He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood near him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth, and said, “My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please don’t go away from your servant. Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. I will get a piece 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.”
Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly prepare three seahs of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes.” Abraham ran to the herd, and fetched a tender and good calf, and gave it to the servant. He hurried to dress it. 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.
They asked him, “Where is Sarah, your wife?” He said, “There, in the tent.”
He said, “I will certainly return to you at about this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him.
Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Will I really bear a child when I am old?’ 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.”
Then Sarah denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”
The men rose up from there, and looked toward Sodom. Abraham went with them to see them on their way. Yahweh said, “Will I hide from Abraham what I do, since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him? For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Yahweh may bring on Abraham that which he has spoken of him.” Yahweh said, “Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now, and see whether their deeds are as bad as the reports which have come to me. If not, I will know.”
The men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before Yahweh. Abraham came near, and said, “Will you consume the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are in it? May it be far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?”
Yahweh said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place for their sake.” Abraham answered, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord, although I am dust and ashes. What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?” He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
He spoke to him yet again, and said, “What if there are forty found there?” He said, “I will not do it for the forty’s sake.”
He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak. What if there are thirty found there?” He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
He said, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord. What if there are twenty found there?” He said, “I will not destroy it for the twenty’s sake.”
He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He said, “I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake.”
Yahweh went his way, as soon as he had finished communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 27 2. And, lo, three men stood by him. Before…
2. And, lo, three men stood by him. Before Moses proceeds to his principal subject, he describes to us, the hospitality of the holy man; and he calls the angels men, because, being clothed with human bodies, they appeared to be nothing else than men. And this was done designedly, in order that he, receiving them as men, might give proof of his charity. For angels do not need those services of ours, which are the true evidences of charity. Moreover, hospitality holds the chief place among these services; because it is no common virtue to assist strangers, from whom there is no hope of reward. For men in general are wont, when they do favors to others, to look for a return; but he who is kind to unknown guests and persons, proves himself to be disinterestedly liberal. Wherefor the humanity of Abraham deserves no slight praise; because he freely invites men who were to him unknown, through whom he had no advantage, and from whom he had no hope of mutual favors. What, therefore, was Abraham’s object? Truly, that he might relieve the necessity of his guests. He sees them wearied with their journey, and has no doubt that they are overcome by heat; he considers that the time of day was becoming dangerous to travelers; and therefore he wishes both to comfort, and to relieve persons thus oppressed. And certainly, the sense of nature itself dictates, that the strangers are to be especially assisted; unless blind self love rather impels us to mercenary services. For none are more deserving of compassion and help than those whom we see deprived of friends, and of domestic comforts. And therefore the right of hospitality has been held most sacred among all people, and no disgrace was ever more detestable than to be called inhospitable. For it is a brutal cruelty, proudly to despise those who, being destitute of ordinary, have recourse to our assistance. It is however asked, whether Abraham was wont, thus to receive indiscriminately all kinds of guests? I answer that, according to his accustomed prudence, he made his distinction between his guests. And truly, the invitation, which Moses here relates, has something uncommon. Undoubtedly, the angels bore, in their countenance and manner, marks of extraordinary dignity; so that Abraham would conclude them to be worthy not only of meat and drink, but also of honor. They who think that he was thus attentive to his office, because he had been taught, by his fathers, that the angels often appeared in the world in human form, reasons too philosophically. Even the authority of to Apostle is contrary to this; for he denies that they were, at first, known to be angels either by Abraham, or by Lot, since they thought they were entertaining men. (Hebrews 13:2) This, then is to be maintained; that when he saw men of reverend aspect, and having marks of singular excellence, advancing on their journey, he saluted them with honor, and invited them to repose. But at that time, there was greater honesty than is at present, to be found amid the prevailing perfidy of mankind; so that the right of hospitality might be exercised with less danger. Therefore, the great number of inns are evidence of our depravity, and prove it to have arisen from our own fault, that the principal duty of humanity has become obsolete among us.
And bowed himself toward the ground. This token of reverence was in common use with oriental nations. The mystery which some of the ancient writers have endeavored to elicit from this act; namely, that Abraham adored one out of the three, whom he saw, and, therefore perceived by faith, that there are three persons in one God, since it is frivolous, and obnoxious to ridicule and calumny, I am more than content to omit. For we have before said, that the angels were so received by the holy man, as by one who intended to discharge a duty towards men. But the fact that God honored his benignity, and granted it to him as a reward, that angels should be presented to him for guests, was that he was not aware of, till they had made themselves known at the conclusion of the meal. It was therefore a merely human and civil honor, which he paid them. As to his having saluted one in particular, it was probably done because he excelled the other two. For we know that angels often appeared with Christ their Head; here, therefore, among the three angels, Moses points out one, as the Chief of the embassy.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 25, 26, 27, 32 That is, three Angels in man’s shape.
That is, three Angels in man’s shape.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv2–33 Gen 18:2 And he lift up his eyes and…
Gen 18:2 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,
Ver. 2. And he lift up his eyes and looked.] As "pursuing hospitality" (that is the apostle’s expression, Rom 12:13), and waiting an opportunity of doing good. Charity is no churl. "The liberal man deviseth liberal things"; {Isa 32:8} "he considereth the poor and needy". {Psa 41:1} Praeoccupat vocem petituri , as Augustine expounds it, {a} he stays not till he is asked a good turn; he ministereth to the uses, not only "to the necessities {b} of the saints," as the apostle’s word is, {Rom 12:13} and as Bishop Hooper’s and Dr Taylor’s practice was. The one had his board of beggars sent for, and served every day with whole and wholesome meats, ere himself sat down to dinner. And the other went once a fortnight at the least, to the almshouse, and other poor men that had, many children, and were sick, to see what they lacked, and to supply them. {c}
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And bowed himself toward the ground.] Piety is no enemy to courtesy; it doth not remove but rectify it, that it be not only complimental and ridiculous. Potest Augur Augurem videre et non ridere? {d} So it may be said of our common cringers.
{a} Aug. in Psalm ciii.
{b} ταις χρειαις Usibus, non necessitatibus. Nequis existimet prius non succurrendum proximo quam ad necessitatem sit redactus.
{c} Act. and Mon., fol. 1369, 1388.
{d} Cicero.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 32 Three men, as they seemed to be, though indeed…
Three men, as they seemed to be, though indeed they were angels in men’s shape.
Bowed himself toward the ground; a respect usually paid to persons of quality, such as these seemed to be.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv9, 16, 23 These heavenly guests (being sent to confirm the promise…
These heavenly guests (being sent to confirm the promise lately made to Abraham, that he should have a son by Sarah), while they are receiving Abraham's kind entertainment, they return his kindness. He receives angels, and has angels' rewards, a gracious message from heaven, Mat 10:41.
I. Care is taken that Sarah should be within hearing. She must conceive by faith, and therefore the promise must be made to her, Heb 11:11. It was the modest usage of that time that the women did not sit at meat with men, at least not with strangers, but confined themselves to their own apartments; therefore Sarah is here out of sight: but she must not be out of hearing. The angels enquire (Gen 18:9), Where is Sarah thy wife? By naming her, they gave intimation enough to Abraham that, though they seemed strangers, yet they very well knew him and his family. By enquiring after her, they showed a friendly kind concern for the family and relations of one whom they found respectful to them. It is a piece of common civility, which ought to proceed from a principle of Christian love, and then it is sanctified. And, by speaking of her (she over-hearing it), they drew her to listen to what was further to be said. Where is Sarah thy wife? say the angels. "Behold in the tent," says Abraham. "Where should she be else? There she is in her place, as she uses to be, and is now within call." Note, 1. The daughters of Sarah must learn of her to be chaste, keepers at home, Tit 2:5. There is nothing got by gadding. 2. Those are most likely to receive comfort from God and his promises that are in their place and in the way of their duty, Luk 2:8.
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II. The promise is then renewed and ratified, that she should have a son (Gen 18:10): "I will certainly return unto thee, and visit thee next time with the performance, as now I do with the promise." God will return to those that bid him welcome, that entertain his visits: "I will return thy kindness, Sarah thy wife shall have a son;" it is repeated again, Gen 18:14. Thus the promises of the Messiah were often repeated in the Old Testament, for the strengthening of the faith of God's people. We are slow of heart to believe, and therefore have need of line upon line to the same purport. This is that word of promise which the apostle quotes (Rom 9:9) as that by the virtue of which Isaac was born. Note, 1. The same blessings which others have from common providence believers have from the promise, which makes them very sweet and very sure. 2. The spiritual seed of Abraham owe their life, and joy, and hope, and all, to the promise. They are born by the word of God, Pe1 1:23.
III. Sarah thinks this too good news to be true, and therefore cannot as yet find in her heart to believe it: Sarah laughed within herself, Gen 18:12. It was not a pleasing laughter of faith, like Abraham's (Gen 17:17), but it was a laughter of doubting and mistrust. Note, The same thing may be done from very different principles, of which God only, who knows the heart, can judge. The great objection which Sarah could not get over was her age: "I am waxed old, and past childbearing in the course of nature, especially having been hitherto barren, and (which magnifies the difficulty) my lord is old also." Observe here, 1. Sarah calls Abraham her lord; it was the only good word in this saying, and the Holy Ghost takes notice of it to her honour, and recommends it to the imitation of all Christian wives. Pe1 3:6, Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, in token of respect and subjection. Thus must the wife reverence her husband, Eph 5:33. And thus must we be apt to take notice of what is spoken decently and well, to the honour of those that speak it, though it may be mixed with that which is amiss, over which we should cast a mantle of love. 2. Human improbability often sets up in contradiction to the divine promise. The objections of sense are very apt to stumble and puzzle the weak faith even of true believers. It is hard to cleave to the first Cause, when second causes frown. 3. Even where there is true faith, yet there are often sore conflicts with unbelief, Sarah could say, Lord, I believe (Heb 11:11), and yet must say, Lord, help my unbelief.
IV. The angel reproves the indecent expressions of her distrust, Gen 18:13, Gen 18:14. Observe, 1. Though Sarah was now most kindly and generously entertaining these angels, yet, when she did amiss, they reproved her for it, as Christ reproved Martha in her own house, Luk 10:40, Luk 10:41. If our friends be kind to us, we must not therefore be so unkind to them as to suffer sin upon them. 2. God gave this reproof to Sarah by Abraham her husband. To him he said, Why did Sarah laugh? perhaps because he had not told her of the promise which had been given him some time before to this purport, and which, if he had communicated it to her with its ratifications, would have prevented her from being so surprised now. Or Abraham was told of it that he might tell her of it. Mutual reproof, when there is occasion for it, is one of the duties of the conjugal relation. 3. The reproof itself is plain, and backed with a good reason: Wherefore did Sarah laugh? Note, It is good to enquire into the reason of our laughter, that it may not be the laughter of the fool, Ecc 7:6. "Wherefore did I laugh?" Again, Our unbelief and distrust are a great offence to the God of heaven. He justly takes it ill to have the objections of sense set up in contradiction to his promise, as Luk 1:18. 4. Here is a question asked which is enough to answer all the cavils of flesh and blood: Is any thing too hard for the Lord? (Heb. too wonderful), that is, (1.) Is any thing so secret as to escape his cognizance? No, not Sarah's laughing, though it was only within herself. Or, (2.) Is any thing so difficult as to exceed his power? No, not the giving of a child to Sarah in her old age.
V. Sarah foolishly endeavours to conceal her fault (Gen 18:15): She denied, saying, I did not laugh, thinking nobody could contradict her: she told this lie, because she was afraid; but it was in vain to attempt concealing it from an all-seeing eye; she was told, to her shame, Thou didst laugh. Now, 1. There seems to be in Sarah a retraction of her distrust. Now she perceived, by laying circumstances together, that it was a divine promise which had been made concerning her, she renounced all doubting distrustful thoughts about it. But, 2. There was withal a sinful attempt to cover a sin with a lie. It is a shame to do amiss, but a greater shame to deny it; for thereby we add iniquity to our iniquity. Fear of a rebuke often betrays us into this snare. See Isa 57:11, Whom hast thou feared, that thou hast lied? But we deceive ourselves if we think to impose upon God; he can and will bring truth to light, to our shame. He that covers his sin cannot prosper, for the day is coming which will discover it.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–33 And he lifted up his eyes and looked,.... To…
And he lifted up his eyes and looked,.... To see if he could observe any passengers coming that way:
and, lo, three men stood by him; having perhaps descended at once from heaven upon the spot near where Abraham sat; for these, whoever they were, appeared in an human form, and they were took by Abraham at first sight to be men, and as such he treated them: some have taken these to be the three divine Persons, as some of the ancients; of which opinion was Dr. Lightfoot, who expressly says (h),"three months after this, (i.e. the institution of the circumcision,) the three Persons in the Trinity dine with Abraham, and foretell the birth of Isaac; again, the Son and the Holy Ghost go down to Sodom, but the first Person in the Trinity stayeth with Abraham''and elsewhere (i),"the three Persons in the Trinity, in the shape of three men, appear to Abraham and dine with him, and eat the first flesh mentioned eaten in all the Scripture.''But to this may be objected, that the Father and the Holy Spirit are never said to appear in an human form, see Joh 5:37; or are ever called angels, as these are, Gen 19:1; but they rather seem to be angels, as the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call them, in the likeness of men, who were sent on three messages, as they suggest; one to bring the news of Sarah's bearing Isaac; the other to deliver Lot; and the third to overthrow Sodom and Gomorrah; which is a much better sense than that of Ben Gersom, who takes them to be three prophets, and mentions the names of two of them, Shem and Heber; for two of these are expressly called angels, Gen 19:1; and the apostle seems to refer to this history, Heb 13:2; in the Talmud (k) they are said to be Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael: the truth of the matter seems to be this, that one of them was the son of God in an human form, that chiefly conversed with Abraham, and who rained from heaven brimstone on Sodom; and the other two were angels in the like form that accompanied him in that expedition:
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and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door; for, though they are before said to stand "by him", it must be understood of their being near him, but at some little distance; and as soon as he saw them, he did not stay for their coming up to him, but, to show how ready he was to entertain them, he arises from his seat at the tent door and ran to meet them, and gave them an hearty welcome to what he would provide for them:
and bowed himself toward the ground; not in a way of religious adoration, for, had he took them for angels, be could not have done that, and he knew not as yet that one of them was Jehovah; but in a civil manner, as was the custom of those countries when in the presence of, or when they received? great personages, and such, by their look and habit, Abraham took these to be.
(h) Works, vol. 1. p. 13. (i) Ib. p. 695. (k) T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 37. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv2, 9, 10, 12, 17, 19, 21, 23, 27, 30, 33 And lo three men - These three men were…
And lo three men - These three men were three spiritual heavenly beings, now assuming human shapes, that they might be visible to Abraham, and conversable with him. Some think they were all three created angels; others, that one of them was the Son of God. He bowed himself towards the ground - Religion doth not destroy but improve good manners, and teaches us to honour all men.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 27, 32 Verse 2. Three men stood by him] נצבים עליו…
Verse 2. Three men stood by him] נצבים עליו nitstsabim alaiv, were standing over against him; for if they had been standing by him, as our translation says, he needed not to have "run from the tent door to meet them." To Abraham these appeared at first as men; but he entertained angels unawares, see Heb 13:2.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 17, 19, 21, 22, 23, 27, 30, 33 Gen 18:2. And lo, three men — These three…
Gen 18:2. And lo, three men — These three men were three spiritual, heavenly beings, now assuming human shapes, that they might be visible to Abraham, and conversable with him. Some think they were all three created angels; others, which is more probable, that one of them was the Son of God. He bowed himself toward the ground — Religion doth not destroy, but improve good manners, and teaches us to “honour all men.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 25, 32 Men in outward appearance, but angels indeed. (Hebrews xiii.…
Men in outward appearance, but angels indeed. (Hebrews xiii. 2; St. Augustine, City of God xvi. chap. 29.) Some have supposed, that one of them was the Son of God, whom Abraham adored, and who bears throughout the chief authority. Tres vidit et unum adoravit. He saw three and adored one, as we read in the Church office. In the former supposition, which is generally adopted, this adoration was only a civil ceremony, if Abraham considered them as mere men; or it might be mixed with a degree of religious, though inferior veneration, if he imagined they were angels; or in fine, he adored God in his representatives. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 16, 17, 21, 23, 33 lift up his eyes . . . and, lo,…
lift up his eyes . . . and, lo, three men--Travellers in that quarter start at sunrise and continue till midday when they look out for some resting-place.
he ran to meet them--When the visitor is an ordinary person, the host merely rises; but if of superior rank, the custom is to advance a little towards the stranger, and after a very low bow, turn and lead him to the tent, putting an arm round his waist, or tapping him on the shoulder as they go, to assure him of welcome.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 33 2. Three men — An angelophany, in which the…
2. Three men — An angelophany, in which the celestial messengers took on the form and habits of ordinary men. It appears from what follows that one of these was the Angel of Jehovah, (see note on Gen_16:7.) who speaks in the Divine name and represents Deity himself. Comp. Gen_18:13; Gen_18:17; Gen_18:20; Gen_18:22; Gen_18:26; Gen_18:33. But such a manifestation of Jehovah in human form appears extraordinary, and has been made the subject of ridicule by unbelievers. What! they say, God eating veal along with Abraham! Abraham washing God’s feet, and feeding him with cakes! That is worse than heathen idolatry. But the same difficulty holds with the theory that the three men were angels. Did Abraham wash the feet of angels and feed them with veal and cakes? That seems clearly to be the purport of the narrative; and before we hasten to pronounce it absurd or heathenish, let us calmly consider why such a theophany and such an angelophany should be thought incredible? It will not be denied that God has the power thus to manifest himself. He could have assumed a human form, and done all that is here recorded. But it is assumed that such action is incompatible with the divine majesty and the spiritual nature of God. But who knows this? Or who is competent to say that it was improper, and unworthy of Jehovah to reveal himself thus in human form to the father of the faithful?
It would, indeed, be unseemly and idolatrous for us to represent God under a human or any other form. This is expressly forbidden. Exodus 20:45. But if God may reveal himself in a pillar of cloud, or a pillar of fire, or a burning bush, why not also in a human form?
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The Christian who believes that God was “manifest in the flesh” in the person of Jesus Christ, will not regard this theophany with strange wonder, or incredulity. When we consider the special purpose of this appearance of Jehovah to Abraham, namely, to bring Sarah to a belief in the promise, we may well suppose that the human form would have been the most suitable semblance under which Jehovah could appear. Such a theophany would adumbrate the future seed, the Christ of God, born of a woman, yet declared to be the Son of God, with power; who would eat and drink with men, and wash the feet of his disciples, that he might teach them the same lesson of humble service. He was seen and ministered unto by angels. He, even after his resurrection, ate before his disciples, to convince them that he was no unsubstantial spectre. Luk_24:43. So the God of Abraham makes this revelation a most intense reality to him, and through him to Sarah, that she may become partaker of his faith, and a proper mother of the chosen seed.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 33 2. lo, three men] The sudden appearance of the…
2. lo, three men] The sudden appearance of the three men before the tent is especially recorded. Their approach had not been observed. As in the case of Gen_32:24, Jos_5:13, Jdg_13:10-11, the angelic visitants are not distinguishable from ordinary men.
bowed himself to the earth] Cf. Gen_19:1, Gen_23:7, Gen_33:3, Gen_42:6; the regular gesture of salutation towards those of higher rank.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 19, 21, 22, 23, 33 (2) Three men.—Jewish commentators explain the number by saying…
(2) Three men.—Jewish commentators explain the number by saying that, as no angel might execute more than one commission at a time, one of the three came to heal Abraham, the second to bear the message to Sarah, and the third to destroy Sodom. More correctly one was “the angel of Jehovah,” who came as the manifestation of Deity to Abraham, and the other two were his companions, commissioned by him afterwards to execute judgment on the cities of the plain, The number three pointed also to the Trinity of Persons in the Godhead, and is therefore read by our Church as one of the lessons for Trinity Sunday. But we must be careful not to use it as a proof of this doctrine, lest the inference should be drawn of a personal appearance of the Father and of the Holy Ghost, which would savour of heretical impiety.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv2–33 And he lift up his eyes and looked, and,…
And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him. Not in addition to (Kalisch), but including (Keil), Jehovah, whose appearance to the patriarch, having in the previous verse been first generally stated, is now minutely described. That these three men were not manifestations of the three persons of the Godhead (Justin Martyr, Ambrose, Cyril), but Jehovah accompanied by two created angels (Keil, et alii, may be inferred from Gen_19:1. When first perceived by the patriarch they were believed to be men, strangers, who were approaching his tent, and indeed were already close to it, or standing by him. And when he saw them (i.e. understood that one of them was Jehovah, Jarchi rightly explaining that the word translated above "looked," i.e. with the bodily vision now implies an act of mental perception) he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground. The expression denotes the complete prostration of the body by first falling on the knees, and then inclining the head forwards till it touches the ground. As this was a mode of salutation practiced by Orientals towards superiors generally, such as kings and princes, (2Sa_9:8) but also towards equals, (Gen_23:7 Gen_33:6, 7 42:6 43:26) as well as towards the Deity (Gen_22:5; 1Sa_1:3) it is impossible to affirm with certainty (Keil, Lunge) that an act of worship was intended by the patriarch, and not simply the presentation of human and civil honor (Calvin). If Heb_13:2 inclines to countenance the latter interpretation, the language in which Abraham immediately addresses one of the three men almost leads to the conclusion that already the patriarch had recognized Jehovah.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv9, 16, 19, 20, 22, 25, 27, 32 Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a…
Gen_18:9-15
Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, Which am old?
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The conflict between fear and faith
I. THE THINGS PROMISED SO FAITH ARE DIFFICULT OF RELIEF.
1. It is necessary that faith should be thus tried by difficulty.
2. We must be cast entirely upon the word of God.
II. FAITH MAY, FOR A WHILE, BE QUITE PARALYZED BY FEAR (Gen_18:15).
1. In sincere souls this condition is only momentary.
2. To accept God at His word would save us from all foolish wonder.
III. GOD GRACIOUSLY GRANTS POWER TO OVERCOME THE FEAR. If only faith is real at bottom and in any way lays hold upon God, He will pardon its infirmities and repair its weaknesses. This He did in Sarahs case.
1. By mild reproof.
2. By recognizing the good which is mixed up with our infirmity.
3. By repeating His promises.
4. By casting us upon His own omnipotence (Gen_18:14). (T. H.Leale.)
Lessons
1. Gracious hospitality hath sweet returns from God as acceptance with Him.
2. Known to God are souls who entertain Him, better than He is known to them. Where is Sarah?
3. God calleth for the woman to be sharer in the promise with the man.
4. It is good to be at hand, near to God in our places, when promises are given out (Gen_18:9).
5. God labours to put believing souls above all doubts concerning His promise.
6. God is punctual in His own time to perform His promise.
7. God will keep His saints alive to see the good which He promiseth them.
8. Weak saints may receive promises with their ears, and yet not believe nor digest them (Gen_18:10).
9. Sensible objections may puzzle the weak faith of Gods servants {Gen_18:11).
10. Weakness of faith and strength of sense may make saints despise the promise,
11. Natures defects are apt to question the power of God to help them. (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. God takes notice of the unbelief of saints, in word, and deed, to reprove them. Jehovah said, &c.
2. Good works toward God do not excuse from unbelief of His promises. Sarahs feast stops not Gods mouth against sin.
3. Husbands should hear Gods complaints of their wives to amend them, so Abraham did.
4. God is displeased to have objections from sense set up against His promise (Gen_18:13).
5. God is absolutely able to do anything what He please in heaven or earth.
6. God proposeth His absolute power for faith to rest on against all sensible objections.
7. Gods promise is joined with His power to take of weak souls from sinful doubting.
8. God tenders the weak in faith, and doubleth His promise for their support (Gen_18:14).
9. Saints weak in faith, may be so overtaken as to seek to hide one sin by another.
10. Guilt and fear may lead souls to such transgression.
11. God will make His servants own their iniquities, though through weakness they had denied them.
12. God will be gracious to His saints in making them know their sins (Gen_18:15). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Sarahs sin
I. HER UNBELIEF.
II. HER UNTRUTH.
Gods promise treated with incredulity
Sarah does not appear to have been by any means a blameless character. Her conduct towards Hagar showed us that she was a woman capable of generous impulses, but not of the strain of continued magnanimous conduct. She was capable of yielding her wifely rights on the impulse of the brilliant scheme that had struck her, but like many other persons who can begin a magnanimous or generous course of conduct, she could not follow it up to the end, but failed disgracefully in her conduct towards her rival. So now again she betrays characteristic weakness. When the strangers came to Abrahams tent, and announced that she was to become a mother, she smiled in superior, self-assured, womans wisdom. When the promise threatened no longer to hover over her household as a m ere sublime and exalting idea which serves its purpose if it keep them in mind that God has spoken to them, but to take place now among the actualities of daily occurrence, she hails this announcement with a laugh of total incredulity. Whatever she had made of Gods word, she had not thought it was really and veritably to come to pass; she smiled at the simplicity which could speak of such an unheard-of thing. This is true to human nature. It reminds you how you have dealt with Gods promises--nay, with Gods commandments--when they offered to make room for themselves in the everyday life of which you are masters, every detail of which you have arranged, seeming to know absolutely the laws and principles on which your particular line of life must be carried on. Have you never smiled at the simplicity which could set about making actual, about carrying out in practical life, in society, in work, in business, those thoughts, feelings and purposes, which Gods promises beget? Sarah did not laugh outright, but smiled behind the Lord; she did not mock Him to His face, but let the compassionate expression pass over her face with which we listen to the glowing hopes of the young enthusiast who does not know the world. Have we not often put aside Gods voice precisely thus; saying within us, We know what kind of things can be done by us and others and what need not be attempted; we know what kind of frailties in social intercourse we must put up with, and not seek to amend; what kind of practices it is vain to think of abolishing; we know what use to make of Gods promise and what use not to make of it; how far to trust it, and how far to give greater weight to our knowledge of the world and our natural prudence and sense? Does not our faith, like Sarahs, vary in proportion as the promise to be believed is unpractical? If the promise seems wholly to concern future things, we cordially and devoutly assent; but if we are asked to believe that God intends within the year to do so-and-so, if we are asked to believe that the result of Gods promise will be found taking a substantial place among the results of our own efforts--then the derisive smile of Sarah forms on our face. (M. Dods, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv9, 16, 20, 23 Gen_18:9. In the tent.] In the women’s apartments.
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Gen_18:9. In the tent.] In the women’s apartments.
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Gen_18:10. I will certainly return unto thee.] Heb. Returning I will return. An emphatic form of affirmation. According to the time of life.] Heb. According to the living time. “A singularly ambiguous phrase, upon which a great variety of interpretations has been grafted. The most probable of these is that of the Persic version,—“According to the time of that which is born, or the birth, i.e., according to the time necessary for the production of the living child, or at the end of nine months. This is, perhaps, confirmed by ch. Gen_21:2.” (Bush.) Generally understood to mean, when the year, now passing away, again revives, i.e., during the next year. Sarah heard it in the tent-door, which was behind him.] Heb. In the entrance of the tent, and it was behind him. “The notice is apparently inserted to signify that the opening of the tent was behind the speaker, and consequently unseen by him.” (Alford.)
Gen_18:12. My lord.] A title of honour applied to her husband. Referred to in N.T. as an example to married women (1Pe_3:6).
Gen_18:13. The Lord.] One of the three is Jehovah, who had appeared to Abraham.
Gen_18:14. Is anything too hard for the Lord?] Heb. Is any word too wonderful for Jehovah? The very words used by the LXX. here are quoted by St. Luke in the speech of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary (Luk_1:37).
Gen_18:15. She was afraid.] With amazement St. Peter indirectly reflects upon her conduct (1Pe_3:6). To bring them on the way.] The two-fold idea is involved of dismissing and accompanying.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Gen_18:9-15
THE CONFLICT BETWEEN FEAR AND FAITH
God had, hitherto, dealt with Abraham alone; now he deals with Sarah, as one of the parties to the Covenant. Abraham’s faith was marked by some infirmity; and so is Sarah’s in the present instance, but arising from a different cause. Her faith betrayed that weakness which comes of fear. The conflict between faith and fear, and the reasons of it are illustrated here.
I. The things promised to faith are difficult of belief. The Lord promised that Sarah herself should have a son. She received that announcement with mirthful incredulity. The thing was not to be thought of. How could the impossibilities of nature be overcome? (Gen_18:11-12). That she should become a mother, was like calling the dead back to life. She was not really indisposed to believe what God had promised, still her thought was entirely directed to natural means. She was not ready to resign herself to a miracle. The world was old enough, and her experience was long enough to produce in her a fixed belief in the constancy of the course of nature. Faith in a course of things above and beyond nature, she had not yet fully realised. The things promised seemed too good to be true, and even impossible of accomplishment.
1. It is necessary that faith should be thus tried by difficulty. If all is clear, and obvious, and easy, and present, it is quite impossible to exercise faith. In our present condition, we cannot walk by sight, for our knowledge is imperfect. If, therefore, we are to have an aim or a purpose beyond this present life, we must trust where we cannot see, and believe where we cannot demonstrate. The things God promises to faith are contrary to our present experience. We have no proof of them which commends itself to our ordinary reason. Faith stands to us instead of verification, and is its own proof.
2. We must be cast entirely upon the word of God. Nature may seem to be against us—and the possibilities of things, and human hopes—but our faith must surmount all.
II. Faith may, for awhile, be quite paralysed by fear. In a sincere mind, this very difficulty of belief may produce a fear which may perplex and trouble us. This was Sarah’s case. Sudden fear tempted her to dissemble. She lost her presence of mind, and her guileless simplicity, and integrity (Gen_18:15). St. Peter, who holds her up as an example to godly matrons, hints at her infirmity, and suggests that she was “afraid with amazement” (1Pe_3:6).
1. In sincere souls this condition is only momentary. For a brief space faith endures a kind of suspended animation, but it has strength enough to recover. Fear is salutary when it is the instrument of caution, the guide of circumspection; but when it produces paleness and dread, it may serve for the time to overwhelm every other feeling. But if there is a real and loving desire towards God, the soul returns to sobriety, and faith lays hold on God.
2. To accept God at His word would save us from all foolish wonder. That which God promises may be amazing in itself, but if we accept His word simply, we are saved from that kind of wonder in which the mind loses itself, and by which effort is rendered impossible. True faith readily fastens upon the ultimate mystery, and therefore is amazed at nothing else. In this regard, “All things are possible to him that believeth.”
III. God graciously grants power to overcome the fear. There is much forgiven to faith, if it is only real, at bottom, and in any way lays hold upon God. He will pardon its infirmities and repair its weaknesses. This he did in Sarah’s case.
1. By mild reproof. “And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?” (Gen_18:13). This reproof is mixed with that tenderness which, while it chides, at the same time has a loving purpose, and raises up them that fall. God’s reproofs to His children are but loving corrections.
2. By recognising the good which is mixed up with our infirmity. Sarah is commended for “doing well,” and is held up as a model of matronly simplicity and subjection. She found favour in the sight of Him who is not easily provoked, and “who knoweth our frame, and remembereth that we are dust.”
3. By repeating His promises. The promise made in Gen_18:10 is repeated in Gen_18:14. It was doubted, and therefore is now renewed with additional force. After faith has triumphed, over doubt, it is as if the word of God was again spoken to us. His promises have, as it were, the freshness of a new creation.
4. By casting us upon His own omnipotence. “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Gen_18:14). This is the great refuge of faith when perplexed by apparent impossibilities. The thought of God’s infinite power should put all our doubt to flight. Unbelief loses sight of the Divine omnipotence. True faith is supported by a power which cannot be baffled, or turned aside from its gracious purpose.
“The voice that rolls the stars along,
Speaks all the promises.”
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen_18:9. It is now the question, not of the chief personage, but of the group of guests—a question which, in the East, from a stranger, would be regarded as impertinent, if not insulting, in our time; but in that day there was altogether more of dignified freedom and ease among the women, and such an inquiry would not be so regarded. Abraham must have been greatly surprised at this mention of his wife’s name, with an inquiry after her, if he had not already recognised the Angel of the Covenant as one of strangers. Sarah was inside the tent, but near the entrance or doorway, where she could hear.—(Jacobus.)
When God inquires of us, the intent is to summon our attention and not to inform Himself. We cannot instruct Omniscience.
Behold, in the tent. David compares a good woman to the vines upon the walls of the house, because she cleaveth to her house. Others to a snail, that carrieth her house on her back. St Paul reckons it for a virtue in a woman to “keep at home” (Tit_2:5); and Solomon, for a sign of a lewd housewife, that “her feet abide not in her house” (Pro_7:11). Among the Grecians, the bride was carried through the streets in a chariot, the axletree was burnt, to signify that she must keep home.—(Trapp.)
Gen_18:10. In the former verses the speaker did not make Himself known, but now there can be no doubt as to who He really is. The very nature of the communication now made implies self-determination and supreme authority. They are surely not the words of an ambassador, but of a sovereign. The personal God stands revealed in His word; and if we are faithful we shall at length know Himself by its means.
God’s communications to man are marked—
1. By positiveness and self-assertion. He speaks as the fountain of authority—as one who is able to accomplish His will against all difficulties. “I will certainly return unto thee.”
2. By that Sovereignty which commands all time and events. God is not bound by the conditions of time as we are, but stands above and beyond it. He speaks of things that are not as though they were. In the eye of faith His word is equal to the event—the thing promised.
Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. He probably sat in such a manner relatively to the door of Sarah’s tent that His back was turned towards it, so that if He had been a mere man He could not have noticed the fact of her laughing. That He was aware of it showed His Omniscience.
“The form of Abraham’s tent, as thus described, seems to have been exactly like the one in which we sat; for in both there was a shaded open front, in which he could sit in the heat of the day, and yet be seen from afar off; and the apartment of the females, where Sarah was when he stated her to be within the tent, was immediately behind this, wherein she prepared the meal for the guests, and from whence she listened to their prophetic declaration.”—(Buckingham—Bush.)
That discovery of ourselves—of what is in our inmost souls, which we find in the word of God, is one of the indications of its heavenly origin. The claim of Jesus to Divinity is in no small degree attested by the fact that He knew what was in man” (Joh_2:25).
Gen_18:11. This statement is made to call attention to the miraculous nature of the promise. There is a Living Will above and beyond this present and visible course of things. Without faith in this, the outward universe is but a mere machine.
It should not be thought a thing incredible for God to bring new life to those who were as good as dead. Such a miracle is witnessed now when souls are born again. It is when we are literally “without strength” that God’s grace is omnipotent to help and save (Rom_5:6).
There must be a complete wreck of all human hopes before we are willing to cast ourselves entirely upon God. We must be taught that God is all in all. In the Divine education of humanity men have been made to feel the necessity for God’s interference. Before Christ came some of the great nations of antiquity had perished, and even Rome itself was fast hastening to decay, The world had outlived all its hopes. Then the Saviour appeared, and his fulness answered to man’s emptiness.
Gen_18:12. God’s promises seem absurd and ridiculous, many of them, to human reason, which therefore must be silenced and shut out, as Hagar was; for it will argue carnally as that unbelieving lord (2Ki_7:2) storms at God’s offers; as Naaman at the message (2Ki_5:11) looks upon God’s Jordan with Syrian eyes, as he, and after all, cries out with Nicodemus, “How can these things be (Joh_3:4)? measuring God by its own model, and casting Him into its own mould.—(Trapp.)
Sarah’s laughter was that of incredulity. She had human reason on her side. It was the laughter of rationalism, declaring that impossible which it is unwilling to believe.
Sarah’s laughter was yet but a momentary feeling, not indicative of a habit of life. Hence it fell short of the impious and profane. She laid too much stress upon the necessity of natural means, and failed to give God His true glory.
Abraham and Sarah did not more agree in their desire than differ in their affection. Abraham laughed becaused he believed it would be so, Sarah because she believed it could not be so.—(Bishop Hall.)
My lord being old also. This passage, taken in connection with another which contains an allusion to it, affords a striking proof how ready God is to mark whatever is good in our actions, while He casts a veil over the evil with which it is accompanied. At the very time that Sarah yielded to unbelief she exercised a reverential regard for her husband, and this fact is recorded to her honour by the Apostle Peter, and proposed as an example to all married women, while the infirmity that she betrayed on the same occasion is passed over in silence (1Pe_3:5-6). The Scriptures afford numerous instances in which God has manifested the same condescension to His frail and sinful creatures. The existence of “some good thing towards the Lord” even avails, as in the case of young Abijah (1Ki_14:13), to turn away the eye of Jehovah from manifold imperfections in other respects. This is a great encouragement to us amidst all the weakness that we feel; and we may be assured that if, on the one hand, the evils of our hearts will be disclosed, so, on the other, there is not a good purpose or inclination that shall not be made manifest and abundantly rewarded in the great day.—(Bush.)
Gen_18:13. The speaker is here disclosed as “Jehovah—the Lord” who had appeared unto Abraham (Gen_18:1).
It would serve to bring home the reproof to Sarah’s mind to find that her husband was called to account for her fault.
The wife’s sin reflects upon the husband. But Solomon shows that some wives are so intemperate and wilful that a man may as well hide the wind in his fist or oil in his hand as restrain them from ill-doing (Pro_27:15-16).—(Trapp.)
We have to bear the burdens and infirmities of those who are partakers with us of the same promises.
Gen_18:14. Sarah laughed within herself, within the tent and behind the speaker; yet to her surprise her internal feelings are known to Him. She finds there is One present who rises above the sphere of nature.—(Murphy.)
The thought of God’s power ought to silence every objection arising from apparent impossibilities. We have sufficient examples of His power to encourage us to hope in His Word. He formed the universe out of nothing by a simple act of His will. He still preserves the whole course of nature. He supplies the wants of every living creature upon earth. Did we but reflect upon the miracle of creation alone, we could never indulge in that unbelief which calls the power of God in question.
When all human hope is lost, and nature seems to bind us fast as with an iron destiny, we may well comfort ourselves with the thought: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”
At the time appointed I will return. It is humiliating to think what a necessity our unbelief imposes upon God to impart and renew His promises to us; and the earnestness with which the promise so often given is here repeated, shows the just displeasure which Sarah’s incredulity had excited in the bosom of God. We cannot, indeed, but be filled with amazement that He did not rather say, “Since you treat My promises with secret derision, you shall never be made partaker of them.” But God well knows the weakness of the human heart, and therefore deals tenderly with offenders. Were He to suffer our unbelief to make void His truth, no one of His promises would ever be fulfilled. But He has assured us that this shall not be the case; and if anything will put to shame our unbelief, surely this will. Such condescension and compassion cannot but prevail upon us more forcibly than a thousand menaces.—(Bush.)
The repeated lessons of instruction and words of promise which are found in Scripture bear witness to human infirmity—to our slowness of heart to believe and receive what God has spoken.
Gen_18:15. In her confusion and terror she denies that she laughed. But He who sees what is within insists that she did laugh, at least in the thought of her heart. There is a beautiful simplicity in the whole scene. Sarah now doubtless received faith and strength to conceive.—(Murphy).
Fear perverts the moral perceptions, and tempts us to shelter ourselves under unworthy subterfuges.
Sarah had not laughed outwardly, with visible contempt and derision, but she could not cover up her sin from God. He can detect what is evil in us, however it may be disguised by outward propriety.
This brief and sharp reproof was yet like the wound of a friend, which is faithful. It was in mercy, not in anger, that her secret sin was detected and reproved. We hear no more of her unbelief after this reproof. Her faith was hereby confirmed and established, and became the very instrument for the accomplishing of that promise which she once disbelieved (Heb_11:11).
We ought to be grateful for the fidelity of those friends who reprove us, and for the rebukes of our own conscience. We should accept these, as if the Lord had spoken.
If we only consider what is that perfect knowledge which God has of us, all unworthy fear would be driven from our hearts. We should then have only one object of amazement and wonder. Nothing else could make us afraid.
Let us be careful that God never sees in our countenance the smile of distrust, the sneer of derision at His promises, His precepts, His people. The profane joke, the contemptuous epithet, the supercilious sneer, the open ridicule, the downright mockery of the saints, are all registered. “Nay, but thou didst laugh,” will continue to awaken new pains of remorse in the soul of the scorner when he and laughter shall have long been strangers, and when tears, and sighing, and mourning shall have become his portion; for of laughter such as this the word of God has pronounced: “The end of that mirth is heaviness;” “Woe unto you that laugh now, for ye shall mourn and weep.”—(Bush.)
She was afraid. And well she might; for as every body hath its shadow, so hath every sin its fear. She laughed, but within herself, but as good she might have laughed out aloud; for God searcheth the heart. “I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was in my country?”
(Jon_4:2). No, Jonah, it was not thy saying, it was only thy thinking; but that is all one before Him who “understandeth thy thoughts afar off” (Psa_139:2).—(Trapp.)
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v16 Gen 18:16 - Gen 18:33.
Genesis
‘BECAUSE OF HIS IMPORTUNITY’
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Gen 18:16 - Gen 18:33.
I
The first verse of this chapter says that ‘the Lord appeared’ unto Abraham, and then proceeds to tell that ‘three men stood over against him,’ thus indicating that these were, collectively, the manifestation of Jehovah. Two of the three subsequently ‘went toward Sodom,’ and are called ‘angels’ in Gen 19:1. One remained with Abraham, and is addressed by him as ‘Lord,’ but the three are similarly addressed in Gen 18:3. The inference is that Jehovah appeared, not only in the one ‘man’ who spake with Abraham, but also in the two who went to Sodom.
In this incident we have, first, God’s communication of His purpose to Abraham. He was called the friend of God, and friends confide in each other. ‘The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him,’ and it is ever true that they who live in amity and communion with God thereby acquire insight into His purposes. Even in regard to public or so-called ‘political’ events, a man who believes in God and His moral government will often be endowed with a ‘terrible sagacity,’ which forecasts consequences more surely than do godless politicians. In regard to one’s own history, it is still more evidently true that the one way to apprehend God’s purposes in it is to keep in close friendship with Him. Then we shall see the meaning of the else bewildering whirl of events, and be able to say, ‘He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God.’ But the reason assigned for intrusting Abraham with the knowledge of God’s purpose is to be noted. It was because of his place as the medium of blessing to the nations, and as the lawgiver to his descendants. God had ‘known him,’-that is, had lovingly brought him into close relations with Himself, not for his own sake only, but, much more, that he might be a channel of grace to Israel and the world. His ‘commandment’ to his descendants was to lead to their worship of Jehovah and their upright living, and these again to their possession of the blessings promised to Abraham. That purpose would be aided by the knowledge of the judgment on Sodom, its source, and its cause, and therefore Abraham was admitted into the council-chamber of Jehovah. The insight given to God’s friends is given that they may more fully benefit men by leading them into paths of righteousness, on which alone they can be met by God’s blessings.
The strongly figurative representation in Gen 18:20 - Gen 18:21, according to which Jehovah goes down to ascertain whether the facts of Sodom’s sin correspond to the report of it, belongs to the early stage of revelation, and need not surprise us, but should impress on us the gradual character of the divine Revelation, which would have been useless unless it had been accommodated to the mental and spiritual stature of its recipients. Nor should it hide from us the lofty conception of God’s long-suffering justice, which is presented in so childlike a form. He does ‘not judge after . . .the hearing of His ears,’ nor smite without full knowledge of the sin. A later stage of revelation puts the same thought in language less strange to us, when it teaches that ‘the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed,’ and in His balances many a false estimate, both of virtuous and vicious acts, is corrected, and retribution is always exactly adjusted to the deed.
But the main importance of the incident is in the wonderful picture of Abraham’s intercession, which, in like manner, veils, under a strangely sensuous representation, lofty truths for all ages. It is to be noted that the divine purpose expressed in ‘I will go down now, and see,’ is fulfilled in the going of the two {men or angels} towards Sodom; therefore Jehovah was in them. But He was also in the One before whom Abraham stood. The first great truth enshrined in this part of the story is that the friend of God is compassionate even of the sinful and degraded. Abraham did not intercede for Lot, but for the sinners in Sodom. He had perilled his life in warfare for them; he now pleads with God for them. Where had he learned this brave pity? Where but from the God with whom he lived by faith? How much more surely will real communion with Jesus lead us to look on all men, and especially on the vicious and outcast, with His eyes who saw the multitudes as sheep without a shepherd, torn, panting, scattered, and lying exhausted and defenceless! Indifference to the miseries and impending dangers of Christless men is impossible for any whom He calls ‘not servants, but friends.’
Again, we are taught the boldness of pleading which is permitted to the friend of God, and is compatible with deepest reverence. Abraham is keenly conscious of his audacity, and yet, though he knows himself to be but dust and ashes, that does not stifle his petitions. His was the holy ‘importunity’ which Jesus sent forth for our imitation. The word so rendered in Luk 11:8, which is found in the New Testament there only, literally means ‘shamelessness,’ and is exactly the disposition which Abraham showed here. Not only was he persistent, but he increased his expectations with each partial granting of his prayer. The more God gives, the more does the true suppliant expect and crave; and rightly so, for the gift to be given is infinite, and each degree of possession enlarges capacity so as to fit to receive more, and widens desire. What contented us to-day should not content us to-morrow.
Again, Abraham is bold in appealing to a law to which God is bound to conform. ‘Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?’ is often quoted with an application foreign to its true meaning. Abraham was not preaching to men trust that the most perplexing acts of God would be capable of full vindication if we knew all, but he was pleading with God that His acts should be plainly accordant with the idea of justice planted by Him in us. The phrase is often used to strengthen the struggling faith that
‘All is right which seems most wrong,
If it be His sweet will.’
But it means not ‘Such and such a thing must be right because God has done it,’ but ‘Such and such a thing is right, therefore God must do it.’ Of course, our conceptions of right are not the absolute measure of the divine acts, and the very fact which Abraham thought contrary to justice is continually exemplified in Providence, that ‘the righteous should be as the wicked’ in regard to earthly calamities affecting communities. So far Abraham was wrong, but the spirit of his remonstrance was wholly right.
Again, we learn the precious lesson that prayer for others is a real power, and does bring down blessings and avert evils. Abraham did not here pray for Lot, but yet ‘God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow’ {Gen 19:29}, so that there had been unrecorded intercession for him too. The unselfish desires for others, that exhale from human hearts under the influence of the love which Christ plants in us, do come down in blessings on others, as the moisture drawn up by the sun may descend in fructifying rain on far-off pastures of the wilderness. We help one another when we pray for one another.
The last lesson taught is that ‘righteous’ men are indeed the ‘salt of the earth’ not only preserving cities and nations from further corruption, but procuring for them further existence and probation. God holds back His judgments so long as hope of amendment survives, and ‘will not destroy for the ten’s sake.’
Genesis
THE INTERCOURSE OF GOD AND HIS FRIEND
II
We have seen that the fruit of Abraham’s faith was God’s entrance into close covenant relations with him; or, as James puts it, ‘It was reckoned unto him for righteousness; and he was called the friend of God.’ This incident shows us the intercourse of the divine and human friends in its familiarity, mutual confidence, and power. It is a forecast of Christ’s own profound teachings in His parting words in the upper chamber, concerning the sweet and wondrous intercourse between the believing soul and the indwelling God.
1. The friend of God catches a gleam of divine pity and tenderness. Abraham has no relations with the men of Sodom. Their evil ways would repel him; and he would be a stranger among them still more than among the Canaanites, whose iniquity was ‘not yet full.’ But though he has no special bonds with them, he cannot but melt with tender compassion when he hears their doom. Communion with the very Source of all gentle love has softened his heart, and he yearns over the wicked and fated city. Where else than from his heavenly Friend could he have learned this sympathy? It wells up in this chapter like some sudden spring among solemn solitudes-the first instance of that divine charity which is the best sign that we have been with God, and have learned of Him. All that the New Testament teaches of love to God, as necessarily issuing in love to man, and of the true love to man as overleaping all narrow bounds of kindred, country, race, and ignoring all questions of character, and gushing forth in fullest energy towards the sinners in danger of just punishment, is here in germ. The friend of God must be the friend of men; and if they be wicked, and he sees the frightful doom which they do not see, these make his pity the deeper. Abraham does not contest the justice of the doom. He lives too near his friend not to know that sin must mean death. The effect of friendship with God is not to make men wish that there were no judgments for evil-doers, but to touch their hearts with pity, and to stir them to intercession and to effort for their deliverance.
2. The friend of God has absolute trust in the rectitude of His acts. Abraham’s remonstrance, if we may call it so, embodies some thoughts about the government of God in the world which should be pondered.
His first abrupt question, flung out without any reverential preface, assumes that the character of God requires that the fate of the righteous should be distinguished from that of the wicked. The very brusqueness of the question shows that he supposed himself to be appealing to an elementary and indubitable law of God’s dealings. The teachings of the Fall and of the Flood had graven deep on his conscience the truth that the same loving Friend must needs deal out rewards to the good and chastisement to the bad. That was the simple faith of an early time, when problems like those which tortured the writers of the seventy-third Psalm, or of Job and Ecclesiastes, had not yet disturbed the childlike trust of the friend of God, because no facts in his experience had forced them on him. But the belief which was axiomatic to him, and true for his supernaturally shaped life with its special miracles and visible divine guard, is not the ultimate and irrefragable principle which he thought it. In widespread calamities the righteous are blended with the wicked in one bloody ruin; and it is the very misery of such judgments that often the sufferers are not the wrongdoers, but that the fathers eat the sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. The whirlwind of temporal judgments makes no distinctions between the dwellings of the righteous and the wicked, but levels them both. No doubt, the fact that the impending destruction was to be a direct Divine interposition of a punitive kind made it more necessary that it should be confined to the actual culprits. No doubt, too, Abraham’s zeal for the honour of God’s government was right. But his first plea belongs to the stage of revelation at which he stood, not to that of the New Testament, which teaches that the eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell were not sinners above all men in Jerusalem. Abraham’s confidence in God’s justice, not Abraham’s conceptions of what that justice required, is to be imitated. A friend of God will hold fast by the faith that ‘His way is perfect,’ and will cherish it even in the presence of facts more perplexing than any which met Abraham’s eyes.
Another assumption in his prayer is that the righteous are sources of blessing and shields for the wicked. Has he there laid hold of a true principle? Certainly, it is indeed the law that ‘every man shall bear his own burden,’ but that law is modified by the operation of this other, of which God’s providence is full. Many a drop of blessing trickles from the wet fleece to the dry ground. Many a stroke of judgment is carried off harmlessly by the lightning conductor. Where God’s friends are inextricably mixed up with evil-doers, it is not rare to see diffused blessings which are destined indeed primarily for the former, but find their way to the latter. Christians are the ‘salt of the earth’ in this sense too, that they save corrupt communities from swift destruction, and for their sakes the angels delay their blow. In the final resort, each soul must reap its own harvest from its own deeds; but the individualism of Christianity is not isolation. We are bound together in mysterious community, and a good man is a fountain of far-flowing good. The truest ‘saviours of society’ are the servants of God.
A third principle is embodied in the solemn question, ‘Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?’ This is not meant in its bearing here, as we so often hear it quoted, to silence man’s questionings as to mysterious divine acts, or to warn us from applying our measures of right and wrong to these. The very opposite thought is conveyed; namely, the confidence that what God does must approve itself as just to men. He is Judge of all the earth, and therefore bound by His very nature, as by His relations to men, to do nothing that cannot be pointed to as inflexibly right. If Abraham had meant, ‘What God does, must needs be right, therefore crush down all questions of how it accords with thy sense of justice,’ he would have been condemning his own prayer as presumptuous, and the thought would have been entirely out of place. But the appeal to God to vindicate His own character by doing what shall be in manifest accord with His name, is bold language indeed, but not too bold, because it is prompted by absolute confidence in Him. God’s punishments must be obviously righteous to have moral effect, or to be worthy of Him.
But true as the principle is, it needs to be guarded. Abraham himself is an instance that men’s conceptions of right do not completely correspond to the reality. His notion of ‘right’ was, in some particulars, as his life shows, imperfect, rudimentary, and far beneath New Testament ideas. Conscience needs education. The best men’s conceptions of what befits divine justice are relative, progressive; and a shifting standard is no standard. It becomes us to be very cautious before we say to God, ‘This is the way. Walk Thou in it,’ or dismiss any doctrine as untrue on the ground of its contradicting our instincts of justice.
3. The friend of God has power with God. ‘Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?’ The divine Friend recognises the obligation of confidence. True friendship is frank, and cannot bear to hide its purposes. That one sentence in its bold attribution of a like feeling to God leads us deep into the Divine heart, and the sweet reality of his amity. Insight into His will ever belongs to those who live near Him. It is the beginning of the long series of disclosures of ‘the secret of the Lord’ to ‘them that fear Him,’ which is crowned by ‘henceforth I call you not servants; but . . .friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you.’ So much for the divine side of the communion.
On the human side, we are here taught the great truth, that God’s friends are intercessors, whose voice has a mysterious but most real power with God. If it be true, that, in general terms, the righteous are shields and sources of blessing to the unholy, it is still more distinctly true that they have access to God’s secret place with petitions for others as well as for themselves. The desires which go up to God, like the vapours exhaled to heaven, fall in refreshing rain on spots far away from that whence they rose. In these days we need to keep fast hold of our belief in the efficacy of prayer for others and for ourselves. God knows Himself and the laws of His government a great deal better than any one besides does; and He has abundantly shown us in His Word, and by many experiences, that breath spent in intercession is not wasted. In these old times, when worship was mainly sacrificial, this wonderful instance of pure intercession meets us, an anticipation of later times. And from thence onwards there has never failed proof to those who will look for it, that God’s friends are true priests, and help their brethren by their prayers. Our voices should ‘rise like a fountain night and day’ for men. But there is a secret distrust of the power, and a flagrantly plain neglect of the duty, of intercession nowadays, which need sorely the lesson that God ‘remembered Abraham’ and delivered Lot. Luther, in his rough, strong way, says: ‘If I have a Christian who prays to God for me, I will be of good courage, and be afraid of nothing. If I have one who prays against me, I had rather have the Grand Turk for my enemy.’
The tone of Abraham’s intercession may teach us how familiar the intercourse with the Heavenly Friend may be. The boldest words from a loving heart, jealous of God’s honour, are not irreverent in His eyes. This prayer is abrupt, almost rough. It sounds like remonstrance quite as much as prayer. Abraham appeals to God to take care of His name and honour, as if he had said, If Thou doest this, what will the world say of Thee, but that Thou art unmerciful? But the grand confidence in God’s character, the eager desire that it should be vindicated before the world, the dread that the least film should veil the silvery whiteness or the golden lustre of His name, the sensitiveness for His honour-these are the effects of communion with Him; and for these God accepts the bold prayer as truer reverence than is found in many more guarded and lowly sounding words. Many conventional proprieties of worship may be broken just because the worship is real. ‘The frequent sputter shows that the soul’s depths boil in earnest.’ We may learn, too, that the most loving familiarity never forgets the fathomless gulf between God and it. Abraham remembers that he is ‘dust and ashes’; he knows that he is venturing much in speaking to God. His pertinacious prayers have a recurring burden of lowly recognition of his place. Twice he heralds them with ‘I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord’; twice with ‘Oh let not the Lord be angry.’ Perfect love casts out fear and deepens reverence. We may come with free hearts, from which every weight of trembling and every cloud of doubt has been lifted. But the less the dread, the lower we shall bow before the Loftiness which we love. We do not pray aright until we tell God everything. The ‘boldness’ which we as Christians ought to have, means literally a frank speaking out of all that is in our hearts. Such ‘boldness and access with confidence’ will often make short work of so-called seemly reverence, but it will never transgress by so much as a hair’ s-breadth the limits of lowly, trustful love.
Abraham’s persistency may teach us a lesson. If one might so say, he hangs on God’s skirt like a burr. Each petition granted only encourages him to another. Six times he pleads, and God waits till he has done before He goes away; He cannot leave His friend till that friend has said all his say. What a contrast the fiery fervour and unwearying pertinacity of Abraham’s prayers make to the stiff formalism of the intercessions one is familiar with! The former are like the successive pulses of a volcano driving a hot lava stream before it; the latter, like the slow flow of a glacier, cold and sluggish. Is any part of our public or private worship more hopelessly formal than our prayers for others? This picture from the old world may well shame our languid petitions, and stir us up to a holy boldness and persistence in prayer. Our Saviour Himself teaches that ‘men ought always to pray, and not to faint,’ and Himself recommends to us a holy importunity, which He teaches us to believe is, in mysterious fashion, a power with God. He gives room for such patient continuance in prayer by sometimes delaying the apparent answer, not because He needs to be won over to bless, but because it is good for us to draw near, and to keep near, the Lord. He is ever at the door, ready to open, and if sometimes, like Rhoda to Peter, He does not open immediately, and we have to keep knocking, it is that our desires may increase by delay, and so He may be able to give a blessing, which will be the greater and sweeter for the tarrying.
So the friendship is manifested on both sides: on God’s, by disclosure of His purpose and compliance with His friend’s request; on Abraham’s, by speech which is saved from irreverence by love, and by prayer which is acceptable to God by its very importunity. Jesus Christ has promised us the highest form of such friendship, when He has said, ‘I have called you friends: for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you’; and again, ‘If ye abide in Me, . . .ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v23 Communion vs. Gen 18:23, and intercession go together.
near
Communion vs. Gen 18:23, and intercession go together.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv9, 16, 23 The Specific Promise of Isaac’s Birth
The Specific Promise of Isaac’s Birth
v. 9. And they said unto him, Where is Sarah, thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.
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v. 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. The Lord Himself, as the spokesman, opened the conversation by inquiring after Sarah. Abraham, without the hesitation which the modern perverted life might cause him to feel, could answer that she was inside the tent. Then the Lord announced to him his visit at the same time in the next year, stating that Sarah would then have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent-door which was behind Him.
v. 11. Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. They were both beyond the usual age when procreation was normally possible.
v. 12. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure, as the result of the return to youthful vigor, my lord, my husband, who is the head of the household, being old also? That was not the joyful laughter of faith, as in the case of Abraham, but a sneer of incredulity, of doubt.
v. 13. And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? Sarah had supposed herself unnoticed, since she was behind the curtain of the tent, and her laughing had been in her heart only. But the omniscient Lord knew her thoughts and reproved her doubts.
v. 14. Is anything 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. The Lord, the almighty God, is nevertheless also the merciful God, for He did not withdraw His promise to visit Abraham and Sarah in the gift of the son whom they had long waited for; there was nothing too difficult for Him to perform.
v. 15. Then Sarah denied; saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And He said, Nay; but thou didst laugh. In her chagrin at being discovered, Sarah hastily denied the charge, but the Lord added a second reproof, convicting her of her falsehood. As the following events showed, Sarah accepted the reproof and turned to the Lord in true faith, for through faith she received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child, Heb 11:11. Even now the Word of God reproves the sins and weaknesses of the believers, especially their lack of trusting faith. And we should at all times receive His reprimands with all humility.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 6, 9, 11, 13, 16, 20, 22, 24, 27, 29, 32 This is a title of respect. Possible meanings are…
Lord
This is a title of respect. Possible meanings are 1) Abraham knew that one of these men was God or 2) Abraham knew that these men came on behalf of God.
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if I have found favor in your eyes
Here "found favor" is an idiom that means be approved of or that he is pleased with her. Here "eyes" are a metonym for sight, and sight is a metaphor representing his evaluation. AT: "if you have evaluated me and approve" or "if you are pleased with me" (See: Idiom and Metonymy and Metaphor)
in your eyes
Abraham is speaking to one of the men. (See: Forms of You)
do not pass by
"please do not keep on going"
your servant
"me." Abraham refers to himself this way in order to show respect to his guest.
Let a little water be brought
This can be stated in active form. AT: "Let me bring you some water" or "My servant will bring you some water" (See: Active or Passive)
a little water ... a little food
"some water ... some food." Saying "little" was a polite way of showing generosity. Abraham would give them more than enough water and food.
wash your feet
This custom helped tired travelers to refresh themselves after walking long distances.
your ... you
Abraham speaks to all three of the men, so "you" and "your" are plural. (See: Forms of You)
translationWords
lord
servant
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv2, 3, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 20, 22 18:2-8 Abraham received his visitors as very important guests,…
18:2-8 Abraham received his visitors as very important guests, perhaps realizing that they were messengers from God.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.