“Genesis 18:1-8”

Friday, December 06, 2019

“Now the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth, and said, ‘My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by. Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree; and I will bring a piece of bread, that you may [refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant.’ And they said, ‘So do, as you have said.’ So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, ‘Quickly, prepare three measures of fine flour, knead it and make bread cakes.’ Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and choice calf and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it. He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree as they ate.”

---End of Scripture verses---

James Burton Coffman wrote the following as an introduction to the whole chapter of Genesis 18:

“This remarkable chapter is divided about equally between the reaffirmation of the covenant for the benefit of Sarah (Genesis 18:1-15), and the announcement of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:16-33). As Payne pointed out, there are a number of dramatic contrasts visible in this chapter and the next, (Genesis 19), the two in fact being a unit and reaching a climax in the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah.

1. The long-awaited birth of Isaac, an event so full of joy and hope, stands in parallel and contrast to the birth, unheralded, unwanted and degrading of the two ancestors of Moab and Ammon.
2. It was high noon when God and two angels appeared before Abraham; and it was a terrible night at the time of their arrival in Sodom.
3. Abraham's tent was a place of honor and righteousness, but Lot's house was in the midst of the most lustful and violent wickedness.
4. Abraham's most generous and delightful hospitality stands in naked contrast with the most vicious and wicked mistreatment of strangers in Sodom.
5. There is the contrast between the blessings of God upon the posterity of Abraham and the summary judgment and punishment of the wicked cities, the destruction of which would stand as a type of the eternal judgment throughout the ages.”

“Now the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre…” The oaks of Mamre were located in or around the area of Hebron. There is no way to know for certain how much time had elapsed between the events of chapter 17 concerning the circumcision of Abraham and his household, and what took place here in chapter 18, but the one appears to have occurred relatively quickly upon the heels of the other. While Abraham was sitting in his tent, verse 2 tells us he “lifted up his eyes” and saw “three men” standing outside “in the heat of the day”—at noontime when most people would be cooling themselves indoors or under the cover of shade. When trying to determine the identity of these “men,” the fact that verse 1 says “the Lord appeared to him” may be very instructive. This gives much credence to the possibility that one of the three visitors was actually a physical manifestation of the Lord himself (a theophany).

Hebrews 13:2 tells us, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.” If this is a direct reference to Abraham and his three visitors, as many believe it to be, then maybe these three strangers were all only angels who appeared to him in human form. Abraham, calling himself their “servant” (verse 3), certainly did pull out all the stops in his efforts to show them hospitality, and they did refresh themselves with the food that Sarai and the servants prepared for them. Abraham “ran…to meet them,” and appears to have “bowed himself to the earth” as a form of warm and welcoming salutation and not as an act of worship. Maybe the fact that Abraham did not build an altar and worship the Lord as he did in previous theophanies indicates that the Lord appeared to and communicated with him through the agency a trio of angelic messengers. As you can tell I am completely undecided about whether one of these visitors was divine or they were all angelic!

“There seems to be nothing superhuman about their appearance. Abraham perceives them to be human, as do the people of Sodom (19:5). They are repeatedly designated ‘men,’ although they are also called ‘angels.’ Their arrival as a group of three is without analogy in the Bible. Chapter 19:1 mentions ‘the two angels,’ which suggests that the third was manifestly different. Indeed, Abraham speaks to, and is in turn addressed by, one of them directly (vv. 4,10). Perhaps the other two are his attendants.” (Nahum Sarna)

Nahum Sarna commented on verses 4-8 the following: “Abraham’s openhearted, liberal hospitality to the total strangers knows no bounds. He has water brought for them to bathe their feet, a much appreciated comfort to the traveler with his sandal-like footwear and the pervasive dust of the roads (cf. Judg. 19:21). He invites them to rest under ‘the tree,’ probably one of the famous local terebinths. He promises to fetch ‘a morsel of bread’ but prepares a lavish feast. The Talmud remarks, ‘Such is the way of the righteous; they promise little but perform much’ (BM87a). In asking Sarah to bake cakes, Abraham specifies the use of ‘choice flour,’ that is, the finest and choicest of wheat flour, the type from which meal offerings were later brought to the sanctuary. He himself selects the calf for the main dish, a rare delicacy and a sign of princely hospitality among pastoralists. He provides curds and milk, the basic products of a pastoral economy. Curds are the coagulated state of the fatty part of the milk, corresponding to the modern lebenor yogurt. Milk was highly esteemed in the ancient Near East… It was regarded as a source of vitality and possessor of curative powers. Abraham personally serves the strangers this rich fare and stands close by, ready to attend to their needs.”

Please read Genesis 18:9-15 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

- Louie Taylor

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