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1 And the LORD appeared unto him by the oaks[a] of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;

2 and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw three men standing before him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth,

3 and said, “My lords, if I have found favor in your sight, please stay a while with your servant;

4 let now a little water be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree;

5 and I will fetch some bread to strengthen your heart; after that you shall pass on: for as much you have come to your servant.” And they said, “So do, as you have said.”

6 And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures[a] of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes.”

7 And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto the servant; and he hastened to dress it.

8 And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.

9 And they said unto him, “Where is Sarah, your wife?” And he said, “She is over there in the tent.”

10 And he said, “I will certainly return to you when the season comes round; and, you shall see that Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah heard from inside the tent door, which was behind him.”

11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, and well stricken in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.

12 And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, ‘After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?’

13 And the LORD said unto Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child when I am old?’

14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah shall have a son.”

15 Then Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh;” for she was afraid. And he said, “No, but you did laugh!”

16 And the men rose up from there, and looked toward Sodom; and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.

17 And the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing,

18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

19 For I known that he will command his children and his household after him, to keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that the LORD may bring to effect all the things he has spoken unto him.”

20 And the LORD said, “Because[f] the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;

21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done according to the cry I have heard, which has come unto me; and if not, I will know.”

22 And the men turned from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.

23 And Abraham drew near, and said, “Will you also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

24 Perhaps there are fifty righteous within the city: will you destroy and not spare the entire city, even though there would be fifty righteous people found therein?

25 Far be it from you to slay the righteous with the wicked, that the righteous should be as the wicked; that is unlike you; shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

26 And the LORD said, “If I find within Sodom fifty righteous people, then I will spare the whole city for their sake.”

27 And Abraham answered and said, “Behold now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord; I who am but dust and ashes:

28 perhaps there are just five less people from the fifty righteous: will you really destroy the city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it, if I find there forty-five.”

29 And he spoke to him yet again, and said, “Perhaps there shall be forty found there?” And he said, “I will not do it for the forty’s sake.”

30 And he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: perhaps there shall thirty be found there.” And he said, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.”

31 And he said, “Behold now, I have taken it upon myself to speak unto the Lord: What if there shall be twenty found there?” And he said, “I will not destroy it for the twenty’s sake.”

32 And he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak just once more: What if only ten are found there?” And he said, “I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake.”

33 And the LORD went his way as soon as he had finished talking with Abraham; and Abraham returned unto his place.

[1a] KJV 'in the plains'; DRA 'in the vale'; ASV 'by the oaks[a]' a. or, terebinths

[3] Strongs lists this as h.113.אָדוֹן (adon); my lord [profane sense]. It is used as a method of address (i.e. 'sirs,'). See: 19:2 and Ezra 10:3. These are the only three places where this use of the word appears in the bible and the use of it shows that Abraham did not consider the angels to be God. Contrast with h.136.אֲדֹנָ֤י (adonay) which appears over 400 times in Genesis alone, and nearly always refers to the almighty. Also see Genesis 31:53 where even the second form is used as a title, and not “God”.

[5c] Or, for therefore

[6a] lit. ‘seah’, one seah being about 7 liters.

[11] Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.

[14e] Or, wonderful

[18] If the thought should occur that this remark refers to someone or something being promised to all nations in and of itself, one must only realize that Abraham cannot hear God's thoughts at this moment. This is a part of the Torah which God gave to Moses; it was not written down by Abraham. Secondly, the intent is not to introduce any new promise or covenant but to reiterate what was said before: therefore on it's own this passage does not show any such promise, but only points to the promises which were made before.

In fact this is a reference to 17:27 in which anyone among the nations who becomes a member of Abraham’s household (‘all the men of his house’) may become a convert. See: 17:12, 17:27.

[19] The reason why the LORD counted Abraham as righteous is also because he taught the members of his hosuehold (the converts). Therefore, even though there is no mitzvah not to teach or make converts, we see that it is good if one does so. Also see commentary on Aner in 14:13, 14:24.

[20f] Or, Verily

[32] A worthy (proper) community is at least ten righteous men. Therefore, an authoritative Noachide court of justice must involve at least ten righteous men. This doesn't mean that every hearing must be heard by two people, probably three would suffice, or a single judge, but that at least ten people should be involved in the whole of the matter or have equal responsibility and authority in the court. Perhaps an assignment system for single judges or triple judges depending on the case with others being expected to veto themselves in to an equal position should they so desire, for certain cases.

Q: My Christian friend told me the LORD was one of the three men who appears to Abraham. How can we know this is true or false?

A: As it turns out, the only way you can know it is true is to be told as much by a Christian. As it turns out, thre is nothing in this passage which indicates that the LORD is appearing the form of a man, or that one of the 'Angels' was Jesus. The way a Christian knows that this is true is because “three men” appear to Abraham, and therefore this must refer to the Christian “Holy Trinity”; one personage of course, being Jesus. Any reader of this passage who did not know anything about Christianity would never assume that one of the people Abraham was speaking to was the LORD.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of a few of the more obvious concerns one would have with the Christian position on this passage.

a) This passage does not exist in a vacuum. Existing tradition states that of the three angels who appeared to Abraham, one was a Seraph (an angel of Prophecy) sent to give news of the birth of Issac. The other two were an angel to heal Abraham from his circumcision (in the same day; see Genesis 17) and the angel for judgement and destruction, who went on to Sodom (19:1). This was, interestingly enough, a fully accepted Christian tradition until only recently. In fact, the heading for the GNV states “Abraham receiveth three Angels into his house.” Also see Ellicott's commentary (quoted below).

b) We know that all three men were of the angelic class because they were not differentiated by in any way when spoken of as a group. In other words, whenever the LORD is mentioned by name, all the following pronouns are singular (I or he) until the three men are next mentioned, then all of the pronouns are plural. This indicates that Abraham was talking with both the LORD and the three men differently, because different pronouns are used to refer to either party. Ex. Compare v.21 and v.22, or v.26 ‘I will go down’ with Ch.19 ‘we will destroy’, etc.

c) Counterpoint: Why didn't God do what he said? Why didn't God go to Sodom? Since it is too convenient to state that in 18:22 “the men” refers to only two of the men while in 18:16 it refers to all three, Christians point out that the LORD says he is going to Sodom (which it does say), then the men get up to leave and Abraham goes with him, but in the end the LORD goes 'his way' after 'the men' go on to Sodom. And then, only two Angels appear in Sodom in 19:1. The problem with this reading is that it ignores that one of the angels was an angel of Judgement (or Justice) and it begs the question, where is the LORD? Why didn't he go to Sodom to judge them, and why is it the angels themselves who seem to have gone to witness the depravity of Sodom?

God specifically said that he would go to see for himself before passing judgement. Did God just lose track of time while he was talking with Abraham? Of course not. Therefore the Christian reasoning that the LORD stayed behind then 'went his way' (18:33) and thus not to Sodom and Gomorrah, no longer makes sense.

And as an aside, if the Christian states that the Lord is a type of Claus who can travel around faster than anything, then why not also the angels? Especially those in human form upon which no differentiation was made? Also see 19:16 where the angels literally teleport Lot and his family outside the city.

Therefore when it says 'the men' in 18:22 we can only assume it means all three men, and not only two of them and the reason only two went to Sodom is because one of the angels (an angel of Prophecy) was not needed in Sodom.

d) See Rashi on v. 5. implying the men are angels.

e) In addition to the above, it is too convenient to assume too much about angels and God and pronouns, to choose two or three, since as we know from 32:29 that angels have a unique purpose. Note then that Genesis 19:1 says ‘two angels’ and not ‘the two angels’ from before (nevertheless, the men went on to Sodom). So they might have been different angels, or one may have been different, it is ambiguous from the text and therefore we may only draw from it that who they are in particular is unimportant (“wherefore do you ask my name?”) So they may very well have been two different angels, that is all we know. In any case, the angels themselves declare that they are not the LORD in Genesis 19. Unfortunately most Christian isogesis ends with Genesis 19:1 to show that one of the men is missing, focusing on ‘the two angels’ which is technically a mistranslation. But if we keep reading until Genesis 19:13 we see “…the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.” Therefore they are not the same angels in Genesis 18, since the LORD stated he would go to see and judge Sodom; therefore he would not have sent angels off destruction until after that time. In any case, we can easily conclude the three men who were sent to Abraham first were not the LORD, but angels with various purposes. This was obvious from the grammar of 18, but having it stated plainly is also nice.

f) Ellicott's Commentary states as follows;

(2) Three men. — Jewish commentators explain the number by saying that, as no angel might execute more than one commission at a time, one of the three came to heal Abraham, the second to bear the message to Sarah, and the third to destroy Sodom. More correctly one was “the angel of Jehovah,” who came as the manifestation of Deity to Abraham, and the other two were his companions, commissioned by him afterwards to execute judgment on the cities of the plain, The number three pointed also to the Trinity of Persons in the Godhead, and is therefore read by our Church as one of the lessons for Trinity Sunday. But we must be careful not to use it as a proof of this doctrine, lest the inference should be drawn of a personal appearance of the Father and of the Holy Ghost, which would savour of heretical impiety.

g) v.16 to escort them, because he thought they were travelers. v.33 the LORD went up, but the men went on the way.

h) Due too (f.) above, and considering verses such as John 1:18 for confirmation of the Christian Position, we must remind any Christian that because the specific name used here is Yaweh and not Jesus (Yeshua) Abraham would have known him as Yaweh and would NOT have referred to Yaweh as someone who appeared to him in a mortal form (Exodus 33:20). To posit any other situation shows a lack of understanding, for Moses did not immediately reply ‘yet Abraham saw your face;’. Therefore in no case may we assume that the LORD appeared in mortal form.

i) As it turns out. quite often the Bible will refer to those who wield the power of God by the name of God. The Christian position confirms this, for Jesus says “Is it not written 'I said: you are Gods'” (John 10:34, referencing Psalm 82:6). For an example of the same theology in the Old Testament, see Exodus 7:1 h. nə-ṯat-tî-ḵā “I have made you” ’ĕ-lō-hîm “God” lə-p̄ar-‘ōh; “To Pharaoh” (and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet). Also see: Exodus 21:6, 22:8-9 and 22:28. But for the local context we are concerned with Genesis [19]:24, 25 (he), 19:29 and similar; for how can it say the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah if in 19:13 the angels said “We will destroy it… the LORD has sent us to destroy it.”? Obviously this is a similar case. Therefore it is possible that when the angels appeared to Abraham it is written that the LORD appeared to Abraham, but even if we were to make this assumption based on a careful reading of the passages above (and not merely as a claim, without evidence) then based on both Old Testament theology and New Testament theology (ex. Ellicott's in e. above) we may never draw a conclusion about a “trinity” or “Jesus” from this passage – to do so would be a heresy in any case.

Selected commentary.

h.וירא אליו AND THE LORD APPEARED UNTO HIM to visit the sick man. R. Hama the son of Hanina said: it was the third day after his circumcision and the Holy One, blessed be He, came and enquired after the state of his health (Bava Metzia 86b)

h.באלוני ממרא BY THE TEREBINTHS OF MAMRÉ — It was he (Mamre) who advised him (Abraham) regarding the circumcision and therefore He revealed himself to him in his (Mamre’s) territory (Genesis Rabbah 42:8). literally, יֹשֵׁב WAS SITTING — The word is written ישב (without the ו) and therefore may he translated “”he sat”: He wished to rise, but the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, Sit and I will stand. You shall form an example to your descendants — that I, in time to come, will stand in the assembly of the judges while they will sit, as it is said, (Psalms 82:1) “God standeth in the assembly of the judges” (Genesis Rabbah 48:7)

h.פתח האהל AT THE TENT-DOOR — that he might see whether anyone passed by, and invite him into the house

h.כחום היום IN THE HEAT OF THE DAY — The Holy One, blessed be He, brought the sun out of its sheath that he might not be troubled by travellers, and when He perceived that he was grieved that no travellers came He brought to him angels in the form of men (Bava Metzia 86b).

h.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 (Genesis Rabbah 50:2). 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

h.נצבים עליו STOOD BY, or OVER HIM — before him; only this is a more fitting expression to use of angels

h.וירא AND HE SAW — What does the repetition of this word וירא imply? The first time it has its ordinary meaning (“he looked”), the second that of understanding: he saw that they were standing in one spot, and so understood that they had no desire to cause him any trouble. Although they knew that he would go to meet them they nevertheless remained where they were out of respect to him and to show him that they wished to spare him trouble; he, therefore, took the initiative and ran towards them. In the Treatise Bava Metzia 86b we have the following: It is written, “they were standing by him” and it is also written “He ran towards them” — how can these apparently contradictory statements be reconciled? But the explanation is, that at first they stood by him and when they perceived that he was loosening and re-binding his bandages, they retired from him; he therefore immediately ran towards them.

h.'ויאמר אדני אם נא וגו AND HE SAID, MY LORD, IF NOW etc. — He addressed himself to the Chief of them; calling them all “lords”, (אדני may mean “my lords”), whilst to their Chief he said “Do not I pray thee pass away”, for he knew that if he would not pass by, his companions would certainly remain with him. In this explanation the word אדני has a “profane” sense (does not refer to God, being merely a term of address, “Sirs”). Another explanation is that the word is “holy” (referring to God): he asked God to wait for him whilst he ran and invited the travellers. For although this is written after the words “and he ran to meet them”, yet the conversation took place beforehand. It, indeed, is the way of the Scriptures to speak in this manner as I have explained in my comment on “My spirit shall not strive” (Genesis 6:3) which is written after the passage. “And Noah begot” (Genesis 5:32) whereas it is impossible to say otherwise than that the decree of a respite of 120 years made in reference to this verse “My spirit shall not strive etc.” was twenty years before the birth of Noah’s sons.) Both these explanations of אדני are to be found in Genesis Rabbah 48:10 (see also Shevuot 35b).

h.יקח נא LET BE FETCHED, I PRAY THEE — This implies bringing by a messenger: therefore did the Holy One, blessed be He, recompense his (Abraham’s) children by a messenger when they required water, as it is said, (Numbers 20:11) “And Moses lifted up his hand and smote the rock etc.” (Bava Metzia 86b)

h.ורחצו רגליכם AND WASH YOUR FEET — He thought they were Arabians who worship the dust of their feet, and he was particular not to have the object of idolatrous worship brought into his house (Bava Metzia 86b). Lot, however, who was not particular about this, mentioned “lodging” (i.e. entering the house) before “washing” the feet, as it is said (Genesis [19]:2) “[And he said to the angels] tarry here all night and wash your feet.”

h.תחת העץ UNDER THE TREE — beneath the terebinth (Genesis Rabbah 48:11).

h.וסעדו לבכם AND SUSTAIN YOUR HEARTS — In the Torah, the Prophets and the Hagiographa we find that bread is the sustenance of the heart. In the Torah. “[And I will fetch a morsel of bread] and sustain your heart.” In the Prophets: “Stay thy heart with a morsel of bread” (Judges [19]:5). In the Hagiographa: “And bread that sustaineth man’s heart” (Psalms [10]4:15). R. Hama said: Here is not written לבבכם but לבכם thus teaching that the evil inclination has no power over angels (Genesis Rabbah 48:11)

h.אחר תעבורו means after that, you may go away.

h.כי על כן עברתם FORASMUCH AS YE HAVE PASSED —For (כי) I ask you this thing because that (על כן) you have honoured me by calling at my place. כי] על כן] has the same meaning as על אשר “because that”. So, too, is the meaning wherever כי על כן occurs in Scripture, e. g., (Genesis [19]:9) “For (כי) I ask you this because that (על כן) they have come under the shadow of my roof”; (Genesis 33:10)

h.“For (כי) you ought to do this because that (על כן) I have seen thy face”; (Genesis 38:26) “for (כי) she has done right because that (על כן) I gave her not”; (Numbers 10:31) “for (כי) thou ought to accompany us because that (על כן) thou knowest how we are to encamp”.

h.קמח סלת MEAL, FINE FLOUR — The fine flour (סלת) for the cakes, the meal (קמח) for the dough used by cooks to place over the pot to absorb the scum (Bava Metzia 86b).

h.בן בקר רך וטוב A CALF, TENDER AND GOOD — There were three calves so that he might give them to eat three tongues together with mustard condiment (Bava Metzia 86b).

h.אל הנער TO THE YOUNG MAN — This was Ishmael whom he bade to do this in order to train him to the performance of religious duties (in this case the duty of hospitality) (Genesis Rabbah 48:13).

h.חמאה is the fatty part of milk which is skimmed off its surface.

h.ובן הבקר אשר עשה literally, AND THE CALF WHICH HE HAD MADE — i.e. prepared. Whatever was ready first he brought and placed before them.

h.ויאכלו AND THEY DID EAT—They appeared to be eating: from this we may learn that a man should not act differently from the prevalent custom (Bava Metzia 86b).

h.ויאמרו אליו AND THEY SAID UNTO HIM — The letters 'א' י' ו of the word אליו have dots over them (thus distinguishing these letters which form the word meaning “where is he”?). R. Simeon the son of Eleazar said: wherever you find in a particular word or phrase that the letters in ordinary writing are more numerous than those dotted, you should give a special interpretation to those in ordinary writing. Here the dotted letters are more than those in ordinary writing and you, therefore, give an explanation of the dotted letters — that of Sarah also, they asked, איו “where is he (Abraham)”? So we may learn that in his inn a man should enquire of the man (the host) as to his wife’s welfare and of the woman (the hostess) about her husband’s. In Treatise Bava Metzia (87a) it is stated: The ministering angels knew, indeed, where our mother Sarah was but they asked this question in order to call attention to her modesty (retiring disposition) and so to endear her all the more to her husband.) R. José the son of Haninah stated that they enquired where she was in order to send her the wine-cup of blessing (the glass of wine held by him who recites the Grace after meals)

h.הנה באהל BEHOLD, IN THE TENT — She is a modest woman.

h.שוב אשוב I WILL CERTAINLY RETURN — The angel was not announcing that he would return to him, but he was speaking to him as God’s agent (meaning that God would return). Similar is, (16:10) “And the angel of the Lord said to her, I will greatly multiply thy seed, but he had no power to multiply, and was speaking only as God’s agent. So also here, he spoke thus as God’s agent. Elisha said to the Shunamite (2 Kings 4:16), “At this season when the time cometh round thou shalt embrace a son”, and she said, “Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thy handmaid; see, those angels who made the announcement to Sarah said “at the appointed time I will return”! Elisha in effect said to her, “Those angels who live and endure for ever could indeed promise “at the appointed time I will return”, but I am only flesh and blood (human), alive today and dead tomorrow — but whether I live or die, “at this season [thou shalt embrace a son]” (Genesis Rabbah 53:2).

h.כעת חיה means at this time next year — it was the Passover, and on the next Passover Isaac was born — since we do not read כְּעֵת (at “a” time) but כָּעֵת (at this time). The words כעת חיה signify: at this time when there will be life to you — when you will all be healthy and alive.

h.והוא אחריו AND IT (literally, HE) WAS BEHIND HIM — The door was behind the angel.

h.בקרבה [SARAH LAUGHED] WITHIN HERSELF (or, REGARDING HER INSIDE) — She reflected on her physical condition, saying, “Is it possible that this womb shall bear a child, that these dried-up breasts shall give forth milk” (Midrash Tanchuma, Shoftim 18).

h.עדנה means glistening flesh (skin), and so it is used in the Mishna (Menachot 86a): it makes the hair fall out and the skin smooth (מעדן).

h.האף אמנם means SHALL I REALLY BEAR?

h.ואני זקנתי I BEING OLD — Scripture (God) in relating her words to her husband alters them for the sake of peace, for she had said (v. 12) “my lord is old” (Genesis Rabbah 48:18).

h.היפלא IS TOO HARD? — As the Targum takes it: is anything hidden — far distant and apart (מופלא) from Me that I cannot do as I would wish?

h.למועד AT THE APPOINTED TIME — at the special time that I fixed for you yesterday (i.e. on a previous occasion) when I said, (17:21) “at this set time next year”.

h.כי יראה וגו' כי צחקת FOR SHE WAS AFRAID… BUT THOU DIDST LAUGH — The first כי is used in the sense of “because”, giving a reason for the former statement—Sarah denied … because she was afraid; the second כי is used in the meaning of “but” — “and He said, ‘It is not as you say that you did not laugh, but thou didst laugh’.” For our Rabbis say (Rosh Hashanah 3a) that the word כי has four meanings: “if”, “perhaps”, “but”, “because”.

h.וישקיפו [AND THE MEN] GLANCED — Wherever the Hiphil form of שקף occurs in the Scriptures it denotes taking notice for the purpose of bringing evil (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 14), except (Deuteronomy 26:15) (a passage dealing with the tithe, including that given to the poor), “Look forth (השקיפה) from thy holy habitation . .. [and bless thy people] for so great is the power (virtue) of giving to the poor that it changes God’s anger into mercy.

h.לשלחם means TO ESCORT THEM, for he believed that they were travellers.

h.המכסה אני SHALL I HIDE? This is a question.

h.אשר אני עושה WHAT I AM DOING in Sodom. It is not proper for Me to do this thing without his knowledge. I gave him this land and these five cities therefore are his — as it is said, (10:19) “And the territory of the Canaanites was from Sidon … as thou goest towards Sodom and Gommorah etc.” I called him Abraham, the father of a multitude of nations; should I destroy the children without informing the father who loves me? (Genesis Rabbah 49:2)

h.ואברהם היו יהיה SEEING THAT ABRAHAM SHALL SURELY BECOME — The Midrash applies to this the text Proverbs 10:7, “The mention of the righteous shall be for a blessing”: therefore, since He mentions him He blessed him (Genesis Rabbah 49:1). But its real meaning is: “Shall I conceal it from him, seeing that he is so beloved by Me as to become a great nation, and seeing that all nations of the earth shall bless themselves through him?”

h.כי ידעתיו FOR I KNOW HIM — this is an expression denoting “affection”, as (Ruth 2:1) “kinsman (מודע) of her husband,” and (Ruth 3:2) “And is not Boaz our kinsman (מודעתנו), and (Exodus 30:17) “I have distinguished (ידעתיך) thee by name”. Still the primary meaning of these terms connected with the root ידע is really that of knowing, for whoever holds a person in affection attaches him to himself, so that he knows him well and is familiar with him. And why do I hold him dear?

h.למען אשר יצוה BECAUSE HE WILL GIVE HIS CHILDREN CHARGE CONCERNING ME TO KEEP MY WAYS. If, however, you explain it as the Targum, “I know “of” him that he will command his sons etc.”, then the word למען does not fit into the sense.

h.יצוה HE WILL COMMAND — This form of the verb (the imperfect) expresses frequentative action, as (Job 1.5) “This Job used to do” (יַעֲשֶׂה)

h.למען הביא IN ORDER THAT [THE LORD] MAY BRING — Thus will he ever command his children saying “Keep the way of the Lord in order that the Lord may bring upon Abraham etc.” Since it does not say here ‘‘upon the house of Abraham”, but upon Abraham himself, we may infer that he who trains up a righteous son is as though he never dies (Genesis Rabbah 49:4).

h.'ויאמר ה AND THE LORD SAID to Abraham, thus doing what he had said — that He would not conceal the matter from him.

h.כי רבה BECAUSE IT IS GREAT — Wherever רבה elsewhere occurs in Scripture the accent is on the last syllable — on the ב — because it is to be translated by “great” (adj.) or “becoming great” (participle), but this, here, has the accent on the first syllable — on the ר — because it is to be translated by “has already become great” (perf.), just as I have explained (15:17) “And it came to pass, that, when the sun had gone down (בָּאָה)” and (Ruth 1:15) “Behold, thy sister-in-law has gone back (שָׁבָה)”.

h.ארדה נא I WILL GO DOWN NOW — This teaches the judges that they should not give decisions in cases involving capital punishment, except after having carefully looked into the matter — all as I have explained in the section dealing with the dispersion of the nations (11:5). Another explanation of ארדה נא is: I will go down to the very end of their doings (I will fathom the depths of their wickedness).

h.הכצעקתה WHETHER ACCORDING TO THE CRY OF IT (literally, of her) — i.e. the cry of the country (מדינה which is feminine).

h.הבאה אלי עשו WHETHER THEY HAVE DONE [ACCORDING TO THE CRY OF IT] WHICH IS COME UNTO ME — If they persist in their rebellious ways, (כלה) an end will I make of them; if, however, they do not persist in their rebellious ways, I shall know what I shall do — punishing them only with suffering, but I will not make an end of them. — A similar phrase we find elsewhere, (Exodus 33:5) “There- fore now put off thy ornaments from thee that I may know what to do unto thee”. — For this reason there is a separation marked by a פסיק between עשו and כלה, in order to separate in sense one word from the other. Our Teachers explained the word הכצעקתה “the cry of her”, to refer to the cry of a certain girl whom they put to death in an unnatural manner because she had given food to a poor man, as is explained in the chapter Chelek (Sanhedrin 109b).

h.ויפנו משם AND [THE MEN] TURNED FROM THENCE — from the place where Abraham had accompanied them.

h.'ואברהם עודנו עומד לפני ה BUT ABRAHAM STOOD YET BEFORE THE LORD — But surely it was not he (Abraham) who had gone to stand before Him, but it was the Holy One, blessed be He, Who had come to him and had said to him, “Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great” and it should therefore have written here, “And the Lord stood yet before Abraham”? But it is a variation such as writers make to avoid an apparently irreverent expression (Genesis Rabbah 49:7) (which our Rabbis, of blessed memory, altered, writing it thus).

h.ויגש אברהם AND ABRAHAM DREW NEAR — We find the verb ננש “to come near” used in the sense of coming near to wage war — (2 Samuel 10:13) “So Joab … drew near unto the battle”; — of coming near to persuade by entreaty — (44:18) “And Judah came near to him [and said, Oh, my lord]” — and of coming near to pray — (1 Kings [18]:36) “And Elijah the prophet came near [and said, O Lord, God of Abraham etc.]” Abraham employed all these methods — to fight, by speaking stern words, and to persuade by entreaty, and to pray (Genesis Rabbah 49:8).

h.האף תספה means wilt Thou also destroy. But according to the Targum of Onkelos which translates it (the word האף) in the sense of anger, the explanation would be as follows: will Your anger urge you to destroy righteous with wicked?

h.אולי יש חמשים צדיקים PERADVENTURE THERE BE FIFTY RIGHTEOUS — ten righteous men for each city for there were five localities concerned. Should You, however, say that the righteous cannot save the wicked—but why should You kill the righteous at all?

h.חלילה לך FAR BE IT FROM THEE — It is a profanation (חולין) of Yourself. People will say, “That is what He usually busies Himself with: He destroys every one, righteous and wicked alike” —and thus did You indeed do to the generation of the Flood and to that of the dispersal of nations (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 8).

h.כדבר הזה ANYTHING LIKE THIS THING — neither this nor anything like it (Genesis Rabbah 49:10).

h.חלילה לך IT IS UNWORTHY OF THEE —in the world to come.

h.השופט כל הארץ SHALL NOT THE JUDGE OF ALL THE EARTH [DO JUSTICE]? — The 'ה of השופט is punctuated with Chataph Patach because the words express a question: “Should not He who is Judge practice true justice”?

h.אם אמצא בסדום וגו' לכל המקום IF I FIND IN SODOM … FORGIVE ALL THE PLACE — all the cities, but because Sodom was the capital city of the district and the most important of all, Scripture subordinates the order cities to it.

h.הואלתי means I am willing to speak, just as (Exodus 2:21) “And Moses was pleased (ויואל) [to dwell with the man]”.

h.ואנכי עפר ואפר I Am BUT DUST AND ASHES — I would long ago have been reduced to dust by the kings and to ashes by Nimrod had it not been that Thy mercies stood by me (Genesis Rabbah 49:11).

h.התשחית בחמשה WILT THOU DESTROY ON ACCOUNT OF THE FIVE — Will there not still be nine for each city, and You, the All-Righteous One of the Universe, can be counted with them to make up the original number of ten! (Genesis Rabbah 49:9).

h.. אולי ימצאון שם ארבעים PERADVENTURE THERE SHALL BE FORTY FOUND THERE — then let four cities be saved; so, too, let thirty save three of them and twenty save two of them or ten save one of them.

h.הואלתי means I am willing to speak, just as (Exodus 2:21) “And Moses was pleased (ויואל) [to dwell with the man]”.

h.אולי ימצאון שם עשרה PERADVENTURE THERE SHALL TEN BE FOUND THERE — For a smaller number he did not plead because he knew already of two instances where less than ten had failed to save the wicked. He said to himself: In the generation of the Flood there were eight righteous people, viz., Noah, his sons and their wives, and they could not save their generation (Genesis Rabbah 49:13), and for nine in association with God he had already pleaded but had found no acceptance.

h.'וילך ה 'וגו AND THE LORD WENT AWAY — As soon as the counsel for the defence had nothing more to say the Judge took his departure.

h.ואברהם שב למקומו AND ABRAHAM RETURNED UNTO HIS PLAGE — The Judge departed, the Advocate went away, but the Prosecutor continued his accusation, and on that account— ויבואו שני המלאכים סדומה “The two angels came to Sodom” to destroy it (Genesis Rabbah 49:14).