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.]

      

Lessons or Challenges to Ponder from Genesis Chapter 18

  

1. Yes there is an example of hospitality to be followed but the bigger picture is of God who wants to draw us into His plans and share them with us if we are willing.

2. Then there is the example of intercession and one can't help wondering if Abram gave up asking at ten because he wasn't sure if he dared ask for one, perhaps because he wasn't sure about Lot.

  

           

Continue to Chapter 19

   

     

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