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.

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.

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.

Why Three Angels?

Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
Genesis 18:2 (NIV)

In Genesis 18, we have this odd story about three men who meet Abraham. We’ll learn that they are angels, as two of them continue on to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in the next chapter.

The Rabbis ask, “Why THREE angels? Couldn’t one angel have done it all?”

In response, they suggest that perhaps an angel can only carry out one mission:

One to make an announcement
One to overthrow the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
One to cure Abraham after his circumcision

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.
Rashi on Genesis 18:1:1a

This may sound farfetched, but they have a reason for this. If you read through Genesis 18 and 19, the men switch between answering in the plural and in the singular at different times in the chapter.

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 18:1:1b

While that’s all very interesting, the most challenging thing about the chapter is that the men also appear to be interchangeable with God. Sometimes Abraham is speaking to the angels, and sometimes the text says he is speaking to God.

When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?
Genesis 18:16-17 (NIV)

There’s no concensus here. It’s a mystery. But it’s from this chapter that the notion of some kind of triune nature of God first shows up in the text. Not in the “Father/Son/Holy-Spirit” kind of way, but at least something that shows that God is more complex than we realize.

The Dwelling Place

We have this religious word “Tabernacle,” which sounds quite grandious and holy and spiritual, but it’s just the latin word for fancy tent. It’s “Tabernaculum,” whereas a normal tent would be “taberna.”

Fun fact: taberna is where we get the word tavern – a place where people eat and drink together. It’s a meeting place. One might call it a holy place!

Anyway, we get this word “Tabernacle” as a translation of the Hebrew word “Mishkan.”

The Mishkan is the physical place where God dwells with Israel in the Scriptures: it’s “God’s tent,” as it were. It’s quite an extravagent tent, with blue and purple and scarlet fabric, and gold latches and curtains of goat hair.

Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and violet, purple, and scarlet material; you shall make them with cherubim, the work of a skilled embroiderer.
Exodus 26:1 (NASB)

Then you shall make curtains of goats’ hair as a tent over the tabernacle; you shall make eleven curtains in all.
Exodus 26:7 (NASB)

You shall also make fifty clasps of gold, and join the curtains to one another with the clasps so that the tabernacle will be a unit.
Exodus 26:6 (NASB)

But the point isn’t the structure or the appearance.

The Hebrew word Mishkan is the noun form of the verb shakhan, which means “to dwell.” To be with.

The understanding is that the Mishkan is God dwelling with us in a physical place in our world. But the concept of it is greater than the physical material that built it. The Jewish people understood this, and they created a word to describe this spiritual reality: The Shekhinah. (sheh-ken-AH), or the “Presence of God.”

This word isn’t in the Bible, but I’ll break the Hebrew down for you.

When a Hebrew verb becomes a concrete noun, it often gets an “M” sound in front. That’s how shakhan (שָׁכַן) becomes Mishkan (מִשְׁכָּן). Again, that’s “tabernacle” or “great tent.”

But when the verb becomes an abstract noun, it gains an “H” at the end along, with some additional vowel changes. So shakhan (שָׁכַן) becomes Shekhinah (שְׁכִינָה).

The Mishkan/Tabernacle is the concrete image of God’s dwelling place (a tent), whereas the Shekhinah is the abstract concept of God’s spiritual presence.

Interestingly, concrete nouns are often masculine, and abstract nouns are feminine.

Consider the Hebrew words for man and woman. Man is Ish; Woman is Ishah. The woman is identified with the “H” at the end, so there’s the feminine link.

But also, I’ve previously written that the woman represents the Spirit of humanity, whereas the man represents the Flesh.

When we get to Genesis 17 where God changes Abram and Sarai’s names, in the Hebrew it’s very clear: God adds an “H” to each of their names… which can be understood to mean something. Not that they’re now both “feminine,” but they are now both “spiritual.”

In the same way shakhan (to dwell) becomes the Shekhinah (the Presence), Abram/Sarai become Abraham/Sarah – the spiritual carriers of the Presence of God. And this happens in the same chapter as the Covenant of Circumcision. Or as I call it, the Commitment.

This idea of God’s presence linked to a Covenant that requires our commitment happens in an interesting way in Torah. Remember: shakhan just means “to dwell.” Every instance of this word in Genesis is talking about a person dwelling somewhere. Always a human.

But EVERY time in Exodus, beginning when it first appears in chapter 24, the word is NEVER used to mean the dwelling place of a person.

It’s exclusively used to describe the dwelling place of GOD.

And wouldn’t you know it, Exodus 24 is the outlay of… the Covenant.

Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it as the people listened; and they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!
Exodus 24:7 (NASB)

So we have a very clear relationship between Covenant-and-Commitment and The Dwelling Place of God. But how do we see this with Abraham? What evidence is there that God has made his dwelling within Abraham?

Look at these 3 instances of the way the text describes how God meets Abraham.

Genesis 7:15 – “then appeared Yahweh to Abram”
Genesis 17:1 – “and appeared Yahweh to Abram”
Genesis 18:1 – “And appeared to him Yahweh”

The Rabbis see significance in this change.

In the first two instances, God’s name is first, as you’d expect. But in the third, God’s name appears second, after the reference to Abraham. And the rabbis say that this is the meaning: God now dwells WITHIN Abraham.

Going forward, Abraham isn’t described as having visions or glimpses of the Divine. He now walks WITH God. It’s in this same chapter that God says He will not hide things from Abraham. It’s because God lives within him.

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

Abraham IS the Mishkan living out the Shekhinah.

The notion that God’s people are the temple, and that the Holy Spirit dwells in us is tied to this very thing. This is the root of the teaching.

But it’s linked to a Covenant where we must engage in a “spiritual circumision.” We must lean in.

What I’m describing here is not a “heaven vs. hell” scenario. Rather, I’m describing a life where God is either perceived as something on the outside, leading the way… or God is living inside of you and allowing you to see the world through God’s eyes.

According to the text, this isn’t automatic. It requires our heart. Our whole committed heart. “Circumcision.” This is what it means to walk with God.

Is this your desire? I hope so. Because it is also God’s desire.

Every Letter of Torah

When Sarai is given the name Sarah, unlike Abram (who simply received the letter “heh”), Sarai loses the letter “yod” in her name, and it is replaced by the letter “heh.”

שָׂרַי -> שָׂרָה

Why? What could it mean?

The Midrash has an interesting quip about that.

“Why am I removed from the great woman of faith?” the little yod asks God. And to let him know that he was not forgotten, God placed the little yod on a future hero of faith: Joshua in Numbers 13:16.

These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land; but Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.
Numbers 13:16 (NASB)

הוֹשֵׁעַ -> יְהוֹשֻׁעַ

This is why I love the Midrash so much.

Not because it provides definitive answers, but because it is the result of asking good questions.

Never stop asking questions.

The Story of the Woman

But God said, “No, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
Genesis 17:19 (NASB)

There is something so sneaky and subversive about the way Genesis talks about women, you miss it if you read it too quickly.

For starters, while Abraham is the “father of our faith,” the story about the miraculous birth is really Sarah’s story, not Abraham’s.

Sarai was unable to conceive; she did not have a child.
Genesis 11:30 (NASB)

Remember, the inability to have children wasn’t Abe’s problem. He was able to have a son with Hagar, which meant he was perfectly capable of having children.

But Sarah was barren, and there is a sense of grief and desperation that surrounds her.

Though she is abusive towards Hagar, she reacts from a place of hurt and shame. It isn’t excusable, but it is understandable. She feels diminished and small, but God elevates her and changes her name.

The thing is, the name change for Sarah seems a bit subtle. Some translations (the NASB, for example) say that the words Sarai and Sarah are the same, but just in different dialects. But most translation commentaries state that going from Sarai to Sarah is going from “my princess” to “princess,” so there’s at least a sense of enlargement or increase in scope of her princessly responsibilities, whatever those may be. But what is a “princess,” exactly?

As it turns out, it has nothing to do with being the “daughter of a king,” but it does have everything to do with royalty and authority.

Both versions of her name are the feminine version of a word that means ruler. Chief. The one in charge. The shot caller.

I. prince, ruler, leader, chief, chieftain, official, captain
1. chieftain, leader
2. vassal, noble, official (under king)
3. captain, general, commander (military)
4. chief, head, overseer (of other official classes)
5. heads, princes (of religious office)
6. elders (of representative leaders of people)
7. merchant-princes (of rank and dignity)
8. patron-angel
9. Ruler of rulers (of God)
10. warden
Strongs: H269 (שַׂר): sar

Now, if you have gender-roles and leadership expectations in your head that precondition you to place a man in higher authority than a woman, you might think that Abram was wrong for listening to his wife in Genesis 16:6, but consider Genesis 21:12. Who tells Abraham to listen and heed his wife? It is God.

But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and your slave woman; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named.
Genesis 21:12 (NASB)

And actually, any statement about the consequences of men “listening to women” fall rather flat when you realize that nothing Eve said was wrong back in the Garden of Eden. Look at Eve’s words!

The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”
Genesis 3:2-3

Perhaps Adam should have listened more closely, actually.

Sarah is elevated from being royal leadership with Abram to being royal leadership with Abraham: the leadership and authority tied to the father of nations. She is, in a way, wisdom, personified.

By me kings reign,
And rulers decree justice.
By me princes rule, and nobles,
All who judge rightly.
Proverbs 8:15-16 (NASB)

(In Hebrew, “by me” can also be read “with me.” It’s a connective preposition.)

And to make it even more clear how much Sarah is elevated, God says it twice in one verse!

I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
Genesis 17:16 (NASB)

So blessed!

And why not? God made it clear that the Son of the Promise will be through her. Yes, through Abraham, but *also* through Sarah. Because God does not view her lower than him, or higher than him, but with him.

And that’s how it is meant to be.