Genesis 18:1 Then the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. 2 So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground,
This is the first appearance of the Messenger of the Covenant to Sarah. In this regard, it was for the purpose of strengthening her faith. "He visits... for the twofold purpose of drawing out and completing the faith of Sarah, and of communing with Abraham concerning the destruction of Sodom.” (Barnes’ Notes) This is "another manifestation of the divine presence, more familiar than any yet narrated; and more like that in the fulness of time, when the Word was made flesh.” (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary) In fact: "The three men were three angels [messengers],… one of whom was the Lord Christ, Malachi 3:1,” (Sutcliffe Commentary)
There is no doubt as to the identification of One of these three guests that suddenly appeared before the tent-door of Abraham. "We are expressly told that 'Jehovah appeared unto him.’..During His earthly life, He loved the homes of men, lodged with Peter and Zacchaeus, and in the dear home where Mary loved and Martha served. After His resurrection, He tarried with two of them in the village inn. So He will come to thy heart and mine. Though He is the High and lofty One, who inhabits Eternity, yet He will plead for admission to sup with us and we with Him (Rev. 3:20). But He often comes disguised as a wayfaring man, hungry and athirst. Let us 'run to meet Him,’ remembering Matt. 25:40." (F. B. Meyers)"And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’” (Matt. 25:40)
3 and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. 4 Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 5 And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant.” They said, “Do as you have said.”
6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes.” 7 And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it. 8 So he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate.
"When the three men had accepted the hospitable invitation, Abraham, ...directed his wife to take three seahs… of fine meal, and bakes cakes of it as quickly as possible (עגּות round unleavened cakes baked upon hot stones) [perhaps precursor of the Exodus]; he also had a tender calf [clean animal] killed, and sent for milk and butter, or curdled milk, and thus prepared a bountiful and savoury meal, of which the guests partook. The eating of material food on the part of these heavenly beings was not in appearance only, but was really eating; an act which may be attributed to the corporeality assumed, and is to be regarded as analogous to the eating on the part of the risen and glorified Christ (Luke 24:41.), although the miracle still remains physiologically incomprehensible.” (Keil & Delitzsch Commentary)
The meal consisted of unleavened bread and a clean offering from the herd. These are two biblical symbols of the body of Christ. The animal sacrifice looked forward to the death of the Lamb of God. In contrast, the Lord instituted the second-- the unleavened bread-- as an eternal memorial to the Great Sacrifice of Himself. I am sure the meal was a sweet savor to Yahweh.
The bread took the place of the innocent sacrifice but also had symbolic meaning.
Leaven is a biblical symbol for sin. So unleavened bread represents Abraham and Sarah's state of acceptance in the Beloved.
9 Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” So he said, “Here, in the tent.”10 And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.)
In that day, it would not have been proper to inquire after a wife. "These visitors give indication of their authority by making the inquiry. Besides, their coming is concerned vitally with a most remarkable experience that is about to befall Sarah. Then, too, Sarah's faith needs to be raised to the proper level to do justice to the experience…” (H C Leupold)
She was in the tent and behind the door. So, the stage was set. "Now Sarah did not merely ‘hear’ this as she stood behind the door, for shomd'ath is feminine participle,.. 'she was listening,’ Nor could Yahweh see her or any trace of her, for 'this door was behind Him.' This is plainly stated here so that what He next says may be seen to be the evidence of His omniscience not of His observation…” (H C Leupold)
11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. 12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
13 And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”
"Nothing is hidden from God. The laugh, and the thought of the heart, is discerned. And it is answered. ‘Is anything too hard for Yahweh?’ Yahweh can do anything. The universality of this statement at this time is remarkable. Yahweh is seen as supreme and all powerful."(Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible)
15 But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh!”
"Her fear arises from the fact that the Man knows her thoughts, and that what she had done was a breach of etiquette. It is stressed by the fact that she interrupts the men in conversation, another breach of etiquette, for she is not sitting with them. But she is becoming aware that the One Who is speaking has the power so to speak and the power to punish. She tries to cover up her failure. She has laughed at the representative of Yahweh. But she cannot deceive God, nor can we.” (Peter Pett's Commentary)
I believe that Abraham knew His Heavenly visitor from afar off from prior meetings. But this may have been the beginning of the ancient Hebrew custom to entertain strangers as thus: "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.” (Heb 13:20) "God is no man's debtor; He always pays for His lodging, hence His promise to Sarah! She laughed with incredulity, but is anything too hard for the Lord? That is one of God's unanswered questions. It has accosted the human conscience all down the ages. Let us look away from the difficulties imposed by nature, to Him who holds the oceans in the hollow of His Almighty hand…” (FB Meyers)
Genesis 18:16 Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way. 17 And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, 18 since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.”
"The Lord has made himself known to him, has manifested his love to him, has renewed him after his own image; and hence this judgment upon Sodom is to be explained to him, that he may train his household to avoid the sins of this doomed city, 'to keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; and all this to the further intent that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what he hath spoken of him.’ The awful judgments of the Lord on Sodom, as before on the antediluvian world, are a warning example to all who are spared or hear of them. And those who, notwithstanding these monuments of the divine vengeance, will cease to do justice and judgment, may be certain that they will not continue to enjoy the benefits of the covenant of grace.” (Barnes Notes)
“Thus doth God in his counsels express himself after the manner of men, with deliberation. 'The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.’ Those that by faith live a life of communion with God, cannot but know more of his mind than other people. They have a better insight into what is present, and a better foresight of what is to come.” (Benson Commentary)
"These cities were to be made examples to all future ages of God's severity; and therefore ample proof given that the judgment was neither rash nor excessive (Eze 18:23; Jer 18:7).” (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown) "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." (Romans 15:4)
20 And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”
"This is all that Yahweh reveals about His purpose. There is an 'outcry (forward for emphasis) over Sodom and Gomorrah’ (objective genitive). Kî does mean ‘that.' Here the thought implied is: 'it is a fact that.' That certainly allows for the meaning ‘surely their sin is very grave.' Then we have two very emphatic statements about the extreme wickedness of the cities. When sins are said to cry out to heaven, that surely is a drastic way of saying that they call for divine interference…
… God chooses this mode of procedure to make apparent the fact that He, as Just Judge of all the earth, does nothing without first being in full possession of all facts.” (H C Leupold)
22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord.
"That is, two of them, who appear to have been created angels: turned their faces from thence — And went toward Sodom, which they entered in the evening; but the one called Jehovah throughout the chapter continued with Abraham, who stood yet before the Lord, evidently the same person with whom he had hitherto been communing.” (Benson Commentary)
23 And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
"The patriarch's attitudes are well worthy of note: he sat (Genesis 18:1), bowed (Genesis 18:2), ran (Genesis 18:7), stood by (Genesis 18:8), went with them (Genesis 18:16), stood before the Lord (Genesis 18:22); HERE, HE DREW NEAR…. 'I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes.' The place whereon he stood was holy ground; and if he trod or crossed it, in the intensity of his desire, he never forgot that the most intimate fellowship of man with God must be mingled with the reverence of godly fear, which remembers that He is a consuming fire.… He drew near as intercessor. - We never get so near God as when we plead for others. At such times we enter the holiest and innermost chamber, and talk to Him with an urgency which we dare not use for ourselves...” (F B Meyer)
"Nor must we suppose that he thought only of Lot. Doubtless he remembered the day when he had restored the persons and spoil to the king of Sodom. He had then seen their human affection; the joy of parent meeting with child, and friend with friend; and he hoped that there were good people among them, and that so marvellous a deliverance would work in many of them a true repentance. Neither must we suppose that Abraham adroitly began with a large number, with the intention of lessening it. It was the readiness with which each prayer was heard which made him in his earnestness continue his entreaties. It thus illustrates the principle that the faith of the believer grows strong as he feels that his prayers are accepted, and he ventures finally to offer petitions, nothing wavering, which at an earlier stage would have seemed to him to ask more than he might venture to hope from the Divine goodness.” (Ellicott's Commentary)
24 Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? 25 Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” 26 So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.”
"He knew that he was speaking to the Judge of all the earth, and that before Him he was 'but dust and ashes' - 'dust in his origin, and ashes in the end;' and yet he made bold to appeal still further…” (Keil & Delitzsch)
27 Then Abraham answered and said, “Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: 28 Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?” So He said, “If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.”
29 And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose there should be forty found there?” So He said, “I will not do it for the sake of forty.”
30 Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?” So He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
31 And he said, “Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?” So He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.”
32 Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.”
33 So the Lord went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.
In fact there was only one considered righteous. So the city was not spared, but we soon discover that the angels sought to preserve Lot's family for Abraham's sake. "In the Flood narrative, creation is saved because God remembers Noah (8:1). Israel is rescued in Egypt because God remembers the patriarchal covenant (Ex 2:24). In the present text, Lot and his family are saved because God remembers Abraham (19-29). God responds to Abraham's intercession for Lot and demonstrates his grace by showing kindness to Lot for Abraham's sake.” (Asbury Bible Commentary)
Lot and some in his household would be spared the first death, which is appointed for humans to die, for a season. The penalty for sin is death. "And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him." (Hebrew 9:27-28)
Those who continue to live worldly lives find themselves in a dangerous place. "For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries." (Hebrews 10:26-27)
Jesus said: "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment." (John 5:28-29; See Daniel 12:2)