same. All cultures are not equal. 

And we are also told that some generations, particularly the witness who met and rejected Yeshua,  will be judged more harshly than Sodom and Gomorrah ...