Guiding Questions

1. What is the relationship between Genesis 18:1 and 18:2?
2. Who appeared to Abraham, where, and when?
3. At different points in Genesis 18:1-22, who speaks to Abraham?

Nehama Leibowitz, New Studies in Bereshit (Genesis): In the Context of Ancient and Modern Jewish Bible Commentary, ed. and trans. Aryeh Newman, 3rd rev. ed. (Jerusalem: World Zionist Organization and Department for Torah Education and Culture, 1976), 158.

The first verse which describes the Divine revelation to him [Abraham] stands in splendid isolation followed by no explanation of the exact purpose for which God revealed Himself to the Patriarch. Yet we never find in the Torah another example of God revealing Himself to His creatures unless it is for the express purpose of delivering a message, uttering a blessing or promise, or issuing a command. The revelation of the Divine presence is usually followed by the statement, "and He said unto him." What then was the purpose of the Divine revelation in our sidra? What message, if any, did the Almighty deliver?

Rashbam on Genesis 18:1

(1) 'וירא אליו ה. In what manner did G’d appear to Avraham here? Three men, who turned out to be angels came to him. There are numerous examples in Scripture where the angels or a single angel are described as “G’d”, i.e. seeing they are G’d’s agents they are described as ה', even though what is meant is an agent, an angel. To mention just one or two such examples: Exodus 23,21 כי שמי בקרבו, “because My Holy Name is within him.” Or, Exodus 3 3,2 וירא אליו מלאך ה' בלבת אש מתוך הסנה, “an angel of Hashem appeared to him in the form of a flame of fire in the midst of the thorn bush.” [the unusual fire which failed to consume, destroy, the thorn bush represented a Divine appearance. Ed.] Or, in verse 4 of the same chapter: וירא ה' כי סר לראות, “when G’d (i.e. the angel) saw that he had turned aside to watch the spectacle.”

Rashi on Genesis 18:2

(1) והנה שלשה אנשים AND BEHOLD THREE MEN — one to announce to Sarah the birth of a son, one to overthrow Sodom, and one to cure Abraham, for one angel does not carry out two commissions (Genesis Rabbah 50:2). You may know that this is so because throughout this section it (Scripture) mentions them in the plural — “and they ate” (Genesis 18:8), “and they said unto him” (Genesis 18:9) — whilst in the case of the announcement it states, (Genesis 18:10) “And he said, I will certainly return unto thee”, and with regard to the overthrow of Sodom it says (Genesis 19:22) “For “I” cannot do anything” and (Genesis 19:21) “that “I” will not overthrow [the city]”. Raphael who healed Abraham went thence to rescue Lot; that explains what is stated (Genesis 19:17) “And it came to pass when they had brought them forth, that he said, Escape for thy life”, for you learn from this that only one of these acted as Deliverer.

Rashi on Genesis 18:3

(1) 'ויאמר אדני אם נא וגו AND HE SAID, MY LORD, IF NOW etc. — He addressed himself to the Chief of them; calling them all “lords”, (אדני may mean “my lords”), whilst to their Chief he said “Do not I pray thee pass away”, for he knew that if he would not pass by, his companions would certainly remain with him. In this explanation the word אדני has a “profane” sense (does not refer to God, being merely a term of address, “Sirs”). Another explanation is that the word is “holy” (referring to God): he asked God to wait for him whilst he ran and invited the travelers.

Rambam on Genesis 18:3

(2) PASS NOT AWAY, I PRAY THEE, FROM THY SERVANT. Abraham spoke to each one of the angels, as is the way of the whole Torah: Ye shall keep all My statutes… and do them; The nakedness of thy father, and the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover; And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corner of thy field; And from thence ye will seek the Eternal thy G-d, and thou shalt find Him, if thou search after Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. The greater part of the Mishneh Torah is written in this manner. A counter-example to the above is the verse: Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse.

Now our Rabbis have said, “Abraham spoke to the chief of the angels.” It is also possible that he said to the chief, “Pass not away, I pray thee, [in the singular sense], and thou and thy companions who will remain with thee wash your feet,” [the verb “wash” being in the plural form].

The correct interpretation appears to me to be that he called them all “lords,” and he turned to each individual, saying to the first one: If now I have found favor in thy eyes, pass not away, and to the second one he said the same, and the same to the third one. He begged each one individually: If now I have found favor in thy eyes, pass not away, and, let now a little water be fetched, and all of ye wash your feet. This was by way of ethical conduct and respect out of his great desire to show kindness towards them. Now he recognized them as transients who did not have the desire to lodge there. This is why he asked of them only that a little water be fetched to wash their feet a little from the heat, to give cold waters to a faint soul, and that they recline under the tree in the cool of the day without coming into the tent and the tabernacle.

Rashbam on Genesis 18:16

(1) ויקומו משם האנשים, two of them went on to Sodom, as we read afterwards ויבואו שני המלאכים סדומה, “the two angels arrived in Sodom” (Genesis 19,1) The senior one of the angels had been the one who had spoken to Avraham. This is implied by the verse וה' אמר המכסה אני מאברהם וגו', “Shall I conceal from Avraham what I am about to do?” in verse 17.

Rashi on Genesis 18:20

(1) 'ויאמר ה AND THE LORD SAID to Abraham, thus doing what he had said — that He would not conceal the matter from him.

Rashbam on Genesis 18:20

(1) 'ויאמר ה, the angel said to Avraham that G’d had said that He dispatched these messengers on account of the outcry in heaven over the sins of Sodom, a reference to what G’d had mentioned in 13,13.

Rashi on Genesis 18:22

(2) 'ואברהם עודנו עומד לפני ה BUT ABRAHAM STOOD YET BEFORE THE LORD — But surely it was not he (Abraham) who had gone to stand before Him, but it was the Holy One, blessed be He, Who had come to him and had said to him, “Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great” and it should therefore have written here, “And the Lord stood yet before Abraham”? But it is a variation such as writers make to avoid an apparently irreverent expression (Genesis Rabbah 49:7) (which our Rabbis, of blessed memory, altered, writing it thus).