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 favor 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 fetched 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.
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.
1 And the LORD H3068 appeared H7200 unto him in the plains H436 of Mamre: H4471 and he sat H3427 in the tent H168 door H6607 in the heat H2527 of the day; H3117
2 And he lift up H5375 his eyes H5869 and looked, H7200 and, lo, three H7969 men H582 stood H5324 by him: and when he saw H7200 them, he ran H7323 to meet H7125 them from the tent H168 door, H6607 and bowed H7812 himself toward the ground, H776
3 And said, H559 My Lord, H136 if now I have found H4672 favour H2580 in thy sight, H5869 pass not away, H5674 I pray thee, from thy servant: H5650
4 Let a little H4592 water, H4325 I pray you, H4994 be fetched, H3947 and wash H7364 your feet, H7272 and rest yourselves H8172 under the tree: H6086
5 And I will fetch H3947 a morsel H6595 of bread, H3899 and comfort ye H5582 your hearts; H3820 after that H310 ye shall pass on: H5674 for therefore are ye come H5674 to H5921 your servant. H5650 And they said, H1696 So do, H6213 as thou hast said. H559
6 And Abraham H85 hastened H4116 into the tent H168 unto Sarah, H8283 and said, H559 Make ready quickly H4116 three H7969 measures H5429 of fine H5560 meal, H7058 knead H3888 it, and make H6213 cakes H5692 upon the hearth. H6213
7 And Abraham H85 ran H7323 unto the herd, H1241 and fetcht H3947 a calf H1121 H1241 tender H7390 and good, H2896 and gave H5414 it unto a young man; H5288 and he hasted H4116 to dress H6213 it.
8 And he took H3947 butter, H2529 and milk, H2461 and the calf H1121 H1241 which he had dressed, H6213 and set H5414 it before them; H6440 and he stood H5975 by them under the tree, H6086 and they did eat. H398
9 And they said H559 unto him, Where H346 is Sarah H8283 thy wife? H802 And he said, H559 Behold, in the tent. H168
10 And he said, H559 I will certainly H7725 return H7725 unto thee according to the time H6256 of life; H2416 and, lo, Sarah H8283 thy wife H802 shall have a son. H1121 And Sarah H8283 heard H8085 it in the tent H168 door, H6607 which was behind him. H310
11 Now Abraham H85 and Sarah H8283 were old H2205 and well stricken H935 in age; H3117 and it ceased H2308 to be with Sarah H8283 after the manner H734 of women. H802
12 Therefore Sarah H8283 laughed H6711 within herself, H7130 saying, H559 After H310 I am waxed old H1086 shall I have pleasure, H5730 my lord H113 being old also? H2204
13 And the LORD H3068 said H559 unto Abraham, H85 Wherefore H4100 did Sarah H8283 laugh, H6711 saying, H559 Shall I of a surety H552 bear H3205 a child, which H589 am old? H2204
14 Is H6381 any thing H1697 too hard H6381 for the LORD? H3068 At the time appointed H4150 I will return H7725 unto thee, according to the time H6256 of life, H2416 and Sarah H8283 shall have a son. H1121
15 Then Sarah H8283 denied, H3584 saying, H559 I laughed H6711 not; for she was afraid. H3372 And he said, H559 Nay; H3808 but thou didst laugh. H6711
1 And Jehovah appeared unto him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;
2 and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood over against him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth,
3 and said, My lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:
4 let now a little water be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:
5 and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and strengthen ye your heart; after that ye shall pass on: forasmuch as ye are 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.
7 And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto the servant; 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.
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 when the season cometh round; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him.
11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, `and' well stricken in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
12 And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
13 And Jehovah said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, who am old?
14 Is anything too hard for Jehovah? At the set time I will return unto thee, when the season cometh round, 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.
1 And Jehovah appeareth unto him among the oaks of Mamre, and he is sitting at the opening of the tent, about the heat of the day;
2 and he lifteth up his eyes and looketh, and lo, three men standing by him, and he seeth, and runneth to meet them from the opening of the tent, and boweth himself towards the earth,
3 And he saith, `My Lord, if, I pray thee, I have found grace in thine eyes, do not, I pray thee, pass on from thy servant;
4 let, I pray thee, a little water be accepted, and wash your feet, and recline under the tree;
5 and I bring a piece of bread, and support ye your heart; afterwards pass on, for therefore have ye passed over unto your servant;' and they say, `So mayest thou do as thou has spoken.'
6 And Abraham hasteth towards the tent, unto Sarah, and saith, `Hasten three measures of flour-meal, knead, and make cakes;'
7 and Abraham ran unto the herd, and taketh a son of the herd, tender and good, and giveth unto the young man, and he hasteth to prepare it;
8 and he taketh butter and milk, and the son of the herd which he hath prepared, and setteth before them; and he is standing by them under the tree, and they do eat.
9 And they say unto him, `Where `is' Sarah thy wife?' and he saith, `Lo -- in the tent;'
10 and he saith, `returning I return unto thee, about the time of life, and lo, to Sarah thy wife a son.'
11 And Sarah is hearkening at the opening of the tent, which is behind him;
12 and Abraham and Sarah `are' aged, entering into days -- the way of women hath ceased to be to Sarah;
13 and Sarah laugheth in her heart, saying, `After I have waxed old I have had pleasure! -- my lord also `is' old!'
14 And Jehovah saith unto Abraham, `Why `is' this? Sarah hath laughed, saying, Is it true really -- I bear -- and I am aged? Is any thing too wonderful for Jehovah? at the appointed time I return unto thee, about the time of life, and Sarah hath a son.'
15 And Sarah denieth, saying, `I did not laugh;' for she hath been afraid; and He saith, `Nay, but thou didst laugh.'
1 And Jehovah appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre. And he sat at the tent-door in the heat of the day.
2 And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, three men standing near him. And when he saw [them], he ran to meet them from the tent-door, and bowed himself to the earth,
3 and said, Lord, if now I have found favour in thine eyes, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant.
4 Let now a little water be fetched, that ye may wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.
5 And I will fetch a morsel of bread; and refresh yourselves; after that ye shall pass on; for therefore have ye passed on towards your servant. And they said, So do as thou hast said.
6 And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, Knead quickly three seahs of wheaten flour, and make cakes.
7 And Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf tender and good, and gave [it] to the attendant; and he hasted to dress it.
8 And he took thick and sweet milk, and the calf that he had dressed, and set [it] before them; and he stood before them under the tree, and they ate.
9 And they said to him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.
10 And he said, I will certainly return to thee at [this] time of the year, and behold, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah was listening at the tent-door, which was behind him.
11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old [and] advanced in age: it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
12 And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am become old, shall I have pleasure, and my lord old?
13 And Jehovah said to Abraham, Why is this, that Sarah laughs, saying, Shall I indeed bear, when I am become old?
14 Is [any] matter too wonderful for Jehovah? At the time appointed I will return to thee, at [this] time of the year, and Sarah shall have a son.
15 And Sarah denied, saying, I did not laugh; for she was afraid. And he said, No; but thou didst laugh.
1 Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day.
2 He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth,
3 and said, "My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please don't go away from your servant.
4 Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.
5 I will get a morsel of bread so you can refresh your heart. After that you may go your way, now that you have come to your servant." They said, "Very well, do as you have said."
6 Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Quickly make ready three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes."
7 Abraham ran to the herd, and fetched a tender and good calf, and gave it to the servant. He hurried to dress it.
8 He took butter, milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them. He stood by them under the tree, and they ate.
9 They said to him, "Where is Sarah, your wife? He said, "See, in the tent."
10 He said, "I will certainly return to you when the season comes round. Behold, Sarah your wife will have a son." Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him.
11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. It had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
12 Sarah laughed within herself, saying, "After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?"
13 Yahweh said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Will I really bear a child, yet I am old?'
14 Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son."
15 Then Sarah denied, saying, "I didn't laugh," for she was afraid." He said, "No, but you did laugh."
1 Now the Lord came to him by the holy tree of Mamre, when he was seated in the doorway of his tent in the middle of the day;
2 And lifting up his eyes, he saw three men before him; and seeing them, he went quickly to them from the door of the tent, and went down on his face to the earth;
3 And said, My Lord, if now I have grace in your eyes, do not go away from your servant:
4 Let me get water for washing your feet, and take your rest under the tree:
5 And let me get a bit of bread to keep up your strength, and after that you may go on your way: for this is why you have come to your servant. And they said, Let it be so.
6 Then Abraham went quickly into the tent, and said to Sarah, Get three measures of meal straight away and make cakes.
7 And running to the herd, he took a young ox, soft and fat, and gave it to the servant and he quickly made it ready;
8 And he took butter and milk and the young ox which he had made ready and put it before them, waiting by them under the tree while they took food.
9 And they said to him, Where is Sarah your wife? And he said, She is in the tent.
10 And he said, I will certainly come back to you in the spring, and Sarah your wife will have a son. And his words came to the ears of Sarah who was at the back of the tent-door.
11 Now Abraham and Sarah were very old, and Sarah was past the time for giving birth.
12 And Sarah, laughing to herself, said, Now that I am used up am I still to have pleasure, my husband himself being old?
13 And the Lord said, Why was Sarah laughing and saying, Is it possible for me, being old, to give birth to a child?
14 Is there any wonder which the Lord is not able to do? At the time I said, in the spring, I will come back to you, and Sarah will have a child.
15 Then Sarah said, I was not laughing; for she was full of fear. And he said, No, but you were laughing.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Genesis 18
Commentary on Genesis 18 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Visit of Jehovah , With Two Angels, to Abraham's Tent - Genesis 18
Having been received into the covenant with God through the rite of circumcision, Abraham was shortly afterwards honoured by being allowed to receive and entertain the Lord and two angels in his tent. This fresh manifestation of God had a double purpose, viz., to establish Sarah's faith in the promise that she should bear a son in her old age (Genesis 18:1-15), and to announce the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah (vv. 16-33).
When sitting, about mid-day, in the grove of Mamre, in front of his tent, Abraham looked up and unexpectedly saw three men standing at some distance from him ( עליו above him, looking down upon him as he sat), viz., Jehovah (Genesis 18:13) and two angels (Genesis 19:1); all three in human form. Perceiving at once that one of them was the Lord ( אדני , i.e., God), he prostrated himself reverentially before them, and entreated them not to pass him by, but to suffer him to entertain them as his guests: “ Let a little water be fetched, and wash your feet, and recline yourselves ( השּׁען( sevle to recline, leaning upon the arm) under the tree .” - “ Comfort your hearts: ” lit., “ strengthen the heart, ” i.e., refresh yourselves by eating and drinking (Judges 19:5; 1 Kings 21:7). “ For therefore (sc., to give me an opportunity to entertain you hospitably) have ye come over to your servant: ” כּן על כּי does not stand for כּי כּן על ( Ges. thes. p. 682), but means “because for this purpose” (vid., Ewald , §353).
When the three men had accepted the hospitable invitation, Abraham, just like a Bedouin sheikh of the present day, directed his wife to take three seahs (374 cubic inches each) of fine meal, and back cakes of it as quickly as possible ( עגּות round unleavened cakes baked upon hot stones); he also had a tender calf killed, and sent for milk and butter, or curdled milk, and thus prepared a bountiful and savoury meal, of which the guests partook. The eating of material food on the part of these heavenly beings was not in appearance only, but was really eating; an act which may be attributed to the corporeality assumed, and is to be regarded as analogous to the eating on the part of the risen and glorified Christ (Luke 24:41.), although the miracle still remains physiologically incomprehensible.
During the meal, at which Abraham stood, and waited upon them as the host, they asked for Sarah, for whom the visit was chiefly intended. On being told that she was in the tent, where she could hear, therefore, all that passed under the tree in front of the tent, the one whom Abraham addressed as Adonai (my Lord), and who is called Jehovah in Genesis 18:13, said, “ I will return to thee ( חיּה כּעת ) at this time, when it lives again ” ( חיּה , reviviscens , without the article, Ges. §111, 2 b ), i.e., at this time next year; “ and, behold, Sarah, thy wife, will (then) have a son .” Sarah heard this at the door of the tent; “ and it was behind Him ” ( Jehovah ), so that she could not be seen by Him as she stood at the door. But as the fulfilment of this promise seemed impossible to her, on account of Abraham's extreme age, and the fact that her own womb had lost the power of conception, she laughed within herself, thinking that she was not observed. But that she might know that the promise was made by the omniscient and omnipotent God, He reproved her for laughing, saying, “ Is anything too wonderful (i.e., impossible) for Jehovah? at the time appointed I will return unto thee, ” etc.; and when her perplexity led her to deny it, He convicted her of falsehood. Abraham also had laughed at this promise (Genesis 17:17), and without receiving any reproof. For his laughing was the joyous outburst of astonishment; Sarah's, on the contrary, the result of doubt and unbelief, which had to be broken down by reproof, and, as the result showed, really was broken down, inasmuch as she conceived and bore a son, whom she could only have conceived in faith (Hebrews 11:11).
After this conversation with Sarah, the heavenly guests rose up and turned their faces towards the plain of Sodom ( פּני על , as in Genesis 19:28; Numbers 21:20; Numbers 23:28). Abraham accompanied them some distance on the road; according to tradition, he went as far as the site of the later Caphar barucha , from which you can see the Dead Sea through a ravine, - solitudinem ac terras Sodomae . And Jehovah said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I propose to do? Abraham is destined to be a great nation and a blessing to all nations (Genesis 12:2-3); for I have known, i.e., acknowledged him (chosen him in anticipative love, ידע as in Amos 3:2; Hosea 13:4), that he may command his whole posterity to keep the way of Jehovah , to practise justice and righteousness, that all the promises may be fulfilled in them.” God then disclosed to Abraham what he was about to do to Sodom and Gomorrah, not, as Kurtz supposes, because Abraham had been constituted the hereditary possessor of the land, and Jehovah , being mindful of His covenant, would not do anything to it without his knowledge and assent (a thought quite foreign to the context), but because Jehovah had chosen him to be the father of the people of God, in order that, by instructing his descendants in the fear of God, he might lead them in the paths of righteousness, so that they might become partakers of the promised salvation, and not be overtaken by judgment. The destruction of Sodom and the surrounding cities was to be a permanent memorial of the punitive righteousness of God, and to keep the fate of the ungodly constantly before the mind of Israel. To this end Jehovah explained to Abraham the cause of their destruction in the clearest manner possible, that he might not only be convinced of the justice of the divine government, but might learn that when the measure of iniquity was full, no intercession could avert the judgment-a lesson and a warning to his descendants also.
“The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah, yea it is great; and their sin, yea it is very grievous.” The cry is the appeal for vengeance or punishment, which ascends to heaven (Genesis 4:10). The כּי serves to give emphasis to the assertion, and is placed in the middle of the sentence to give the greater prominence to the leading thought (cf. Ewald , §330).
God was about to go down, and convince Himself whether they had done entirely according to the cry which had reached Him, or not. כלה עשׂה , lit., to make completeness, here referring to the extremity of iniquity, generally to the extremity of punishment (Nahum 1:8-9; Jeremiah 4:27; Jeremiah 5:10): כּלה is a noun, as Isaiah 10:23 shows, not an adverb, as in Exodus 11:1. After this explanation, the men (according to Genesis 19:1, the two angels) turned from thence to go to Sodom (Genesis 18:22); but Abraham continued standing before Jehovah , who had been talking with him, and approached Him with earnestness and boldness of faith to intercede for Sodom. He was urged to this, not by any special interest in Lot, for in that case he would have prayed for his deliverance; nor by the circumstance that, as he had just before felt himself called upon to become the protector, avenger, and deliverer of the land from its foes, so he now thought himself called upon to act as mediator, and to appeal from Jehovah 's judicial wrath to Jehovah 's covenant grace ( Kurtz ), for he had not delivered the land from the foe, but merely rescued his nephew Lot and all the booty that remained after the enemy had withdrawn; nor did he appeal to the covenant grace of Jehovah , but to His justice alone; and on the principle that the Judge of all the earth could not possibly destroy the righteous with the wicked, he founded his entreaty that God would forgive the city if there were but fifty righteous in it, or even if there were only ten. He was led to intercede in this way, not by “ communis erga quinque populos misericordia ” ( Calvin ), but by the love which springs from the consciousness that one's own preservation and rescue are due to compassionate grace alone; love, too, which cannot conceive of the guilt of others as too great for salvation to be possible. This sympathetic love, springing from the faith which was counted for righteousness, impelled him to the intercession which Luther thus describes: “ sexies petiit, et cum tanto ardore ac affectu sic urgente, ut prae nimia angustia, qua cupit consultum miseris civitatibus, videatur quasi stulte loqui .” There may be apparent folly in the words, “ Wilt Thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? ” but they were only “ violenta oratio et impetuosa, quasi cogens Deum ad ignoscendum .” For Abraham added, “ peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city; wilt Thou also destroy and not forgive ( נשׁא , to take away and bear the guilt, i.e., forgive) the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? ” and described the slaying of the righteous with the wicked as irreconcilable with the justice of God. He knew that he was speaking to the Judge of all the earth, and that before Him he was “ but dust and ashes ” - “dust in his origin, and ashes in the end;” and yet he made bold to appeal still further, and even as low as ten righteous, to pray that for their sake He would spare the city. - הפּעם אך (Genesis 18:32) signifies “ only this (one) time more, ” as in Exodus 10:17. This “seemingly commercial kind of entreaty is,” as Delitzsch observes, “the essence of true prayer. It is the holy ἀναίδεια , of which our Lord speaks in Luke 11:8, the shamelessness of faith, which bridges over the infinite distance of the creature from the Creator, appeals with importunity to the heart of God, and ceases not till its point is gained. This would indeed be neither permissible nor possible, had not God, by virtue of the mysterious interlacing of necessity and freedom in His nature and operations, granted a power to the prayer of faith, to which He consents to yield; had He not, by virtue of His absoluteness, which is anything but blind necessity, placed Himself in such a relation to men, that He not merely works upon them by means of His grace, but allows them to work upon Him by means of their faith; had He not interwoven the life of the free creature into His own absolute life, and accorded to a created personality the right to assert itself in faith, in distinction from His own.” With the promise, that even for the sake of ten righteous He would not destroy the city, Jehovah “went His way,” that is to say, vanished; and Abraham returned to his place, viz., to the grove of Mamre. The judgment which fell upon the wicked cities immediately afterwards, proves that there were not ten “ righteous persons ” in Sodom; by which we understand, not merely ten sinless or holy men, but ten who through the fear of God and conscientiousness had kept themselves free from the prevailing sin and iniquity of these cities.