And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;
The Lord appeared. This chapter records another manifestation of the divine presence more familiar than any yet narrated, and more like that in the fullness of time, when the Word was made flesh. The Divine Being had condescended to give several special revelations of His will to Abraham. But having taken him into a covenant relation, God was pleased to treat him as a friend, whose house He would visit; and accordingly the peculiarly gracious manner in which the next communication was made, corresponded with the domestic character of the event to which his hopes had been so long directed. Abraham had been recently apprised of the approaching fulfilment of that promise, and, by his faith in the divine communication made to him, new physical energy had been imparted to his aged frame. But Sarah had not been favoured with the same or any similar revelation. Though Abraham had, doubtless, imparted to her the wondrous intelligence he had received, she seems to have remained sceptical to the possibility of an event so unprecedented as that a wife at her advanced age should become a mother; and so obdurate was her incredulity that a direct assurance from the Divine Promiser was necessary to convince her of the truth. 'Some writers maintain that this chapter contains only a repetition of the announcement made to Abraham a few days previously; and in support of this view they appeal to the coincidence of the two versions as to the circumstance of time (cf. Genesis 18:10 with Genesis 17:21). But a careful examination of this chapter will show that the primary design of this interview was to remove the doubts of Sarah, the promise being renewed to Abraham in her hearing, and to bring her into the same confiding state of mind with Abraham, that 'through faith she might receive strength to conceive seed.'
The opening words of the chapter must be considered as a historical preface, intimating, in general terms, the fact of a new and important revelation; because it is evident that Abraham did not at first know the character or the rank of his visitors. But supposing them to be bonafide travelers, he hastened to offer them the customary rites of oriental hospitality; and we may conclude that he regarded them as personages of high, though unknown dignity, from the unusually large scale of liberality on which his hospitalities were provided.
Plains of Mamre - rather, terebinth or oak of Mamre-a tall spreading tree, or grove of trees. Mature is synonymous with Hebron (Genesis 23:19; Genesis 35:27). But the grove of Abraham was at a little distance, according to Josephus ('Jewish Wars,' b. 4:, ch. 9, sec. 7), six stadia from Hebron (see the note at Genesis 13:18; Genesis 14:13), on the way between Jerusalem and Gaza (Robinson's 'Biblical Researches,' 1:, p. 318; 2:, p. 254). On the supposed spot where Abraham's tent and grove stood, the Jewish kings erected a sanctuary, the massive ruins of which are still standing. The Jews call it the House of Abraham, and the Arabs Rƒmet-el-Kh-lil (the Height of the Friend).
Sat in the tent door. The tent itself being too close and sultry at noon, the shaded open front is usually resorted to for any air that may be stirring.