And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.
The Lord ... left communing ... and Abraham returned unto his place. Why did Abraham cease to carry his intercessions further? Either because he fondly thought that he was now sure of the cities being preserved (Luke 13:9), or because the Lord restrained his mind from further intercession (Jeremiah 7:16; Jeremiah 11:14). But there were not ten 'righteous persons.' There was only one; and he might, without injustice, have perished in the general overthrow (Ecclesiastes 9:2). But a difference is sometimes made; and on this occasion the grace of God was manifested in a signal manner for the sake of Abraham. What a blessing to be connected with a saint of God!
With reference to the three persons who figure so prominently in the details of this narrative, two opposite views have been advanced. Some have held that these were the three Persons in the Trinity who manifested themselves in a visible incarnate form. But this is an hypothesis which not only implies a development of doctrinal mysteries beyond what was made in the patriarchal age, but it is at variance with Scripture (John 1:18; Colossians 1:15). Others, such as Kurtz, Delitzsch, Hofmann, maintain that they were all three created angels, who came on the business, and spoke in the name of their Divine Master, founding this opinion on the fact, as Kurtz expresses it, that their mission was not merely to promise, but to punish as well as to deliver. Others maintain that it was the Lord who appeared, speaking through the medium of his messengers. But this view is open to many and strong objections:
(1) Because the superiority of the one whom Abraham addresses is acknowledged through the whole interview, whilst his two attendants, as his inferiors, observe a respectful silence.
(2) Because he speaks and undertakes to act as a Divine Person, whilst the other two claim only to be messengers (Genesis 19:13).
(3) Because Scripture does not give any instance of an address being presented to God as represented by a created angel.
(4) Because, not to mention the name Adonai, which is used six times, that of Yahweh is applied eight times to him in this passage. (5) Because he ascribes to himself the right and power of independent judgment in the case of Sodom.
(6) Because, on the hypothesis that they were all three created angels, it is impossible to account for the third not taking part in the judicial work at Sodom; whereas the cause of his absence, if he was the angel of the Covenant, is perfectly explicable.
(7) And because this view only affords a satisfactory explanation of the circumstance that throughout this chapter the three are called men, while in the next chapter, the two are designated angels-namely, to prevent a confounding the Lord with the angels who attended Him.
The condescending familiarity of this visit accords with the simplicity of the early patriarchal age, and with the initial education of Abraham in religious knowledge. It is probable that in some of the past revelations with which Abraham was favoured, a visible appearance had been vouchsafed: and that he who must have been incapable of rising to the conception of a spiritual Being would become familiar with the idea of an all-powerful mysterious man, who both in Chaldea and Canaan had repeatedly manifested himself, promising, guiding, protecting, and blessing him as a constant and faithful Friend. Accordingly, this last manifestation, on the occasion of which he became a guest of Abraham was not an isolated event in the patriarch's experience, but one of a series, in which the Divine Mediator appeared, spoke, and acted, in condescending accommodation to the simple and childlike feelings of Abraham, and as a preluding of the incarnation, when 'God manifest in the flesh' would 'tabernacle with man.' But such a mode of communication was not adapted to the legal dispensation; and hence, in the revelation which God made of Himself to Moses, when the Old Covenant history had attained a more advanced stage, the announcement, "Draw not nigh hither
... for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground," inspired profound humility and holy awe.
Again, in the analogous case of Manoah (Judges 13:15-16), where the angel refused to accept of the proffered hospitality, a course so different from that which was adopted toward Abraham is to be accounted for by the different circumstances of the persons and the times. 'In Abraham's case, so intimate a relation subsists between him and his God that he obtains a distinction which, in accordance with his exalted vocation, he only could obtain. But another relation comes before us, where the standing point of the theocratic law had revealed the alienation between God and man, and the majesty of God is there, even as on mount Sinai, a majesty fenced round with bounds that may not be passed.
There is no inconsistency between the two cases. The later theocratic history, by its peculiarity, affords a remarkable confirmation of the earlier life of primitive times, which diverges from it; and thence it appears, at the same time, that from that later standpoint, it was really impossible for a writer to transfer himself by the mere force of induction into a state of things that existed earlier, but had now given way to an entirely different one' (Hengstenberg's 'Christology,' p. 160).
The idea, therefore, of this narrative being a myth, invented by some Jewish writer for the gratification of national pride, is utterly groundless: for, once admit the special relation in which Abraham stood to God, and this visit is in perfect accordance with his position. As little ground is there for putting this narrative in the same category as the pagan fable of Philemon and Baucis; for, though many of the details in that mythological fable are similar to those of the Scripture narrative, it wants the covenant relations-the grand peculiarity of the patriarchal story-which no poetic imagination could have invented.