Genesis 18

AND the LORD appeared unto him, in the plains of Mamre, and he sate in the tent door Waiting for strangers which might pass that way, for whom no publick places being provided in those times and places, vertuous persons used to entertain them in their houses. See Heb. 13. 2., in the heat of the day The time when Travellers, especially in those hot Countries, used to divert and refresh themselves..

And he lift up his eyes, and looked: and lo, three men As they seemed to be, though indeed they were Angels in mens shape stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground A respect usually paid to persons of quality, such as these seemed to be..

And said, My LORD, if now I have found favour in thy sight *, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: e He directeth his speech to one who by the Majesty of his countenance and the respect which the other two showed him seemed to be the chief of them.

Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet A practise usual in those parts, Gen. 10. 2. and 24. 32. 43. 24. Iohn. 13. 4, 5. 1 Tim. 5. 10. because they used to travel either barefooted, or only with sandals to cover and... cure the bottom of their feet., and rest your self under the tree.

And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts, after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant Not that he says or thought that this was their design, but an effect of Divine Providence, the meaning is, therefore has God directed you this way that I might have an occasion of performing my duty to you, which I chearfully embrace.. And they said, so do, as thou hast said.

And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, make ready quickly three measures Containing each the third part of an Ephah. See E... od. 1.... 36. of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth Upon the Coals, or in the warm cinders, or in an oven. He had doubtless other bread ready, but he would have new bread for them, which he thought most grateful..

And Abraham ran unto the herd and fetcht a calf, tender and good, and gave it unto a young man, and he hasted to dress it.

And he took butter, and milk, and the calf To wit, the choicest parts of the calf. which he had dressed, and set it before them, and he stood by them To wait upon them, as the word standing is used, Nehem. 12. 44. Ier. 52. 12. under the tree, and they did eat Either seemingly, as the Scripture oft speaks of things according to appearance; or really, they received the meat into the bodies which they assumed, where it was consumed by a Divine power..

And they said unto him (i. e.) One of them, in the name of all, said. Which he did not for his own satisfaction, for he who knew her name, knew also where she was, but to give occasion for the following discourse., Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent In her Tent: For Men and Women had then their several Tents or Appartments..

And he said, I will certainly return unto thee Not in a visible shape, but with my powerful and effectual presence, to fulfill my promise. according to the time of life This time may respect, either 1. Abram and Sarah, in the time of Life, i. e. when you shall be both alive and in health. But that it belonged to them, it might seem better to understand it thus, in the time when God shall restore life, (i. e.) vigour and activity, to you; for till then both Abrahams body, and Sarahs Womb are expresly said to be dead, Rom. 4. 19. to which deadness this Life may be opposite, and the time of restoring this lost power of Generation may well be called a time of Life, it being a kind of life from the dead, and an impowring of him for a vital action from which he was before disenabled, and for the conveying of Life to a Child, and perpetuating his own life in him. Or, 2. to the Child, according to the time of Life, i. e. in the time which is usual for the Conception, Quickning, and Bringing forth of a living Child. Which interpretation recieveth some countenance, from 2 King. 4. 16. where we have the same phrase. Or, 3. To the year, according to the time, or this time of Life, or living time, i. e. when this time or season of the year shall revive, i. e. return or be restored: As Cities and Buildings are said to be revived when they are Repaired or Rebuilt, as 1 Chron. 11 8. Nehem. 4. 2. And this season might more properly be said to revive and be called the time of Life, because it may be gathered from the heat ver. 1. and their refreshing themselves under the shadow of a tree, that it was the Spring time, when Herbs and Plants and Trees, which seem to be dead in the Winter, recover and show forth their Life and Vigour: and so the sense may be this, according to this time which is a time of Life, or reviving, wherein as the beauty and Fruits of the Earth will be renewed and revived, so thou and Sarah shall be revived or receive as it were a new Life in the Son that shall be born to you. This sense seems more probable than either of the former; because he speaks of a certain set or appointed time, v. 14. Rom. 9. 9. Gen. 21. 2. and that time was about a year after this, as may appear by comparing Gen. 17 24. and Gen. 21. 5., and lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door which was behind him (i. e.) At the back of the Angel that spoke with him. Which is here added to show that he knew her laughter not by the sight of his Eyes, but by his all-seeing Knowledge..

Now Abraham and Sarah were old, and well stricken in age, and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women As to those monethly effluviums peculiar to her Sex, which are necessary to Conception. Compare Gen. 31. 35..

Therefore Sarah laughed Not from joy and admiration, but from distrust and contempt, as if it were incredible. within herself Heb. In her heart, i. e. she secretly derided it, though none but her self, as she thought, knew it., saying, After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure, Not so much in the conception, as in the education and fruition, of a Child. my Lord being old also?

And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, shall I of a surety bear a Child which am old?

Is any thing too hard for the LORDx? at the time appointed will I return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. * Heb. Hid from God? So the sense is, though she laughed only in her heart, it is not unknown to me: Or rather too wonderful for God to effect? Which best suits with the following words.

Then Sarah denied From the sense of guilt and the discovery of her shame, and the expectation of a sharp rebuke both from this person and from her husband., saying, I laughed not, for she was afraid From the sense of guilt and the discovery of her shame, and the expectation of a sharp rebuke both from this person and from her husband.: and he said, Nay, but thou didst laugh.

And the men rose up from thence, and looked towards Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way A Civility usual then and afterwards. See Act. 20. 38. and 21. 5. Rom. 15. 24. 1 Cor. 16. 11..

And the LORD said, shall I hide from Abraham q. d. I will not, cannot, hide it: It is against the laws of Friendship to conceal my secrets from him. The interrogation here is in effect a negation, as elsewhere. Compare 2 Sam. 7. 5. with 1 Chron. 17. 4. and Matth. 7. 16. with Luke 6. 43. See also Amos 3. 7. that thing which I do.

Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the Earth shall be blessed in him (q. d.) Seeing I have done greater things for him, how can I deny him the less? Compare the argument, Rom. 8. 32. Gods ways are not like mens ways. Former favours to men are arguments why they should do no more, but to God they are motives for the adding of new ones..

For I know him I know him to be such an one as I am now describing: Or, I know this concerning him which now follows. Others I love him, and therefore cannot conceal this from him. Words of Knowledge being oft put for Love, as Ier. 1. 5. and 24. 5. Hos. 13. 5. Amos 3. 2., that he will command Or, Instruct, as the word is used, Levit. 14. 5. Deut. 20. 18. and 27. 3. It will not be in vain that I tell him this and give him occasion to pray and to tast my goodness in answering prayers, because he will not smother these things in his own breast, but manifest them to others, and teach them how good God is, who so readily complies with the desires and prayers of men, and how terrible he is to incorrigible sinners, and how evil and bitter a thing it is to sin against God. And so I shall get the end I aim at in all my works, which is that they may be known for the good of others, that they may learn by such examples. his children and his houshold after him Who will live when he is dead. He will so diligently imprint these things in their minds that they shall never forget them., and they shall keep the way of the LORD (i. e) Observe and walk in the way of Gods precepts: q. d. He shall not lose his design or labour; for what he teacheth they shall learn and practise. See Psal. 51. 15, &c., to do justice and judgment (i. e.) To do all things that are good and right and just both to God and Men. Compare Psal. 119. 121.; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham, that which he has spoken of him (i. e.) That Abraham and his posterity, keeping the conditions of the Covenant required on their part, God may without any blemish to his honour or justice give all those good things which he has promised to them..

And the LORD said, Because the cry Sins are said to cry when they are gross and manifest and impudent and such as highly provoke God to anger. of Sodom and Gomorrha He names only these two, as being the most eminent in state and exemplary in wickedness, but under them he includes the rest, as appears by the story. is great, and because their sin is very grievous:

I will go down now and see (i. e.) Enquire into the truth of the thing. God here speaks after the manner of men, and for the example and instruction of Judges to search into causes ere they pass sentence. whether they have done altogether Heb. Whether they have made a consummation or accomplishment, i. e. whether they have filled up the measure of their sins. Compare Gen. 15. 16. Matth. 23. 32. Iames 1. 15. according to the cry of it, which is come unto me: and if not, I will know.

And the men (i. e.) Two of them: For the third stayed with Abraham, as it here follows. turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom; but Abraham stood yet before the LORD The third of these persons whom now he perceived to be the Lord himself who had assumed an humane shape..

And Abraham drew near (i. e.) Approached unto God to enquire of him, and to pray unto him: For so the phrase of drawing near to God is used, 1 Sam. 14. 36. Psal. 73. 28. Isa. 29. 13. Heb. 10. 22., and said, wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the City (i. e.) in the Cities concerned as appears by ver. 20. & 19. 25. The singular number for the plural as is frequent, as Gen. 3. 2. 1 Chron. 10. 1. compared with 1 Sam. 31. 1. and oft elsewhere. Or, the City S... om alone is mentioned but the rest are comprehended under it, either because of its eminency, or because they were subject or subordinate to it, as may seem probable from the History, Gen. 14., wilt thou also destroy, and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?

That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that the righteous shall be as the wicked, that be far from thee: shall not the judge of all the Earth Now he clearly perceiveth that this person was no less than the Creator, Governour and... udge of the World, even the second person in the blessed Trinity, to whom that Title and work is ascribed, as Iohn 5. 22, 27. Acts 10. 42. and 17. 31. do right He speaks not this, as if it were simply unjust for God to involve the righteous in the same temporal destruction with the wicked, for he knew very well and by his own experience, that there was not a just man upon Earth that did good and sinned not, Eccles. 7. 20. and therefore no such just man who did not for his own sin deserve that death and destruction, which is the proper wages of sin, Rom. 6. last. But he speaks not here of strict and rigorous justice, but of that moderate and equitable way which God is pleased to use with the Sons of Men, and of that right to temporal deliverances which by virtue of Gods gracious Covenant and Promise did accrue to Pious and Vertuous persons, especially in the times of the Old Testament, when temporal promises were more expresly and particularly made to good men..

And the LORD said, if I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the City, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.

And Abraham answered and said, Behold, now I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD, which am but dust and ashes In regard of the composition of my body which was taken out of the dust and shall return into it again. See Gen. 3. 19. Iob 4. 19. Eccles. 12. 7. 1 Cor. 15. 47, 48.:

Peradventure, there shall lack five of the fifty righteous, wilt thou destroy all the City for lack of five Heb. for five, or because of five, to wit, which are lacking or wanting. The same supplement we have also Psal. 109. 24. Lam. 4. 9.? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.

And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there: And he said, I will not do it for forties sake.

And he said unto him, Oh, let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there: And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.

And he said, Behold, now I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there: And he said, I will not destroy it for twenties sake.

And he said, Oh, let, not the LORD be angry. and I will speak yet but this once Abraham in modesty could proceed no further, and being a good man himself he had a charitable opinion of others, and thought there certainly were so many good men in all those Cities, especially including Lot and his Family. No doubt Abraham remembered Lot in his Prayers, but that large and generous soul could not content himself with Lots preservation but aims at the saving of the whole Cities, which when he saw was doubtful and unlikely, he prayed for his deliverance out of that common destruction, as may be gathered from Gen. 19. 29.: Peradventure ten shall be found there: And he said, I will not destroy it for tens sake.

And the LORD went his way: assoon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.