Sunday, August 23, 2020

Sunday School lesson taught at Lake Marburg Baptist Church this morning - Genesis 18:1 - 19:26




Genesis 18:1 ¶  And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; 2  And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, 3  And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: 4  Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: 5  And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said. 6  And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. 7  And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it. 8  And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.
Genesis 18:9 ¶  And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. 10  And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. 11  Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12  Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? 13  And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? 14  Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. 15  Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.
These three men are appearances or angels of spiritual beings and one of them is God Himself, in the form of pre-incarnate Christ; the Word by which all things were and are created (see Psalm 104:30; Isaiah 48:7; and John 1:1-18).
Abraham tells Sarah to make three cakes from three measures of meal. It is interesting to note that three of the world’s great religions will come from Abraham and Sarah’s offspring; Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Note the corrupting influence of leaven as it is kneaded into three measures of meal in the following verse. Perhaps God is not impressed with the practices of either of these “great” faith traditions in their hypocrisy.
Matthew 13:33  Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
Luke 12:1  In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
As Abraham has a meal prepared for these men they ask where Sarah is, another question for which they obviously know the answer and one of them makes an important statement. He, clearly the Lord, promises to return unto thee according to the time of life which is a reference to the presence of God’s will in Sarah’s childbirth.
Now it is Sarah’s turn to laugh, as both her and Abraham are now very old and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women meaning she was no longer fertile and no longer menstruating.
The Lord’s response was to make the claim by way of a rhetorical question that nothing was impossible with God and to repeat the certainty of Sarah’s childbirth. Jesus made a similar statement when comparing the difficulty of becoming a believer if one is possessed of wealth.
Mark 10:25  It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. 26  And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? 27  And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.
Sarah, afraid at being challenged for laughing, denied she laughed but the Lord contradicted her attempt to hide her doubt. Many conservative Christians will deny that they have any doubts about God’s promises, about the truth of the gospel, or even about God’s very existence but God knows what is in your heart. Don’t be angry at the atheist when you yourself have said in your heart at certain times, “how is this possible?”
Mark 9:24  And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
We live in bodies of flesh, assailed by misfortune, disappointments, disease, fleeting joys and pleasures, and then death. Often, we are overcome by the apparent randomness and uncertainty of life. And yet, if we belong to God and are sensitive to His involvement in our moment to moment lives as clearly laid out in the Bible we are assured that His power is real and His promises are true.
Modern Christians have been led to believe by their preachers that if a thing happens like childbirth it is just by a natural process that God started but is not really involved in unless He is asked to intervene and wills to do so. Modern Christians believe that God cannot be involved in the evil that can befall them. They ignore the lessons of the Book of Job and wrench the promises made to Israel out of context and apply them to themselves to their eventual dismay. Or they embrace worldly values, lusts, and pride and insist they have not, harming their faith when things go wrong.
But, if you are honest, speaking to God in prayer and opening your Bible inviting the Lord to speak to you through His words, then you know that nothing is impossible with Him and He will do and has done what He has promised. Don’t pretend you’ve never doubted God as Sarah has here.
Genesis 18:16 ¶  And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. 17  And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; 18  Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19  For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. 20  And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; 21  I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. 22  And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.
18:23 ¶  And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24  Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? 25  That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? 26  And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. 27  And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: 28  Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. 29  And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty’s sake. 30  And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. 31  And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake. 32  And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake. 33  And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.
First, God acknowledges that Abraham will become a mighty nation, a people, he will command his family to faithfulness to the Lord, and he and his family will be faithful to God. Through the people that come from Abraham the entire world will be blessed. As we know, through Abraham the entire world was given the opportunity to know the God who created them even most chose instead a mythical god or gods to worship who reflected their own morality, their own political views, their own culture, fear, paranoia, and bigotry. Many who worship in churches, mosques, temples, and synagogues today are simply worshipping a reflection of themselves rather than the God who actually created them and all things.
God here gives Abraham an opportunity to plead for mercy for the small number of people who may not deserve the judgment Abraham knows Sodom so richly has earned.
Sodom is guilty of great wickedness.
Ezekiel 16:49  Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50  And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.
We will be shocked at the homosexual gang rape threatened by the men of Sodom coming soon but the Bible shows this wickedness was not unique to Sodom. The men of Gibeah, Israelites of the tribe of Benjamin, will threaten the same and then commit heterosexual rape and murder on a Levite’s concubine in Judges 19. We must understand that this world’s religious and social system was fraught with sexuality and power/domination rituals such as gang rape to enforce the power of a group of people over even a stranger passing through.
From Sodom we get the word sodomite for a male temple prostitute in contrast to a whore which denotes a female temple prostitute.
Deuteronomy 23:17  There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.18  Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.
Even today, in some quarters, a male prostitute is called a dog in slang.
Men would enter a pagan temple in the Ancient Near East and toss a coin into a temple prostitute’s lap to have sex with them as part of their worship of Baal and Ishtar. Greek writers, Herodotus and Lucian, tell us of this practice as a symbol of Ishtar’s union with Tammuz. It is evident from the Bible that this was the form of worship that God abhorred and wanted erased.
So, Sodom was proud, rich, lazy, and without compassion for the poor, passing on the perverted religious practices of the age that probably started at Babel or even more likely from the fallen sons of God in the Pre-Flood world who found the daughters of men desirable. It is even noted in some sources that every woman who came of age was expected to visit a temple to act as a religious prostitute at least once.
Temple prostitution even plays a part in the Greco-Roman world of Paul and the early Christians. Certainly, the thousand short-haired temple prostitutes at the Temple of Aphrodite in nearby Acro-Corinth had an impact on the Corinthians church’s requirement that their women have long-hair so as not to be confused with a temple prostitute. Read 1Corinthians 11:1-16 but pay attention to verse 16 that shows this was not necessarily an issue with other Christian churches.
Abraham pleads with God most likely for the sake of his nephew, Lot, and God promises that if there are just ten righteous men in this city he will spare it. Apparently, even that is too much to ask of Sodom. Lot, who it is later revealed is disgusted by the behavior of the people of the city he has chosen to abide in, will be saved from its judgment.
2Peter 2:6  And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; 7 ¶  And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8  (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) 9  The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
Genesis, chapter 19
Genesis 19:1 ¶  And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; 2  And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. 3  And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.
The two angels that were with the Lord went on to the city. Angels are not a strange manlike creature with wings. They look like men when not representing the church or something else.
Revelation 21:17  And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
Daniel 9:21  Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
Luke 1:26  And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
 Lot sat in the gate indicating that he had become a judge in Sodom to judge disputes and help manage the city’s affairs. Sitting in the gate as a position of judgment is defined in the Bible. It was a place to meet with the elders of a city.
Deuteronomy 21:19  Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;
It was a place of the king’s authority.
2Samuel 15:2  And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, and said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.
2Samuel 19:8  Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. And they told unto all the people, saying, Behold, the king doth sit in the gate. And all the people came before the king: for Israel had fled every man to his tent.
1Kings 22:10  And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, having put on their robes, in a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them.
The mention of the gate is equivalent to the deciding of judgment.
Amos 5:15  Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
So, in the following, often misunderstood verses because Christians are not taught to cross-reference verses anymore due to the proliferation of humanistic Bible versions that eliminate cross-references, the gates of hell is a reference to the judgment that casts one into perdition. This judgment will not affect the true church of Christ. The church is established upon Peter’s confession of faith, upon Jesus Christ, the Rock (1Corinthians 10:4).
Matthew 16:15  He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16  And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Lot’s concern for these foreigners is quite apparent. They must not lodge in the street, for we know that it was a dangerous place, probably no less dangerous than a street in Baltimore, The Bronx, or Chicago today. This type of thing is shown again in Gibeah in Judges 19 as I’ve already mentioned.
Genesis 19:4 ¶  But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: 5  And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. 6  And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, 7  And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. 8  Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. 9  And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. 10  But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. 11  And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
Compassed means to encircle, to surround, which is obvious from the phrase compassed the house round.
Joshua 6:11  So the ark of the LORD compassed the city, going about it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.
All people from every quarter doesn’t necessarily mean every single person in the city. Common sense tells us this but also the Bible itself uses two definitions of all. There is all without exception as in the following where it is God’s desire that all humanity be saved but we know that many reject Him.
1Timothy 2:4  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Then, there is all without distinction. Instead of saying men came from every quarter, as we would, Moses writes it the way he did. Notice a similar passage in that regard here as we doubt that every single person in Judaea came to the Jordan so that the land itself was empty of people. It is simply not to be understood that way;
Mark 1:5  And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
Or here next we don’t expect that every single person in the village or town was at the door but that people came from everywhere.
Mark 1:33  And all the city was gathered together at the door.
We use this type of hyperbole when we say, “everyone,” often meaning not that there is no one who doesn’t but simply referencing many.
These people want to know Lot’s guests, clearly demanding that they be delivered to be gang-raped as in the later case where a gang of thugs representing the town of Gibeah of Benjamin behaved badly.
Judges 19:25  But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.
To our amazement and disgust, Lot offers his two virgin daughters instead. This reflects the baseness of this ancient culture, certainly not reflecting well upon Lot. We get an idea of the degeneracy of Sodom’s culture in this scene and the careless value placed on the sex act and the worth of women. But, we also get a glimpse of the importance and the honor placed on hospitality and how one felt responsible for the welfare of the stranger one took into his house. The example of depravity only gets worse.
The mob rejects Lot’s offer and casts disparaging comments on his time as a judge, sitting in the gate, obviously resenting his, a foreigner’s, presence. They promise to do worse to him for not complying with their collective will than with the men they want delivered to them. This is about power and domination, not sexual desire. Rape, heterosexual or homosexual, is unfinished murder, an exercise of power and domination over another, not simply out-of-control lust.
Before things get bad for Lot the angels, the men, rescue Lot and strike the crowd blind but they are in a full fury and rage now and still try to get at the door through which Lot has been saved. This suggests that the blindness affected their ability to see the door, not that all their vision just went black, as they are still trying to force the door, apparently, and just can’t find it now.
In verses 4 and 9 we have examples of how the word even is used for two things that are the same thing in the phrases the men of the city, even the men of Sodom and the man, even Lot. Remember a past example of this type of the use of even.
Genesis 6:17  And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
Genesis 19:12 ¶  And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: 13  For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it. 14  And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.
Genesis 19:15 ¶  And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. 16  And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. 17  And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. 18  And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: 19  Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: 20  Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. 21  And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. 22  Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. 23  The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.
Genesis 19:24 ¶  Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; 25  And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
Genesis 19:26 ¶  But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
Lot’s daughters were clearly betrothed and not married as we understand it as they were said to have not known man. To be betrothed in the ancient world was considerably more of a commitment than being engaged today. They were, for all practical purposes, married but without the pleasure of sexual union as that had to wait. It must be understood that the betrothal was a contract between two families that carried the same weight as marriage. It wasn’t necessarily a personal, romantic choice as much as it was a business deal, as binding as marriage and referred to as such.
Leviticus 19:20  And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free.
Deuteronomy 20:7  And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.
So, Lot’s daughters were virgins but had husbands who did not possess them physically yet. Notice also that sons-in-law were considered also to be sons.
            The angels told him to give his daughters’ husbands the warning to get out. Because of Lot, these wicked people are being given a chance. But, it seems that not ten good people can be found in this city. The angels declare their intention to destroy Sodom because of its wickedness. Lot’s sons-in-law, however, think he’s joking. You can imagine what would happen if you were to tell your children that two angels visited you and announced that they were about to destroy your town for its wickedness. They would think you had lost your mind, would they not? But, this is prepared for them because of how evil they had chosen to be.
The day dawns, the time of judgment has come. But Lot lingers. Who wouldn’t with two betrothed daughters whose husbands were refusing to leave? The angels give him no choice and removed him, his wife, and his two daughters out of the city.
They tell him not to look back. That would be very hard for anyone. Lot is afraid to follow their command to escape to a nearby mountain. Remember the mountain that the fleeing armies of Sodom and Gomorrah fled to in 14:10? Although afraid of something about it, some evil perhaps, he will wind up there anyway and great evil will overcome him. By requesting permission to flee to a small village the angels agree to spare it for his sake although all of the other towns of the plain are destroyed as if in a nuclear holocaust we might imagine. Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt, a part of this judgment. What sorrow she must have felt. What horror? Everyone you know and everything you owned is being destroyed.
This brings to mind that we are not to look back although we do it all the time. We lament and regret what we did and did not do that has brought us to a place of loss. We grieve for what could have been. But, we are not to look back. Our sins are forgiven and we are to look forward and to trust God’s justice and judgment.
In the context of deciding whether to follow Him immediately or to take care of unfinished business first Jesus said;
Luke 9:57 ¶  And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 58  And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. 59  And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 60  Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. 61  And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. 62  And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
Paul declared his desire to look ahead this way.
Philippians 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended [that is to know Christ as Christ knows him] : but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
In leaving this world behind and escaping the judgment God has planned for this world Jesus makes this note.
Luke 17:24  For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. 25  But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation. 26  And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27  They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. 28  Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29  But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. 30  Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. 31  In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. 32  Remember Lot’s wife.
We are not to look back. Our greatest times, our most perfect joy, is ahead of us, with Christ. We may not understand now why a child refuses Christ, a parent, a friend, and we may grieve at their loss, but, in the end, we must keep looking forward. Too many Christians in America are crying about where their country is headed, wanting to elect a national messiah or some sort of national pastor, continuing to look back at some fictitious time when all Americans were God-fearing and upright. They rip verses out of context in the Old Testament regarding Israel and keep ranting about “turning America back to God”. They keep looking back at Sodom.

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