And Jehovah appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre. And he sat at the tent-door in the heat of the day.
Genesis 18 opens with an appearance unlike any before it: the Lord comes to Abraham as a traveller at his tent in the hottest part of the day. Why does He come in this form, and why to this man?
The chapter before ended with circumcision, the sign God gave Abraham. One writer sees the order of the two chapters as deliberate.
Look at the amazing scene in the opening verses of Genesis 18. We cannot escape the conviction that the truth of circumcision, presented in the previous chapter, must be learned and accepted before the high privilege described here can be enjoyed. Here God not only appears to Abraham. He openly links Himself with him, in a setting designed to show how great His pleasure is in doing so.
The same order runs on to what Abraham does later. Once he has the sign of death, he stops asking for himself.
God has made Himself known to him, and the result of this is communion. Abraham draws no strength of his own from this; he is on his face. But he has the blessed familiarity of relationship. Does He now ask Abraham what he wants? No! He gives him a sign of death and resurrection in circumcision. Then in the next chapter do we find him talking about himself? No! Instead he is pleading for others.
Three men stand before Abraham. Two of them go on to Sodom in the next chapter, where Scripture calls them angels.
The style of His coming is as noticeable as everything else: there is no distance, there is intimacy. It is three men who come — in fact, two angels, and One before whom the angels veil their faces. But they come as men, and they keep that place. This stands out all the more because the two who left Abraham as men are called angels when they reach Sodom in the next chapter. Clearly this difference has meaning in it. How sweet a foreshadowing of what was to take place in due time — the One in whom faith sees the glory of Immanuel came to live among us in flesh, and to faith He is no longer only a Visitor.
Another writer notes the hour of the visit and how Abraham received the strangers.
This appearance was unusual. It was unlike any earlier one, because "three men" approached, and it came "in the heat of the day," just when no one would pay a visit in the ordinary way. Abraham's hospitality rose to the occasion, and he entertained angels without knowing it, as Hebrews 13:2 puts it. It was even more than that, for one of the three was Jehovah Himself appearing to him.
Abraham sits at a tent door, not a house door. One writer sees great honour in that.
It teaches us a great deal to see the honour put here on the character and condition of the stranger. In the whole wide world there was just one spot where the Lord could accept hospitality and make Himself at home. That spot was the tent of a pilgrim and stranger. The Lord would not honour the splendid halls and princely palaces of Egypt with His presence. No. All His sympathies and all His affections hung around the stranger of Mamre. In the middle of an evil world, he alone could be persuaded to take God for his portion.
Nothing outward marked one visitor out from the other two. Abraham still knew who had come.
There seems to have been no outward sign by which Abraham, or anyone else, could have known that Jehovah was present. All the world would have seen was three men at his tent door. But Abraham had the discernment of a man of faith who walks near to God. He tells the LORD apart from the two angels, bows to the ground in reverence, and speaks to Him directly.
The visit has a purpose beyond the meal. After the promise of a son, the talk turns away from Abraham's own affairs.
God is about to judge the world, and He now appears to Abraham to give him the immediate promise of the son who is coming... Now Jehovah will deal with Abraham as a man deals with his friend. He speaks with Abraham about what concerned the world, not himself. It is not Abraham's wants, or even Abraham's walk, but the purpose of God which He would have him know, opening His thoughts and plans to him... What a place of privilege and blessing! It is not worship. It is not a call to follow where the Lord led. All of that had its place. It is communion — personal conversation with God about what concerns Himself and His ways.
- Prepared — Chapter 17 comes first. The sign of circumcision clears the way, and open fellowship follows.
- Near — God does not send a message from a distance. He arrives as a man among men, which writers read as a foreshadowing of God coming in flesh.
- Humble — The one place on earth where the Lord made Himself at home was a tent. A pilgrim's tent, not Egypt's palace, held His affections.
- Discerned — Nothing visible marked Him out. Abraham knew Him because he was already walking near to God, and he bowed to the ground in reverence.
- Outward — The visit ends with Abraham pleading for others, not for himself. Nearness to God turns a man's eyes toward the world God is about to judge.
And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, three men standing near him. And when he saw [them], he ran to meet them from the tent-door, and bowed himself to the earth,
Abraham is resting at his tent door in the midday heat. Three travellers are standing there, and everything turns on Who they were and on how Abraham treated them before he knew.
The answer comes out slowly, as the account moves on into the next chapter.
The manner of His coming is striking. Abraham looks up and sees that "three men were standing in front of him." As the story goes on we learn that two of them were angels. Later they appear as angels in the gate of Sodom (Gen. 19:1). The other, we know, was none less than the LORD Himself, appearing in human form. It points forward to the time when the Son of God becomes man and lives among people.
Another writer notes how close He comes, and that He keeps the form He has taken:
The style of His coming is as noticeable as everything else. There is no distance; there is intimacy. Three men come: in fact, two angels, and One before whom the angels veil their faces. But they come as men, and keep this place.
There was no glory and no announcement — nothing to mark these three out as more than travellers.
Here again the Lord appears, though we may notice this special feature about it now, that He leaves it to Abraham to find out Who was visiting him. There is no outward token of the majesty of His presence — no special intimation betrays Who was there. Notice also that this time the Lord came Himself, with two others who no doubt looked much like Him.
Commentators differ on how quickly Abraham realised. Kelly finds no sign that Abraham knew, or even suspected, Who it was at the start. Others read his opening words as proof he already knew:
And Abraham's practiced heart knew under all disguises Him who stood there. We learn this plainly from the first words with which he welcomes One whom yet in this garb he has never seen before. "Lord," he says, distinguishing Him by a title only given to God…
An elderly man breaks into a run to meet them.
He ran to meet them, though he was not a young man. The energy of his faith and affection for the Lord is lovely to observe. He bowed himself to the earth and begged the Lord to stay and accept his hospitality. He offered water to wash their feet and asked them to rest in the shade of the tree.
Bending low did not make him small. The two things sit together in him:
See the character of Abraham: it is very lovely — genuine lowliness, but remarkable dignity.
The Bible's most common word for worship first appears in this bow.
The word used most often for worship is proskuneo. It comes from pros and kuneo, "to fawn or crouch," and "to kiss." Its first use in Scripture is in Genesis 18:2 in the Greek Old Testament, when Abraham bows to the ground… It covers every act of outward honour, such as kneeling or bowing low. People gave such honour to kings and other superiors, and also to a divine person, or to one they treated as such.
These two chapters set two believers side by side, and the difference is where each one sits.
In Genesis 18:1, Abraham comes before us as sitting in his tent door. In Genesis 19:1, Lot sits "in the gate of Sodom." One believer is outside the world as a true pilgrim, with his tent. The other is not only in the world; he takes a share in running it. He sits in the gate — the place of judgment.
Abraham gave his welcome before he knew Who his guests were.
It is plain therefore, that it was not in the least on the ground of previous knowledge, or of social equality. If he had treated the stranger with suspicion, that would have ruled out the whole welcome that God's word records from long ago and urges now. So in faith and love Abraham received into hospitality, not angels only, but Jehovah Himself in the guise of man. Hospitality like this was not meant to be shelved, or merely admired as a virtue of long-ago saints.
- Place — Abraham is at the tent door, not the gate of Sodom; the pilgrim position is what the visit finds.
- Disguise — Two angels and the Lord Himself come as ordinary men. Nothing marks out His majesty, so Abraham must find out Who has come.
- Discernment — He greets One of the three by a title given only to God. Commentators differ on when he knew.
- Response — An old man runs, bows to the ground, and offers water and food. The Bible's first use of the word for worship describes this bow.
- Welcome — Abraham welcomed strangers before he knew Who they were. That kind of hospitality is still asked of us, not just admired from a distance.