Chapter 18 tells a great story of 3 men who visited Abraham - and the hospitality that he showed them. But it also raises great questions about who exactly these men were - and if they were, in fact, men.
Take the following selected examples:
v1 says: The Lord appeared to Abraham
v2 says: Three men appeared before Abraham
v10 says: The Lord spoke
v13-14 says: The Lord asked a question
v16: refers to men again
v17 and following: refers to the Lord
v20-21 says: the Lord is going to Sodom to check on their sinfulness
And 19:1 says: 2 angels arrived at Sodom
Taking all these different references into account, we see that the reference to "3 men" in 18:2 cannot be entirely literal. They most likely had the appearance of men to Abraham, but it seems that at least one of them was the Lord in the guise of a man (some would say this is an appearance of Jesus in the Old Testament).
As for the other two, they are called both men and angels. While obviously there are angels who are entirely different beings from humans (this is made clear in numerous verses), the Hebrew word for angel literally means "messenger" - and is also used in the Bible to refer to human messengers who served earthly kings. Generally, we make a distinction between spiritual angels who serve God - and earthly messengers who serve men, but does this always have to be the case?
So who were these men? In the end, it is impossible to know with certainty. And frankly, the Bible doesn't seem to care very much - as the message they bring - and the reaction of Abraham and Sarah to it (along with the events in Sodom of chapter 19) are much more important.
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2 comments:
With reference to Gen. 18:22-33, one item of significance, I believe, is the way in which Abraham interceded with the Lord for the people in Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham surely must have been aware of the great wickedness there, and did not dispute with the Lord about His reasons for going. Rather, and possibly for personal reasons, for instance Abraham knew that his nephew Lot lived there, and perhaps other relatives as well, Abraham interceded to save them all if the Lord could find but 50, 45, 40, 30, 20, and finally 10 "righteous" there.
It is of note that the Lord was not only willing to listen to Abraham but, that the Lord was unhesitating in His willingness to honor Abraham's request. It does, I believe, demonstrate the potential each believer has to intercede on behave of others; even for non-believers.
Rob - I think the intercession Abraham makes on behalf of Sodom is very interesting as well. It leaves open the possibility that God can change his mind (even though he didn't). I certainly agree with your conclusion that this gives us permission to intercede for non-believers.
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