The Deeper Read

The Deeper Read S2E4: Negotiating With God


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This week, we enter the strangest double-episode in early Genesis—where Abraham recovers from mass circumcision just in time to host three mysterious visitors, God breaks the fourth wall with an inner monologue no one asked for, and a doomed city becomes the testing ground for the oldest negotiation in the Bible.

Abraham bargains like a Hollywood producer fighting for a show on the brink of cancellation: 50 righteous → 45 → 40 → 30 → 20 → 10.A pitch meeting with the Divine, and the final offer is still not enough.

Meanwhile in Sodom, Lot scrambles to protect two angelic guests as a violent mob closes in, a father makes the worst counter-offer in scripture, and a single backward glance turns his wife into a monument of narrative convenience. What follows is one of the most disturbing origin stories in the Hebrew Bible—an alcohol-fueled, trauma-coded finale that raises more questions than it answers.

Genesis 18–19 isn’t just about judgment. It’s about power, leverage, and the illusion of choice in a world where the studio always has final cut.

Join us as we break down the negotiation, the destruction, the manipulation, and the psychological architecture behind one of the Bible’s most haunting story arcs.

Read the full essay here.

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🎬 Continue the Series

← Previous Episode: Marked in Flesh→ Next Episode: The Binding of Isaac📂 Full Episode Guide: Cold Open

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The Deeper ReadBy Lisa T.