To Know Us

“To know” is the way sexual intimacy is described throughout the Bible, but Hebrew word means so much more than that. It also carries the meaning of “experiential knowledge.” It’s not just knowing about something, but it’s also having lived it out.

For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
Genesis 18:19 (KJV)

‎Here in Genesis 18:19, God says “I know him” about Abraham. It is יָדַע. Yadah.

‎This says so much.

In the previous chapter, where Abraham and God entered a two-way covenant, with God committing himself to Abraham and Abraham going through the commitment of circumcision, we see a change. God is now with Abraham, not merely next to him.

I think “yadah” is the key to understanding what’s happening in Genesis 18. Perhaps the text isn’t showing us three men/angels with one of them being God. I know it appears that way, because only two men show up in the next chapter, but I think something else is being shown to us.

Now the Lord appeared to Abraham by the [b]oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day.
Genesis 18:1 (NASB)

Perhaps Abraham sees three men, but he understands that God is there in the midst of them. That’s why Genesis 18:1 is written the way it is. It’s not a chapter heading. It’s a statement of awareness, given the new in-dwelling relationship with God.

The chapter continues with the interactions of Abraham and the men, and then in the middle, God just shows up again in verse 13.

But the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I actually give birth to a child, when I am so old?’
Genesis 18:13 (NASB)

I think the right reading of the passage is this: when one of the men asked about Sarah, Abraham understood it to be God’s words, and that these three men were messengers of God.

Later, when the men leave to investigate the city, God tells Abraham that He will go to the city, and that if the outcry is not true, He “will know.” It’s that same word: יָדַע. Yadah.

I will go down now and see whether they have done entirely as the outcry, which has come to Me indicates; and if not, I will know.”
Genesis 18:21 (NASB)

‎But also, if it is true, wouldn’t God also certainly know? Either way, He will experience it. But how?

What does it mean to be a messenger of God? We typically think of someone who is God’s spokesperson to humanity, but doesn’t a messenger bring a message back to God as well? Don’t they return with a report of what has happened?

This makes me wonder if the true reason only two angels show up to rescue Lot isn’t because the third one is God, and that God remained behind. Remember, as messengers, they all three represent God.

Perhaps one actually went ahead first before the other two… and suffered violence.

For we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”
Genesis 19:13 (NASB)

The two angels who came to rescue Lot were on a mission to get him out of the city. The text says they were set to destroy the city, not because of the attempted violence against them, but because of the outcry. The cries for help.

And this is what God knew. It’s what God experienced.

A God who knows our suffering is a God who experiences our suffering. When God says He knows Abraham, I think he’s also telling us that He knows us: our wounds, our pain, the violence we have suffered.

And he’s inviting us to know him.

Keeping Peace

And Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “Now that I’ve lost the ability, am I to have enjoyment — with my husband so old?” Then יהוה said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I in truth bear a child, old as I am?’
Genesis 18:12-13 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)

The Midrash has this funny quip that says when Sarah secretly said that her husband is so old, God told Abraham that she said SHE is so old, in order to keep peace between them.

Being married for 22 years, I find this delightful.

Spiritual Beings

So far, in my journey through Genesis 1-18, the spiritual beings I’ve found in the text include the following:

Elohim/YHWH (throughout the text).

Ruah Elohim (possibly) in Genesis 1.

Cherubim in Genesis 3.

Malak in Genesis 16 and 18.

Elohim is the plural-singular or royal-singular word that we translated as “God.” In Genesis, it never means “angels,” but later biblical books appear to use this word to sometimes describe angelic beings.

God’s name is YHWH (I AM), and he’s never physically described.

In Genesis 1:2, the “Ruah Elohim” is translated as the “Spirit of God,” and it appears to behave as a living thing (“hovering over the surface of the deep”) and is described as somewhat distinct from God.

This is hard to understand because God is… spirit. It is not entirely clear from the text. But also, when we get to Genesis 6 where God says “My Spirit will not content with humans forever…” it is very difficult to visualize!

The Cherubim (plural for cherub) are not physically described in Genesis, except that they (plural, so more than one) have been set in front of the Garden of Eden, and they block the entrance while wielding flaming swords. They probably don’t look like winged babies.

The Malak/Malakim is written as “angels” of YHWH, but this word in Hebrew means “messenger.”

In the text, they look human, first appearing to Hagar in Genesis 16, and later to Abraham in Genesis 18. Apparently, they can eat and drink and talk to people.

Later, we’ll read that they can grab hold of people, blind people, and they can apparently ldestroy entire cities!

But here’s the very interesting bit: as messengers of God, they appear to be able to speak as though they ARE God, despite NOT being God. When the malak talks to Hagar, he says “I will increase your descendants,” but this is something only God can do. But then in verse 13, the text clearly says it was God who spoke to her.

Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”
Genesis 16:9-10 (NIV)

She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”
Genesis 16:13 (NIV)

Likewise, when the malakim speak to Abraham (at this point in Genesis 18, they’re only identified as “men” and not yet idenfied as malakim until the next chapter), one says “I’ll return to you,” but when the time comes, it’s not the malak who shows up. It’s God.

Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”
Genesis 18:10a (NIV)

This idea of the malakim being able to speak as God and doing things on behalf of God makes me wonder about how God interacts with humanity.

Are the malakim “spiritual beings” that materialize in this world, or is God working through actual humans to show himself?

It seems like “spiritual beings” is the correct answer, because… well, fire from heaven and all that. They’re super-naturally powerful.

But doesn’t Elijah call down fire from heaven later on? As a prophet, was he not also a “messenger of God?”

I wonder.

At the Time of Life

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.
Genesis 18:10 (NIV)

Most english Bibles apply an idiomatic expression to transate Genesis 18:10 to come up with the phrase “I will surely return to you about this time next year.”

However, the Hebrew words are actually more interesting than that.

First, whenever you see the word “surely” or “certainly” in the English, you should know that the ancient Hebrew way of expressing emphasis was to say the word in question twice: שׁוֹב אָשׁוּב. This is “shuv, ashuv.” Or “return, I will return.”

“I will REALLY return.”

Next, we have the word אֵלֶ֙יךָ֙. “Elekha,” which means “to you,” so a normal read would be “I will surely return to you (in the future).”

But the rabbis say this can also convey the sense of “I will surely bring you (into the future).”

The idea the rabbis present is that God is making TWO promises here, and it’s tied to how old Abraham is. He’s 99 years old, remember? Verse 11 emphasizes this.

Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing.
Genesis 18:11 (NIV)

Who knows if Abraham will be alive when the son is born? There’s nothing to say he couldn’t die first.

So God isn’t just saying “I’ll be back next year.” He is also saying “You’ll be around next year, because I’m bringing you forward into it.”

Promise #1: A son will be turn to you and Sarah.
Promise #2: You’ll be alive to enjoy it when it happens.

The words that follow help seal this understanding. God doesn’t actually say “… about this time next year.”

God says כָּעֵת חַיָּה. ka’et chayah. “… at the time of life.”

While this can signify the time of birth, it also points to Abraham being alive when it happens.

The Righteous

There’s a teaching in Christianity that says “none are righteous,” and it’s pulled from Romans 3, which quotes from either Psalm 14 or Psalm 53 (they’re almost identical).

The thing is… the scriptures refer to people being “righteous” all the time.

Noah, Abraham, David… and though Jesus spoke Aramaic, our bibles record this greek word δίκαιος (dikaios) to describe “righteous Abel” in Matthew 23:35, and it’s the same word that Paul uses in Romans 3.

What are we supposed to learn from this?

For starters, this seems to provide pushback against “I’m-a-worthless-worm” theology, unless there’s some odd subclass of “righteous-worm” that’s hidden in the text.

And actually, if you go back and read the Psalms mentioned above, you’ll notice something important.

But there they are, overwhelmed with dread,
for God is present in the company of the righteous.
You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor,
but the Lord is their refuge.
Psalm 14:5-6 (NIV)

David doesn’t say that “nobody is righteous.” He’s identifying a corrupt and wicked people, and they are distinct from the righteous people who are identified in Psalm 14:5-6.

Psalm 14:4 calls the wicked people “workers of injustice,” and when you read Psalm 14 in the context of the wickedness of Genesis 6 and Genesis 18, you’ll start to see parallels. There’s a description of a growing tide of wickedness and oppression that covers everything.

In the case of the Psalm, David is obviously not including himself in the definition of the wicked fools who say “there is no god.”

Likewise, though “the whole world is wicked” in Genesis 6, Noah is singled out. In the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot is singled out.

There’s a rabbinical teaching that says “a single righteous person could save the rest of the world,” and I think this can be derived from seeing that in the case of the flood, Noah was hidden away, leaving none. In the case of Sodom, Lot was led away, leaving none.

When Abraham asks if God would spare the cities for the sake of 10 righteous people, I think the teaching is that God would have spared the cities if there was even one who remained. Removing Lot brought the number of righteous people down to zero.

Perhaps this understanding informs the parable of the Wheat/Weeds in Matthew 13:24-30. God won’t tear out the weeds and destroy the wicked so long as there is even a single stalk of wheat growing in it.

In the Psalm, David calls these wicked people “fools” who say in their hearts, “there is no god.”

David isn’t making a statement about atheists. The description of the “fools” here are the specifically wicked who commit injustice, devour God’s people, and afflict the poor.

This absolutely (and specifically) includes people who loudly proclaim God’s laws and the existence of God, but who believe *in their hearts* that there is no God. This is hypocricy. And this is precisely what Paul was talking about in Romans 2. That’s the whole context!

Now, before we get too comfortable with drawing lines around the righteous and the wicked, I suspect that Jesus is saying something very particular when He warns against calling anyone a “fool.”

But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
Matthew 5:22 (NIV)

All this to say, I don’t believe Paul is teaching us to never consider anyone “righteous.” We have plenty of examples of righteous people in the Bible who serve as examples of faithfulness, and as examples of God’s faithfulness in them.

Be blessed!

Hospitality

There are debates over the reason for the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19. Some point to the specific actions of the men involved in the story and see a link to homosexuality. Others point to Ezekiel, and the treatment of the poor and needy:

Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, plenty of food, and carefree ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. So they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it.
Ezekiel 16:49-50 (NASB)

I’m inclined to go with Ezekiel’s answer, because it’s written quite plainly. However, there’s another bit of context in Genesis 18 that lends to this view.

It’s given to us in the form of narrative contrast.

Look closely at Genesis 18:6-8:

So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly, prepare three measures of fine flour, knead it, and make bread cakes.” Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and choice calf and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it. He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree as they ate.
Genesis 16:6-8 (NASB)

Do you know what “three measures” means? Some translations render it as “three seahs,” which is very helpful, because this is a specific unit of dry-measure, calculated by volume.

1 seah is about 7.7 liters. Or 1.75 gallons.

When you convert this into weight, based on how much grain weighs, you get about 10 pounds per seah.

So Abraham, who just said “let me get you a *piece* of bread” in verse 5 has Sarah whip up a batch of bread consisting of THIRTY POUNDS of flour.

And not just that!

It’s not as though Sarah had a bag of flour handy. Flour was only prepared based on immediate use, or else it would spoil faster. So she (and probably her servants) had to grind out thirty pounds of grain into bread-making flour right away.

And not just that!

The text says Abraham went and took a calf from the herd. Abraham didn’t offer breakfast leftovers. He had a cow slaughtered right then there. That’s some fresh BBQ!

And not just that!

The text says that Abraham was sitting at his tent door in the heat of the day. According to the rabbis, nobody was out and about in the heat of the day, and yet here is Abraham, sitting his tent door, LOOKING TO SEE IF ANYBODY WAS OUT THERE who might need food and water.

All this to say, we are shown a comically ridiculous display of hospitality and generosity, providing the most lavish spread of food and drink for these currently unidentified men who are not even named in the text. For the purpose of the story, they are STRANGERS.

We’re told by Ezekiel later that Sodom did not care for the poor and needy. We’re told in this chapter that there’s an “outcry,” or za’aq (זַעַק), which is the same word that describes Israel’s outcry due to their affliction in Egypt: The weak are being oppressed.

So what we see in Abraham is the contrast. It is the opposite of oppression of the weak. Abraham is wealthy and capable: his actions display how one should treat the travel-weary, the hungry, and the thirsty. And in verse 8, he stands with them.

This is righteousness.

Laughter and Faith

And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’
Genesis 18:13 (NKJV)

Perhaps God asks Abraham why Sarah laughed because she shouldn’t have been startled at this point in the story. She should have laughed when Abraham first told her about it back in chapter 17 when God said Sarah would have a son.

This means that Abe never told her.

The rebuke or teaching opportunity is for Abraham, not Sarah. He is the one with something to learn.

And perhaps the lesson is here in verse 17.

And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing?”
Genesis 18:17 (NKJV)

In the previous chapter, the text introduced the two-way Covenant and a new relationship of oneness with God, where God shares both His glory and his heartache with Abraham. So shouldn’t that be how Abraham views his wife, too? Shouldn’t she be privy to his hopes, dreams and fears?

Perhaps we are seeing the last moment of lack of faith on Abraham’s part regarding the promised son: he believes God, but not enough to tell his own wife about it.

So God gently nudges him here in chapter 18. With Sarah’s laughter.

Water and Bread

Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and make yourselves comfortable under the tree; and I will bring a piece of bread, so that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant.” And they said, “So do as you have said.”
Genesis 18:4-5 (NASB)

When Abraham first meets the three men (or angels!) in Genesis 18, the Rabbis note every word he speaks and wonder if there is prophetic meaning in them.

We know that the offering of water and bread is hospitality, but note the passive and active verbs used for each.

He says “let water be brought” and he says “I’ll bring bread.”

The rabbis say this is clear: the water is to be brought by way of some unnamed servant or messenger, whereas Abraham is offering to bring the bread himself.

And then they point to the Exodus.

In the Exodus, we read that when God provided water for Israel, He did it through Moses, first at Marah in Genesis 15, and later when Moses strikes the rock. God provides the water through… a messenger.

And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.
Exodus 15:24-25a (NKJV)

But of bread, God does it directly in the next chapter. It’s set up exactly like Abraham’s hospitality to the three men: A messenger will get the water, but I’ll get the bread for you.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not.
Exodus 16:4 (NKJV)

Now, notice back in Genesis 18:4, Abraham used the phrase “a little water.”

We just read past this and don’t pay much attention to it, but oddly, this word “little” first appears three times in Genesis in exactly this same way: “A little water.”

Each time, a messenger is involved:

Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.
Genesis 18:4 (NKJV)

And the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher.”
Genesis 24:17 (NKJV)

Behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass that when the virgin comes out to draw water, and I say to her, “Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink,”
Genesis 18:4 (NKJV)

In the second two instances, this same messenger’s name is Eliazar, who has the task of seeking out and inviting the future bride of Isaac.

This hebrew word מְעַט (meh-aht) means little. Small. Fewness.

Water. Messenger. Smallness.

For the believer who sees a messenger in the wilderness, standing in the water and baptizing the Messiah, the words “he must increase, but I must DECREASE” suddenly ring.

And for the Christian who sees the Holy Spirit like a messenger of God, speaking precisely the words of God and revealing precisely the heart of God, the connection to this messenger and water gets clearer.

For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:13 (NKJV)

And of the bread? The Christian will see the breaking of bread at communion as a symbol of the broken body of the Messiah, made available for us for salvation. Given freely, not through a messenger, but by God himself.

If the Christian is looking for a Trinune God, perhaps it’s not the three angels in Genesis 18 themselves that give it to us, but perhaps they function as three sign posts to tell us that it is near.

Weeping with God

The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do…?”
Genesis 18:17 (NIV)

The word “hide” in Genesis 18:17 isn’t the word khabah (חָבָא) that Adam used in Genesis 3:8-10. Khabah means to hide away to avoid being seen. It’s secretive.

God uses the word kasaw (כָּסָה), which is the same word used to describe Japheth and Shem covering Noah, shielding him. They aren’t trying to conceal their father. They are protecting him from shame and grief.

Similarly, God is not musing over obsecuring the truth from Abraham. It’s heavier than that. God is about to break Abraham’s heart by bringing him into the same grief that God experienced back in Genesis 6. It’s a spiritual and emotional burden.

So the Lord was sorry that He had made mankind on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
Genesis 6:6 (NIV)

Now, in the prior chapter, the rabbis suggest a special union was made between Abraham and God through Covenant. This brought in the divine Presence and in-dwelling of God into Abraham and changed the relationship. In this new relationship, God says: “You will share in my glory; and you will share in my heartache.”

So when God asks, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,” this marks the first instance where a man of God is being brought into that heartache on a personal level. Abraham’s response gives us a clearer picture of God’s heart.

When God destroyed the world by flood, the text says that the thoughts and intents of the heart of all man was evil continually, except for Noah. Would God have destroyed the world if there were even more righteous people?

Look at Abraham’s words that reveal God’s heart.

Abraham approached and said, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous people within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?”
Genesis 18:23-25 (NIV)

So when Abraham pleads with God, asking “What if there are 50 righteous people in the city? What if there are 40? 30? What if there are only 10?”, we are shown the kind of consideration God gave back in Genesis 6. God’s own heart broke over the rising wickedness.

Later, fire falls from the night sky to destroy the cities.

We have to picture Abraham watching and weeping, coming to the realization that there weren’t even ten righteous people in the city, just like there weren’t even two righteous people in the world before the flood.

Abraham weeps. God weeps.

Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?

If you walk with God, you will weep, too.

Singular and Plural

Looking up, he saw three figures standing near him. Perceiving this, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them and, bowing to the ground, he said, “My lords! If it please you, do not go on past your servant.
Genesis 18:2-3 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)

Most translations say “my Lord” in this verse (singular), but this is actually the plural noun “adonai.”

The rabbis debate over whether this is intended as a majestic title (like “Elohim”), or if Abraham is calling all three of them “lords”.

But “you” is singular here.

Let a little water be brought; bathe your feet and recline under the tree.
Genesis 18:4 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)

But in the next verse, the verbs switch back to referring to a plural subject. “Bathe” and “recline” are plural verbs here.

Grammatically, it is very strange. One possibility is that Abraham is sometimes just talking to one of the men, and sometimes talking to all three.

Scholars debate this. It’s quite odd.