Genesis 18:1-21

I.                The Covenant Renewed (Genesis 18:1-16)

A.    Genesis 18:1 – And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;

1.     Lord - יהוה Yĕhovah, "the existing One"

2.     Targum of Jonathon 18:1 says “The Glory of the Lord was revealed to him at the Vision of Mamre; he was suffering from pain of circumcision.”

3.     plains of Mamre - an oak grove on Mamre's land in Palestine where Abraham dwelt

a.      Genesis 14:24 - Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.

b.      Mamre was an Amorite who had previously allied himself with Abraham.

c.      Mamre means "strength" or "fatness"

B.     Genesis 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,

1.     Where did the Lord go?

a.      Obviously Abraham would not leave the Lord in order to run to strangers, clearly He recognized these men as the Lord.

b.      Did He appear as a mirage then fade with the appearance of the three men? 

c.      Or was it that Abraham felt His presence and when he looked up, instead of the Lord he saw these men standing?

d.      All indications point to the Lord’s presence in these three men

2.     Note the haste, here and throughout this passage that this 99 year old man is operating

3.     Three - שלוש shalowsh, three, triad, The following points are taken from E.W. Bullinger’s work entitled Number in Scripture:

a.      Denotes completeness, as three lines complete three dimensions of length, breadth, and height, and are necessary to form a solid. Hence three is the symbol of the cube--the simplest form of solid figure. As two is the symbol of the square, or plane contents (x²), so three is the symbol of the cube, or solid contents (x³). Hence, three is significant of Divine perfection and completeness

b.      Three, therefore, stands for that which is solid, real, substantial, complete, and entire. All things that are spacially complete are stamped with this number three.

c.      God's attributes are three: omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence.

d.      There are three great divisions completing time--past, present, and future.

e.      Thought, word, and deed, complete the sum of human capability.

f.       Three is the first of four perfect numbers:

·        Three denotes divine perfection;

·        Seven denotes spiritual perfection;

·        Ten denotes ordinal perfection; and

·        Twelve denotes governmental perfection.

g.      Three is the number associated with the Godhead, for there are:

·        "three persons in one God."

·        Three times the Seraphim cry, "Holy, Holy, Holy"--one for each of the three persons in the Trinity (Isa 6:3).

·        The living creatures also in Revelation 4:8.

h.      Three times is the blessing given in Numbers 6:24-26:

·        The LORD bless thee and keep thee (the Father);

·        The LORD make His face shine upon thee; and be gracious unto thee (the Son);

·        The LORD lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace" (the Holy Spirit).

i.       The gifts brought to the Christ Child were Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh

j.       Peter denied Christ three times representing absolute denial, yet Christ three times asked Peter to feed His flock showing perfect forgiveness.

k.      The inscriptions on the Cross in three languages show the completeness of His rejection by Man.

l.       The number of RESURRECTION, for it was on the third day that Jesus rose again from the dead.

·        This was Divine in operation, and Divine in its prophetic foreshowing in the person of Jonah (Matt 12:39,40; Luke 11:29; Jonah 1:17).

·        It was the third day on which Jesus was "perfected" (Luke 13:32).

·        It was at the third hour He was crucified;

·        It was for three hours (from the 6th to the 9th) that darkness shrouded the Divine Sufferer and Redeemer.

m.    God let down the sheet three times to Peter was the fulness of the testimony as to the admission of the Gentiles into the Church (Acts 10:16).

n.      Three gifts of Grace in I Corinthians 13:13:

·        Faith

·        Hope

·        Love

o       Love is the Greatest

o       God is Love (I John 4:8)

o.      Three great Feasts Ordained by God in Deuteronomy 16:16:

·        Unleavened Bread

·        Weeks

·        Tabernacles

p.      And here, the three persons appear to Abraham. Abraham "looked, and, lo, THREE men stood by him." But verse 1 declares that it was "Yehovah appeared unto him."

·        Abraham addresses them both as one and as three.

·        We read first that "they said," then "he said," and finally, in verses 13 and 17, 20, etc., "And the LORD said."

·        The whole narrative, which begins with the appearance of the LORD, ends (v 33), "And the LORD went His way."

q.      The list goes on and on…

4.     Men - אנוש 'enowsh, man, mortal man, person, mankind

5.     Men here, but in 19:1 two are referred to as angels

C.    Genesis 18:3 – And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:

1.     My Lord? Three men yet Abraham addresses one

2.     My Lord - אדני 'Adonay, spoken in place of יהוה Yĕhovah in display of reverence

D.    Genesis 18:4 – Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:

E.     Genesis 18:5 – 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.

1.     Bread – food in general

2.     They said? Were they speaking simultaneously with one voice?

F.     Genesis 18:6 – 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.

1.     Abraham hastened

2.     What are the emotions driving Abraham here:

a.      Fear

b.      Eagerness to please

c.      Anticipation of some big event

d.      Respect

G.    Genesis 18:7 – 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.

1.     Abraham ran

H.    Genesis 18:8 – 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.

1.     They did eat – What is the purpose of this

2.     God doesn’t require food, yet He is accepting the hospitality of Abraham as Abraham is doing all of these things with the humility of a servant’s heart.

I.      Genesis 18:9 – And they said unto him, Where [is] Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.

1.     Again, they said speaking in unison?  This had to be kind of creepy

J.      Genesis 18:10 – 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.

1.     Transitions from they speaking to He

2.     Will return at springtime

K.    Genesis 18:11 – Now Abraham and Sarah [were] old [and] well stricken in age; [and] it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.

L.     Genesis 18:12 – Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?

1.     Says that she laughed within herself, she may not have even laughed out loud.

2.     The rest of the verse we’ll  leave to the imagination

M.   Genesis 18:13 – And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?

1.     Think about Sarah’s situation here, she laughed in her own mind and God questions her husband about it.  Talk about an awkward moment when you know whatever you are thinking in response is already known. 

a.      Hebrews 4:12 – For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

b.      It’s hard enough to guard our tongues, but God even knows what we are thinking and corrects us for it.

2.     Notice that the Lord responds to Abraham and not Sarah, yet Sarah is the one who laughed (or thought about laughing), does this mean anything?

N.    Genesis 18:14 – 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.

1.     Is anything too hard for the Lord?

a.      Hard – wonderful

b.      The question was asked by the Lord here, and answered by an angel in the Gospel of Luke

c.      Luke 1:37 – “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”

2.     Time appointed…from vv.10 springtime.

O.    Genesis 18:15 – Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.

1.     Here the Lord responds directly to Sarah

2.     More evidence of a merciful God for Sarah lied directly to the Lord yet He merely corrected

3.     Up until this point Sarah may not have known who these guests were, but God is opening her eyes here

P.     Genesis 18:16 – And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.

II.              Abraham and God Negotiate the Fate of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:17-33)

A.    Genesis 18:17 – And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;

1.     Who was the Lord addressing? The other two men/angels?  There is no response.  Did Abraham hear this question?

B.     Genesis 18:18 – Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

1.     Ephesians 3

C.    Genesis 18:19 – 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.

1.     He knows because Abraham has demonstrated his faithfulness in doing these things already

D.    Genesis 18:20 – And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;

1.     This message seems to be directed both at the men/angels accompanying Him as well as Abraham.

2.     Seems that God “thought” about the option of not telling Abraham and decided against it.  Provides us some insight

3.     What is this “cry” of Sodom & Gomorrah?

E.     Genesis 18:21 – 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.

1.     What is it that God is verifying?

a.      What is the nature of crying out

·        Cry - זעק za`aq, feminine noun, “cry, outcry”

·        Is it for justice to be done?

b.      Genesis 4:10 - And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.

·        Abel’s blood cried out - צעק tsa`aq, verb, “to cry, cry out, call, cry for help”

c.      Exodus 2:23 - And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.

·       Cried - זעק za`aq, same word as above but here it is used as a verb to cry out or call for help

·        Cry - שועה shav`ah, feminine noun, “cry for help”

·        Nehemiah 9:9 - And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea;

o       Cry - זעק za`aq, feminine noun, “cry, outcry”, same word as Gen. 18:20 and 21 describing the events of the Exodus and used as a noun instead of the verb.

d.      The usage of this word appears to be associated with that of oppressed crying out for help.  This provides some insight into God’s character in that He hears the cries of victims, abused and oppressed people and ultimately will be moved to action.  One does not have to use much imagination as to what type of abuse is going on in Sodom and Gomorrah because it becomes evident in the next chapter with respect to what the men of the city attempted to commit against the angels of God.