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Genesis 18

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Abraham and the Three Visitors 1–8

1
And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; ​
2
And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, ​
3
And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: ​
4
Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:
5
And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.
6
And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.
7
And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it. ​
8
And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.

The Promise of a Son 9–15

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. ​

The LORD Reveals His Judgment 16–22

16
And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.
17
And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; ​
18
Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
19
For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. ​
20
And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; ​
21
I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. ​
22
And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. ​

Abraham Intercedes for Sodom 23–33

23
And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? ​
24
Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?
25
That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? ​
26
And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. ​
27
And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:
28
Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.
29
And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake.
30
And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.
31
And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake.
32
And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. ​
33
And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Genesis 18

Verse 1

the LORD appeared unto him — The scene is ‘the plains of Mamre’, where Abram had come to dwell (Gen 13:18). Of the ‘three men’ of v.2, two are the ‘two angels’ who reach Sodom (19:1); the LORD stays with Abraham (v.22). He is seated ‘in the tent door’ when the LORD appears.

Verse 2

three men stood by him — Abraham ‘ran to meet them’ and ‘bowed himself toward the ground’ (shachah, the bow of homage). ‘Ran’ (ruts) occurs again when he runs to the herd (v.7). Hebrews draws the lesson: ‘Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares’ (Heb 13:2).

Verse 3

My Lord — Adonai, the word Abraham uses again in vv.27, 30, 31 and 32, where he is speaking to the LORD. He calls himself ‘thy servant’ and asks that he ‘pass not away’. ‘Found favour in thy sight’ is the phrase of Gen 6:8, ‘Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD’.

Verse 7

a calf tender and good — Literally ‘a son of the herd’ (ben-baqar). Abraham chooses it himself: he ‘ran unto the herd’ and ‘fetcht’ it, then gave it to a ‘young man’ to dress. The haste runs through the scene: he ‘hastened’ into the tent (v.6) and ‘hasted’ here, the same verb (mahar).

Verse 10

according to the time of life — The phrase recurs in v.14 and in Elisha’s word to the Shunammite, ‘About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son’ (2 Kgs 4:16). The date was given in 17:21, ‘at this set time in the next year’. Paul quotes the promise in Rom 9:9, ‘At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.’

Verse 12

Sarah laughed within herself — Tsachaq, the root of the name Isaac (Yitschaq), given in 21:3. Abraham had laughed at the same promise (17:17); at the birth Sarah says, ‘God hath made me to laugh’ (21:6). She calls Abraham ‘my lord’, as Peter notes: ‘Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord’ (1 Pet 3:6).

Verse 14

too hard for the LORD — Pala, to be wonderful, beyond reach. Jeremiah prays with the same verb, ‘there is nothing too hard for thee’ (Jer 32:17), and the LORD asks it back, ‘is there any thing too hard for me?’ (Jer 32:27). The angel’s answer to Mary is the same: ‘For with God nothing shall be impossible’ (Luke 1:37).

Verse 15

Sarah denied — Kachash, to deny or lie, the verb of Lev 6:2 for one who would ‘lie unto his neighbour’. She had laughed ‘within herself’ (v.12), yet ‘Nay; but thou didst laugh’ answers what no one heard: ‘all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do’ (Heb 4:13).

Verse 17

Shall I hide from Abraham — Kasah, to cover or conceal. The LORD ‘revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets’ (Amos 3:7), and Abraham is called ‘a prophet’ (Gen 20:7) and ‘the Friend of God’ (James 2:23). Christ gives that standing to his disciples: ‘I have called you friends’ (John 15:15).

Verse 19

For I know him — Yada, to know as one chooses: ‘You only have I known of all the families of the earth’ (Amos 3:2). The purpose is that Abraham ‘will command his children’ to keep ‘the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment’; ‘judgment’ (mishpat) is the word rendered ‘right’ in Abraham’s question in v.25.

Verse 20

the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah — Za’aqah, an outcry, as of the wronged; in 19:13 the cry of them (tse’aqah, another word) ‘is waxen great before the face of the LORD’. Ezekiel names the sin: ‘pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness’, with no strengthening of ‘the hand of the poor and needy’, and ‘they were haughty, and committed abomination before me’ (Ezek 16:49–50).

Verse 21

I will go down now, and see — The LORD speaks as he did at Babel, where ‘the LORD came down to see the city and the tower’ (Gen 11:5): he examines before he judges. The cry has ‘come unto me’, and the sentence turns on whether they ‘have done altogether according to the cry of it’.

Verse 22

stood yet before the LORD — ‘The men’ go toward Sodom, and are ‘two angels’ when they arrive (19:1). Abraham remains standing in the LORD’s presence, the place of the intercessor: ‘Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach’ (Ps 106:23), named with Samuel in Jer 15:1.

Verse 23

Wilt thou also destroy — Saphah, to sweep away, the verb of ‘lest thou be consumed’ spoken to Lot (19:15, 17). Abraham ‘drew near’ with the plea Moses and Aaron later make: ‘shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?’ (Num 16:22). The question sets ‘the righteous’ against ‘the wicked’.

Verse 25

the Judge of all the earth — ‘That be far from thee’ (chalilah) is said twice in this verse; in Genesis it recurs only as Joseph’s brothers answer ‘God forbid’ (44:7, 17). ‘Do right’ is mishpat, justice, the word of ‘judgment’ in v.19: the way Abraham was to teach is the way he asks the LORD to keep.

Verse 26

fifty righteous — ‘Spare’ is nasa, to lift or bear up: the whole place would be borne for their sakes. Abraham’s numbers then fall step by step, fifty, forty-five, forty, thirty, twenty, ten (vv.24, 28–32), and the LORD grants each. Ezekiel records the search that found no one: ‘I sought for a man… and stand in the gap’ (Ezek 22:30).

Verse 32

ten’s sake — Abraham’s last request, ‘this once’ (pa’am), is the phrase of Gideon’s second sign (Judg 6:39). The LORD grants it, and the cities fall (19:24–25), with only Lot, his wife and two daughters led out (19:15–16): ‘God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow’ (19:29).

Verse 33

Abraham returned unto his place — ‘Left communing’ marks the LORD ending his speech; Abraham asked nothing more. The place stays in view: at dawn he goes ‘to the place where he stood before the LORD’ (19:27), the ground of the intercession of vv.22–32.