Genesis
18: Visitors, Reassurances & Intercession
v.1-8
The Lord comes as Three Visitors & is welcomed
v.9-15
Sarah to have a son within a year
v.16-19
The Lord wonders about sharing with Abraham
v.20-22
The Lord refers to Sodom, implying Judgment
v.23-26
Abraham pleads on the basis of 50 righteous
v.27-33
Abraham pleads on the basis of reducing numbers
of
righteous
v.1-8
The Lord comes as Three Visitors & is welcomed
v.1
The
Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he
was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.
v.2
Abraham
looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them,
he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed
low to the ground.
v.3
He
said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass
your servant by.
v.4
Let
a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet
and rest under this tree.
v.5
Let
me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then
go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.” “Very
well,” they answered, “do as you say.”
v.6
So
Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get
three seahs of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.”
v.7
Then
he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave
it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it.
v.8
He
then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared,
and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them
under a tree.
[Notes:
The
Lord appears as three men, although later two of them appear as
angels. Whether Abraham realises their identity is uncertain.
He exercises hospitality to welcome them.
v.9-15
Sarah to have a son within a year
v.9
“Where
is your wife Sarah?” they asked him. “There, in the tent,” he
said.
v.10
Then
one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time
next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was
listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him.
v.11
Abraham
and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of
childbearing.
v.12
So
Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out
and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
v.13
Then
the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will
I really have a child, now that I am old?'
v.14
Is
anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed
time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
v.15
Sarah
was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But he said,
“Yes, you did laugh.”
[Notes:
They
enquire after Sarah and reiterate that she will have a son in
a year. She overhears this and laughs at its absurdity. The Lord
challenges her unbelief.]
v.16-19
The Lord wonders about sharing with Abraham
v.16
When
the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham
walked along with them to see them on their way.
v.17
Then
the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?
v.18
Abraham
will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations
on earth will be blessed through him.
v.19
For
I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his
household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what
is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham
what he has promised him.”
[Notes:
The
three are obviously going to check out Sodom [which God being
God must have already known about – this was for Abraham's benefit]
and the Lord ponders on what to tell Abraham but reiterates what
He has planned for Abraham.]
v.20-22
The Lord refers to Sodom, implying Judgment
v.20,21
Then
the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great
and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what
they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If
not, I will know.”
v.22
The
men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing
before the Lord.
[Notes:
He
now shares with Abraham that He is going to check out Sodom. In
what follows we should remember it was in the location of Sodom
that Lot was residing and so Abraham's intercession was on his
behalf.]
v.23-26
Abraham pleads on the Basis of 50 righteous
v.23
Then
Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous
with the wicked?
v.24
What
if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really
sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty
righteous people in it?
v.25
Far
be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the
wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it
from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
v.26
The
Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom,
I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
[Notes:
Abraham
queries if God will destroy the city if there are fifty righteous
people there. The Lord concedes that for that number He would
spare the city. Perhaps was it that such a number could influence
and change the city?]
v.27-33
Abraham pleads on the Basis of reducing numbers of righteous
v.27,28Then
Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak
to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the
number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy
the whole city for lack of five people?”
“If
I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”
v.29
Once
again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”
He
said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”
v.30
Then
he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if
only thirty can be found there?” He answered, “I will not do it
if I find thirty there.”
v.31
Abraham
said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what
if only twenty can be found there?” He said, “For the sake of
twenty, I will not destroy it.”
v.32
Then
he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once
more. What if only ten can be found there?” He answered, “For
the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”
v.33
When
the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham
returned home.
[Notes:
Having
started down this path, Abraham obviously doubts that number of
righteous people being there and so in stages reduces the number
in his plea until he got down to ten. At that point the conversation
is finished. Both know that Lot and his family are less than ten.]
Continue to Chapter 19