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.