Yahweh visits Abraham
1 ① Yahweh appeared to Abraham near the oak of Mamre. Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent, in the heat of the day, 2when he looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them. He bowed to the ground 3and said, “My Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass your servant by. 4Let a little water be brought. Wash your feet and then rest under the trees. 5I shall fetch some bread so that you can be refreshed and continue on your way, since you have come to your servant.” They then said, “Do as you say.” 6Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said to her, “Quick, take three measures of flour, knead it and make cakes.”
7Abraham then ran to the herd, took a fine, tender calf, gave it to the servant who hurried to prepare it. 8He took butter and milk and together with the calf he had prepared laid it all before them. And while he remained standing, they ate. 9They then asked, “Where is Sarah, your wife?” Abraham answered, “She is in the tent.” 10And the visitor said, “At this same time next year I will return and Sarah by then will have a son.”
Now Sarah was behind him, listening at the entrance to the tent. 11Abraham and Sarah were old, well on in years, and Sarah no longer had her monthly periods. 12Sarah laughed to herself saying, “Now that I am old and worn and my husband is an old man, am I to have this pleasure?” 13Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying: ‘Am I really going to have a child now that I am old?’ 14Is there anything that is impossible for God? At this same time next year I will return and Sarah by then will have a son.”
15Sarah denied saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. But he said, “You did laugh.”
Abraham intercedes for Sodom
16 ② The men went away and turned towards Sodom. Abraham walked with them to set them on their way. 17And Yahweh said, “Can I conceal from Abraham what I am about to do? 18Abraham, in fact, is going to become a great and powerful nation and through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed, 19for I have chosen him to command his sons and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that Yahweh may bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
20Then Yahweh said, “How great is the cry for justice against Sodom and Gomorrah! And how grievous is their sin! 21I am going down to see if they have done all that they are charged with in the outcry that has reached me. If it is not so, I will know.”
22The men with him turned away and went towards Sodom, but Yahweh remained standing before Abraham. 23Abraham went forward and said, “Will you really let the just perish with the wicked? 24Perhaps there are fifty good people in the town. Are you really going to let them perish? Would you not spare the place for the sake of these fifty righteous people? 25It would not be at all like you to do such a thing and you can’t let the good perish with the wicked, nor treat the good and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the judge of all the earth be just?” 26Yahweh said, “If I find fifty good people in Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
27Abraham spoke up again, “I know that I am very bold to speak like this to my Lord, I who am only dust and ashes! 28But perhaps the number of the good is five less than fifty. Will you destroy the town because of five?” Yahweh replied, “I will not destroy the town if I find forty-five good people there.” 29Again Abraham said to him, “Perhaps there will be only forty.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” 30Abraham went on, saying, “May my Lord not be angry, but let me speak. Maybe only thirty good people will be found in the town.” Yahweh answered, “I will not destroy it if I find thirty there.” 31Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to my Lord, what if only twenty can be found?” He said, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy the place.”
32But Abraham insisted, “May my Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found?” And Yahweh answered, “For the sake of ten good people, I will not destroy Sodom.” 33When Yahweh had finished speaking with Abraham, he left and Abraham went home.
- Gen 18,1 God's promises were meant for the descendants of Abraham; he, himself would never see their fulfillment. But God gave his friend a proof of what he was going to accomplish: Isaac was born in miraculous circumstances. It was logical to fear that Abraham's descendants would feel superior to other people and would think they were saved simply by belonging to his race (Lk 3:8). Indeed God acknowledged as heirs of Abraham only the direct descendants of Isaac: the son of a miracle, Sarah's son and not the sons born of slave women. In this we are taught that no one has any claim on God simply because of being born into a particular family. God's promises will be fulfilled for us to the extent that we imitate Abraham in his faith (Gal 4:21-31; Rom 4:13-17). We marvel at this simple story: God, showing human traits, comes to ask for his friend's hospitality before he showers him with his favors. Commentators will not dare say whether it happened that way or it was merely a way of speaking, but the believer knows that this is the way God acts. God does not appear alone but with two angels as if to dispel the image of a solitary God, common among those who still do not know about the mystery of the Three Divine Persons. Why did Sarah laugh? Sarah's laughing is another one of those popular explanations which the Bible supplies about names of places and of people; her son will be called Isaac, a name which sounds like laughed in Hebrew. Is there anything impossible for God? See Lk 1:37; 18:27; Mk 11:22. Gen 18,16 Can I conceal from Abraham what I am about to do? When God makes us his friends he gives us responsibility for the world. Just as with friendship between people, friendship with God means sharing everything. God teaches us to think as he does and to act with him and he invites us to make requests. We should not think that if we persist in prayer, we will get whatever we ask for. If what we ask for is not good for us, God will not grant it. But God is pleased when we know how to struggle and to insist in order to obtain what he, himself, wants to give us in his mercy. He does not want to merely impose this but to grant it to those capable of wishing for it in the same way that he does. I do not wish the wicked one's death, but rather that he change his evil ways and live (Ezk 33:11). I know I am very bold to speak like this to my Lord. The boldness of Abraham who begins to bargain discreetly and firmly demonstrates his faith. The old man converses with God just as he would with a friend in making a deal. Note how Abraham remains seated while the Lord is standing in front of him. This candid approach may appear as a lack of respect to those who read the Bible later; thus they changed the phrase: Abraham was standing to speak with Yahweh who was seated. Jesus said that he would wait on his faithful servants as a servant on his masters (Lk 12:37).
- Gen 18,1 God's promises were meant for the descendants of Abraham; he, himself would never see their fulfillment. But God gave his friend a proof of what he was going to accomplish: Isaac was born in miraculous circumstances. It was logical to fear that Abraham's descendants would feel superior to other people and would think they were saved simply by belonging to his race (Lk 3:8). Indeed God acknowledged as heirs of Abraham only the direct descendants of Isaac: the son of a miracle, Sarah's son and not the sons born of slave women. In this we are taught that no one has any claim on God simply because of being born into a particular family. God's promises will be fulfilled for us to the extent that we imitate Abraham in his faith (Gal 4:21-31; Rom 4:13-17). We marvel at this simple story: God, showing human traits, comes to ask for his friend's hospitality before he showers him with his favors. Commentators will not dare say whether it happened that way or it was merely a way of speaking, but the believer knows that this is the way God acts. God does not appear alone but with two angels as if to dispel the image of a solitary God, common among those who still do not know about the mystery of the Three Divine Persons. Why did Sarah laugh? Sarah's laughing is another one of those popular explanations which the Bible supplies about names of places and of people; her son will be called Isaac, a name which sounds like laughed in Hebrew. Is there anything impossible for God? See Lk 1:37; 18:27; Mk 11:22. Gen 18,16 Can I conceal from Abraham what I am about to do? When God makes us his friends he gives us responsibility for the world. Just as with friendship between people, friendship with God means sharing everything. God teaches us to think as he does and to act with him and he invites us to make requests. We should not think that if we persist in prayer, we will get whatever we ask for. If what we ask for is not good for us, God will not grant it. But God is pleased when we know how to struggle and to insist in order to obtain what he, himself, wants to give us in his mercy. He does not want to merely impose this but to grant it to those capable of wishing for it in the same way that he does. I do not wish the wicked one's death, but rather that he change his evil ways and live (Ezk 33:11). I know I am very bold to speak like this to my Lord. The boldness of Abraham who begins to bargain discreetly and firmly demonstrates his faith. The old man converses with God just as he would with a friend in making a deal. Note how Abraham remains seated while the Lord is standing in front of him. This candid approach may appear as a lack of respect to those who read the Bible later; thus they changed the phrase: Abraham was standing to speak with Yahweh who was seated. Jesus said that he would wait on his faithful servants as a servant on his masters (Lk 12:37).
